Peruvian Chinese cuisine. Not a mix up that I'd have ordinarily thought about, but after recently being educated by a friend about the mash up of cultures that occurred when the Chinese migrated over to Peru in the 1920s, I was intrigued and curious. So we made a reservation to try out the relatively new Casa Chow, located in South City Square at Woolloongabba.
Our booking was fairly late in the evening, 8.30pm was the first slot we could get and the place was still packed when we arrived. Staff were extremely busy which made it exceedingly difficult for us to get service.
The menu was not as exotic as I initially expected, a lot of the dishes were heavily Chinese influenced with touches of Peruvian flavours. It took us a very long time to get staff attention, but were able to put down out order once we did.
Our first dish to arrive was the Kingfish Ceviche. It had a light spicy tang to it and was served atop a cripsy wanton pastry. It was quite delicious, but for the price, the portion was most definitely not worth it.
A companion that went with us was a huge fan of Dan Dan noodles, so of course we had to try Casa Chow's iteration. Given the price of $29, we had expected something akin to a main size, but when it came out, portions were tiny, barely giving our group of four one small mouthful each. As for the taste, it was fairly average, with al dente hokkien noodles and spicy pork mince. I'm moderately sure I could do better at home and so this was definitely not worth it.
Next up was the Fremantle Octopus, coconut, vegetables, lime and rice noodle. I liked the combination of citrus flavours with rice noodle, you don't get that often in Chinese cuisine. The octopus was cooked well and quite tender and there was a good ratio of octopus to noodles but sadly the portions were again quite lacking.
Our final dish was the relative highlight of the night, the Lomo Saltado with Chips and Rice. It consisted of sweet soy and pepper sauce stir fried beef strips along with an assortment of veggies, served with rice and chips. Without the chips, it would have been a fairly ordinary Chinese meal, but the chips complimented the black pepper sauce really well and we really enjoyed it. The meat was also very soft and tender, and the rice mopped up the sauces well. Although still not worth the price, it was at least a decent serving. All in all, we had a fairly lacklustre time at Casa Chow. The food doesn't particularly stand out and the value perspective stands out for all the wrong reasons. I don't think I will be back.
Taste: 6/10
Value: 4/10
Service: 4/10
Environment: 7/10
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