Chicha 7-Course Set Meal

There is yet another Eduardo Vargas venture in Shanghai. With Chicha, located in Sinan Mansions, Vargas is again getting back to his Peruvian roots. The first floor is a lounge and the second floor is the restaurant, both dimly lit and incredibly cozy. Word has it that Vargas is spending six nights of the week in the kitchen, which should better guarantee the quality of food coming out on the floor. The theme here is Latin food with Asian influences. Along with the regular menu available, diners had the option of a 7-course meal (200RMB) or for 80RMB more, the 12-course meal. Recent reviews claim that the size of the portions are generous compared to most other tastings, so the Nazca 7-course option was more practical.

Before arrival, the group of twelve Frenzied Palate went with was advised that there are two sittings for those interested in the set menus: 18:30 and 20:30. The staff was really polite and helpful, welcoming and showing us to our table on the second floor. The menu presented had individual dishes listed as well as an explanation of the prix fixe meals. It is not a selection of just dishes from the menu, but an opportunity for Vargas to extend his creativity. The set menu also came with certain rules in poorly edited English printed on the menu so diners cannot deny that they had been warned in advance. Here are the rules (and a poor quality photo of the menu to prove it):

"Las Reglas / The Rules
1. There is 2 menus digestion; Chef Eduardo changes all the time so there is not a real menu
2. Menu is based on availability of fresh products in the market & Eduardo's creativity
3. The food is served family style
4. Whole Table need to order same menu
5. If there is any vegetarian or alergic of something, please let us know
6. We are new, so no credit card available, ONLY CASH please
7. Provecho & Enjoy your experience at CHICHA"

One of the diners asked the host if it was even remotely possible for the party to split into two and ten so the 12-course menu could be ordered. It was declared that this would not be possible as the whole table needed to select either the 7 or 12-course menu. However, the group was warned of the rules in writing. This may be an indication that an amendment can be made to the mantra of "the customer is always right."

The first dish that came out was the Ceviche Chifero or fresh sea bass with a "twist" of ceviche sauce accompanied by ginger wonton shavings and pickled vegetables. The portion of ceviche was huge and the large cuts of fish were plump and fresh. This was an excellent start to the meal. You could even qualify this as the best dish from the meal. The rest of the dinner kind of went downhill from there.

The second course was a potato causa with crab meat or cold potato with crab meat with a Peruvian red chili sauce and sort of tartar sauce. It had an oddly sweet tinge to it, but neither of us could exactly pinpoint the flavor. The crab was undetectable, probably from all that tartar sauce. Still, there was something interesting about the potato starter - maybe the texture - that made it enjoyable. The third starter was the mushroom and cream cheese wonton with tamarind sauce. The wonton was fried and had a nice crunch and thickness. The small pocket of mushroom filling had a deep flavor and meaty texture that matched well against the texture of the wonton, but the cream cheese was also undetectable. The tamarind sauce gave the meatiness of the mushroom filling a light, acidic taste. The fourth starter was a seafood "jalea" or breaded and fried squid, fish, and shrimp with three different dipping sauces: huancaina (Peruvian yellow chili), tartar, and rocoto. The huancaina sauce had the strongest flavor and was a little reminiscent of a garlic aioli. The rocoto sauce was frothy and light, with a slight sweetness. The cuts of squid in this starter included both the shaft and the tentacles, which was nice to see as few Western restaurants in Shanghai prefer to serve the tentacles. The final starter was the lamb antichucho or lamb skewer with quinoa tabouli and mint yogurt sauce. This was probably the most disappointing dish during the entire meal. The quinoa tabouli got lost in the mash of mint yogurt and some other sweet barbecue-like sauce that was drizzled on the lamb. The lamb itself was three small cubes grilled on a toothpick, but would not adhere to the sauces. It was difficult to get the lamb, sauces, and quinoa tabouli together all in the same bite.



The main course was the Lomo Saltado or stir-fried beef tenderloin "saltado style" with potato and fried rice. The texture of the beef tenderloin felt more medium well than rare to medium rare. The sauce that everything was cooked in took over the flavor of the blanched vegetables and meat. It went well atop the fried rice though. The dessert consisted of three mini tarts: a lucuma tart (Peruvian jungle fruit) covered in chocolate, a lime tart with a meringue, and a bite of Peruvian flan. The chocolate covered tart had a really thin shell, which for some reason made people think of the scene in the original film version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" where Gene Wilder bit into a flower cup. The chocolate on top was firm and the fruit had a nice tart bite to it. The lime tart must have been an alternative take on a lemon meringue. The meringue was dotted atop the tart and roasted like browned marshmallows. The flan was probably the best bite of the bunch with a creamy caramel sauce and firm custard texture.


The dinner was nice and the service was great, but none of the dishes were particularly memorable aside from the ceviche. Most of the dishes were tasty, but did not leave a great impression on most of the diners in this group. A fellow diner mentioned that the rave reviews on CityWeekend and SmartShanghai may have to do with what is considered relatively good to Shanghai - rather than international - standards. The collective high expectations may contributed to the disappointment that all the dishes did not match the hype. Vargas is said to change the menu daily, so it is reasonable to say one cannot expect an outstanding meal every time from this chef that has made a great name for himself in Shanghai. Perhaps the set menu would be an enjoyable dining experience for an evening, but at the moment, it is something that would only be done once, at least for this season.

Chicha. 33 Sinan Mansions 2/F, 47 Fuxing Lu (by Sinan Lu) 思南路47弄 (近复兴西路), Shanghai, People's Republic of China.