Near the end of the 50’s of the last century, William Chan Lau sets foot in Lima. A Chinese immigrant married to a Peruvian citizen of Chinese ascendancy from Mainland China, both residents in the United States, where William worked as a chef in his young years when he lived in San Francisco.
The latter end of the 50’s presents an extremely traditional Lima, with part-time schedules that allowed returning home for lunch, thus setting foot in a restaurant was basically done for important events, obviously chosen for their premises and style. This is why the initiative to implement a small food business was labeled as a failure and received very little support.
The official story of the average immigrant is known, and it’s summed up on effort and stubbornness to spare, alongside the lack of resources. Chairs and tables made by their own hands, and when they were done, by the final days of 1958 without much flare nor signs of good fortune, a very small restaurant opened its doors. It looked more like a neighborhood coffee shop, those places that have sawdust on the floor and empty walls because that was all the budget could get.
His wife, a Spanish speaker, was his link to the Western world. She had the role of adviser, interpreter and sous-chef, besides also working as an administrator.
The food wasn’t very elaborated, but the taste was exceptional, the service was personal, and the style of the food let the clients feel like home. Located very near the heart of Chinatown, where the density of people was notorious and permanent. A Lima that was changing without people noticing, combined with the excellent flavor of his cooking made William’s immigrant dream come true: Support his family and prosper.
By the end of the 60’s, the modest place was widely known, this is why, the now disappeared weekly newspaper, 7 DIAS de La PRENSA (7 DAYS of The PRESS) writes a story titled SITIECITOS PARA COMER (LITTLE PLACES FOR EATING). The story brought more customers, some of them used to elegant places, arrived with their most simple clothing.
During the 70’s, Chinatown and the nearby places are bombarded with informal commerce, turning the zone from a peaceful street to a very busy one full of chaos. In 1983, after a two-year break, a new venue is opened in the first block of Canada Avenue, with a better menu, keeping the work rhythm and the taste. This brought back the old friends, and others who arrived as new customers and stayed for the next nine years in the TITI of Canada Avenue.
The opening day in Canada Avenue can still be remembered, because of a terrorist attack, the priest in charge of blessing the venue had to perform his job in complete darkness, and because Chinese people are almost compulsively superstitious, they commented it was "such bad luck!" But it wasn’t, as they would later say because, in 1992, TITI was opening its third venue, more spacious, with better infrastructure, more variety in its menu, and with more energy to compete in the local market.
The curious thing about the opening day in Javier Prado Avenue, the blessing was also done in complete darkness... this time for a circuit overload. Used to unplanned things happening, there was the Chinese dragon to keep away the bad spirits, but that didn’t stopped the Sol Gas building from an explosion that generated more terror because the venue possesses big windows that could have easily been blown up. Luckily, it wasn’t like that, and on July 23rd of 1992, the second generation of TITI began working.
Chinese food is really popular in Peru, a result from the cultural integration between Peruvians and Chinese people. The word CHIFA is only used in Peru, and is unknown in other places. The taste of Chifa is adapted to the Peruvian palate, so it’s not strange to find a Peruvian living abroad that misses Chifa, unless there’s any Peruvian that has decided to open their own Chifa. They will still think of having it until the day they decide to go back.
Chifa is synonym of celebration, you invite someone for some Chifa when a baby is born, when you celebrate the christening of a kid in the family, when you formalize a relationship and also, when you end one. The happy moments deserve Chifa, and that’s almost a general saying.
Chinese food in Peru comes mostly from Canton, since the first migrants came from that province. However, if you visit Canton, it will be difficult to find a delicious KAM LU WANTAN. You grew up having it, and you will always want it that way, but you will also taste new flavors, and be ready to keep on eating that which you always loved to eat. Nobody should tell you that you don’t know how to eat Chinese food, you know how to eat Chifa...
It’s very thrilling to see Westerners, even more each day, using chopsticks to eat Chinese food instead of a fork and a knife. It’s even more exciting that they enjoy eating rice without salt, when in other times, the eating of plain white rice was a joke. All of that reflects the degree of integration between both cultures, and the human being’s capacity to take on new customs.
And the story continues... four consecutive years of winning the award for Peruvian Enterprise of the Year in the area of Chinese Food Service is the best thrill for leading the market. There’s TITI for the years to come.