Meet China Chilcano’s Will Fung
...and Explore Peru’s Multicultural Cuisine (Including the Flying Squirrel Fish!)
Hello my friends!
We opened Chica Chilcano in 2015 telling the story of Peru, such a fascinating country with a food identity unlike any other in the world. The menu honors the three threads of Peruvian cuisine: Criollo, the food of indigenous people mixed with Spanish and West African influences and native ingredients like ají peppers; Chifa cuisine, the Chinese style of cooking with Peruvian flavors; and Nikkei, a beautiful taste of Japan’s style with dishes like sashimi and tiradito executed with Peruvian ingredients.
Obviously with so many different culinary directions on one menu, the chef of a restaurant like this has to reach into different places in their experience. That chef is Will Fung, who joined us in May of 2021 when we reopened China Chilcano after the pandemic.
Will was raised in Hong Kong and has worked for nearly two decades in DC area restaurants, as general manager, sushi chef, and chef-owner. And one of the coolest things about Will is that he spent a year cooking at a 300-year-old kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, Japan…so you see what makes him a great person to continue the tradition at China Chilcano.
As I’ve said before, I want you all to get to know my team a little better. Here is a chat with Will about his trip to Peru, his upcoming Passport to Peru menu (which runs from October 17th through November 13th), why you need to try Char Siu, and what exactly is Flying Squirrel Fish!
Will, you’ve never cooked Peruvian food. So how did it feel taking over China Chilcano?
Well that’s true, I had never cooked Peruvian, but I have worked in Chinese and Japanese restaurants and that was two out of three, which is not a bad start. But also, it’s not really enough. So that’s why I went to Peru. To see it up close and personal. I think about our menu as a compass; we don’t have to be on the same route, but we have to be in the right direction and for that I needed to go to Peru. That’s important. And you have to earn the right to have fun with the cuisine, and I want to be exposed to it and do it with the utmost respect all the time.
Tell us a little bit about your trip to Peru.
In March 2022, I traveled to Peru with our GM at China Chilcano, Alan Grublauskus. It was my first time there, and we went to Lima and to Ica towards the south where Pisco is made. I went to a lot of local markets for fish and produce and saw things that are harder to source in the US. It was incredible to see all the vibrant colors and fresh flavors and aromas of the produce that we can’t get here in the US. It was an amazing trip, everyone was so welcoming. What was also really cool is that you see all the impact of immigration on the community. You see people who have really assimilated into the Peruvian culture. It was easier to assimilate in Peru; Chinese and Japanese immigrants could buy land and get married. The laws were easier and more welcoming. Everyone considers themselves Peruvian and everyone speaks Spanish. It’s beautiful to see.
Was there a favorite experience from your trip?
Oh that’s hard to say, it was all so amazing! But we went to some small towns along the way from Ica to Lima and we stopped at this little scallop restaurant where they grow them right there off the ocean. I hung out in the kitchen and really saw the way that cooks there just showcase the freshness of the seafood; they don’t do a lot to it.
Any dishes on your menu that are inspired by that trip?
Yes, lots of influences all over the menu, little tweaks for sure, but one of the dishes we are doing that was inspired by that trip is an Arroz con Marisco. This is a seafood stew made with lots of mid-Atlantic fish that’s similar to a risotto. I’m not going to say it’s similar to a paella because then José will call me and yell at me! So, it’s like a risotto! You have the rice with clams, scallops, shrimp, and squid, and all that fresh ocean shellfish aroma seeps into the rice, so it’s really good.
What ingredients were particularly impressive?
The potatoes are all gorgeous! There are so many wild tubers. I had dinner at Central, Chef Virgilio Martinez’s restaurant, and it was an amazing experience. He designs his menu by elevation and gets a lot of tubers and potatoes from the Andes. We could never get those here. The wild potatoes, it was incredible to see the shapes, sizes, colors, textures and level of sweetness. It was just, wow, this is what a potato could be. At China Chilcano, we actually use different potatoes according to the time of year because depending on the season there will be different starch and sugar levels. We use Yukon Gold, Idaho, Fingerling Potatoes, Okinawan Purple Potatoes too. These are the potatoes that translate the best to what you’ll find in Peru.
What are some dishes on your menu that you’re most excited about?
Definitely the Chinese-style Char Siu Barbecue. I saw a lot of that in Peru, and I grew up eating Chinese barbecue in Hong Kong. When I was a kid, my mom and I would go out and get the barbecue meats and make sides at home. Char Siu is cooked on a vertical steamer with a water pan on the bottom and steam comes off water and makes meat that’s very moist. You don't have that smoke and that charred bark on the meat. At the restaurant we have a cool oven that does both, so you have the moist interior, and the charred crust. We serve the Char Siu as a platter you build at brunch, it’s really interactive and fun to share with a group. So you’ll get buns and different sauces like Rocoto Pepper Sauce, which is a spicy Peruvian pepper, a Tamarind Hoisin Sauce, a Ghung Yao, which is a ginger scallion oil, and a Salsa Criolla which is like a pico de gallo, a fresh salsa made from peppers, lime juice, and onions.
Can we talk about the Flying Squirrel Fish that’s on your Passage to Peru menu?
Ha, yes, the Pescado Frito Sudado that’s on our menu is what we call a Flying Squirrel Fish in Chinese. It’s a whole fried fish that we butterfly backwards, and we score it, take all the bones out, dredge it in flour, deep fry it. In that hot oil it curls up a bit and gets really crispy, and it looks like a flying squirrel. (Assuming you’ve seen a flying squirrel.) We top it with an Aji Amarillo sauce that’s made from a mild Peruvian yellow pepper which has a gorgeous color. And then we garnish with lots of fresh herbs. The Arroz con Mariscos and Flying Squirrel Fish are both specials for our Passage to Peru menu.
What else is on the menu that you want people to come in and try?
I am really excited about the entire Passport to Peru menu because it’s the first time since the pandemic that we’ve had a chance to run this menu and showcase the three different culinary directions of Peruvian cuisine. We will have a Tiradito de Trucha, a Nikkei dish that’s a trout sashimi with maracuya leche de tigre and chifles, a classic passion fruit sauce used to make ceviche; and Anticucho de Corazón, a grilled beef heart on a skewer, which is a street snack you’ll see all over Lima, so it’s fun to have the chance to try that. And of course, Papas a la Huancaina, the iconic potato dish from the Andes.
