Saturday in Santiago: Madame Tusan
The latest Gastón Acurio restaurant to hit Santiago is Madame Tusan. It might seem like a deviation from the renowned chef’s usual fare: what is the man who made his name cooking Peruvian food doing with a Chinese restaurant?
Madame Tusan is a chifa, a restaurant serving a hybrid of Peruvian and Chinese food. Rodolfo and I went for the dim sum, skipping over the more fusion-y main courses in favor of straight up Chinese food. The juices, however, definitely had a Latin American flair. I can’t remember what they were, since we actually had this meal a while ago, but they were both delicious blends of multiple fruits.
The restaurant itself is a little kitschy in terms of decoration, although it pulls it off. We couldn’t get a good shot of the giant red plastic dragon that winds around the whole restaurant, but we did manage to capture this kitty.
But forget the decoration – what about the food? Tacos Tusan, which you may know as lettuce wraps, was a hit. Here we did see the Peruvian influence when we were brought not only plum sauce but two ají chili pepper sauces which added a welcome kick.
The butifarra china (Chinese sausage) which I associate with some kind of pork bun and nothing particularly sausage-y was the dish I was most excited about. It sounded and looked delicious, but I felt like it wasn’t really that flavorful in the end.
These little bundles of pork, shrimp and mushroom were Rodolfo’s choice, and I have to say that he won this round. Better than their sandwich-style friends, these siu mai were as solid dish.
And last but not least, the surprise of the night: spring rolls. I can usually take or leave spring rolls since they tend to be mostly fried dough with a bit of shredded cabbage as a filler. These, however, were SO flavorful and challenged my views on the whole spring roll genre.
I didn’t like Madame Tusan as much as I love La Mar, another Gastón Acurio restaurant in Santiago, but it was good, and we’d go back to try some of the dishes we didn’t get to this time around.
More in this series:
Saturday in Santiago
Mmmm – my mouth doesn’t usually water over Chinese food but this looks delicious. I think
chefs should try crossing Peruvian with everything, not just the Asian cuisines – so good!
There’s a restaurant nearby that advertises Peruvian, Italian and Japanese food…I’ve always thought it sounded like one of those “jack of all trades, master of none” things, but maybe they’re on to something!
Se ve delicioso todo!!!!! Quiero ir cuando vamos a Chile!
Si te comprometes a venir a Chile, yo me comprometo a llevarte a Madame Tusan!
Jaja hermosa! Gracias! Claro yo me “sacrifico” en ir a chile! No se cuando pero lo tengo en mis prioridades
Y espero q sea pronto. Andre tambien se muere x conocer.
Do you know what I think when I read these posts? That I wish with all of my heart we lived in the same city and that you and I could have a weekly date where we could go and try new restaurants for our blogs! Miss you so much
PS The food looks gooooooood.
That would be the best! You could review the veggie dishes, and I’d cover the meat. The perfect team!