Wa Lok
Jr. Paruro 864-878, Cercado de Lima
Phone 427-2656
Open Mon-Sat 9am-11pm Sun 9am-10pm
Credit V MC Di AmEx
Price $$

Ignore Wa Lok's unexciting Chinese-style décor: what really counts is the superb food that this "Chifa" has to offer, undoubtedly one of the best in town ("Chifa" is Peruvian slang for Chinese restaurant, and allegedly comes from the Cantonese "chifau", to cook).

Wa Lok is one of the few remaining restaurants that maintains the original cross-over of Cantonese and Peruvian cuisine, developed in the first half of the 20th century by the Chinese immigrants that established around Capón street, in what now is Chinatown. In fact, the restaurant still keeps its original locale in Jr. Paruro, just in the heart of the Chinese quarter.

They serve great crunchy roasted duck, steamed prawns with garlic cream, crispy wontons, and chaufa rice (a local cross-over variation of fried rice). However, the real star in the menu is the pescado en flor: an entire fish (best if "chita", stripped bass) fried in a weightless batter after the chef has patiently carved its flesh into a delicate underwater flower.

Wa Lok has a second restaurant located in Miraflores (Av. Angamos Oeste 700, phone 447-1329), far more accessible than the Jr. Paruro one.

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