There's a Chinese-Peruvian dish that Jared Thibault has eaten hundreds – probably even thousands – of times: .
Described as "", it's a stir-fried beef and rice staple that's memorably flavoured with wok-tossed hot chips, tomatoes and onions.
It's popular at Thibault's new restaurant in Brisbane, but he first encountered it a decade ago, when his partner Fiorella Aguila served it at a Peruvian event at their Canberra workplace. "She made me this dish," he says.
It wasn't just Thibault's introduction to lomo saltado, it was his gateway into Chinese-Peruvian food. Known as , this cuisine evolved from Chinese labourers who migrated to Peru in the late 1800s to work on the country's infrastructure. The birthplace of lomo saltado is Lima's Calle La Concepcion, known as Peru's Barrio Chino (Chinatown). The recipe perfectly merges both cultures: Peruvian ingredients, such as potatoes and tomatoes, flash through the heat of the wok, and are splashed with soy sauce, and served with rice grains.
Thibault still recalls the buzz of Peru's chifa restaurants when he visited the country for the first time in 2014. It was a personally significant trip: the couple was introducing their newborn daughter to Aguila's family. Being in Lima – his wife's home town – had a lasting impact on him in many ways. The city has more than 6000 Chinese restaurants ("more than double the number in the Big Apple", reports , even though they have similar populations), and Aguila introduced him to eateries offering Peruvian interpretations of everything from bao to wonton soup. "I just loved the simple way they'd do things like dumplings," he says.
The chaufa (Peruvian fried rice) was spiced differently to a Cantonese version, with a heavier amount of egg through it. The filling in a bao was unmistakenly Peruvian.
"You go there and they give you five different sauces for everything," he says. Ají amarillo (made from yellow peppers or capsicum) was a particular standout. "It's just the most flavoursome you've ever had in your life."
The brightness and atmosphere of these venues were different to any Chinese restaurant he'd ever been to. "Right then and there, I knew I wanted to do this someday," he says.
And that's how Casa Chow opened this July.
It was shaped by many influences (co-owner Vincent Lombino had previously worked at a Miami restaurant called Chispa, with similar culinary inspirations; and Thibault noticed that chifa restaurants were taking off in America), but Aguila, who made that life-changing lomo saltado a decade ago, was undeniably a key part of the restaurant.
It's just the most flavoursome you've ever had in your life.
"In terms of the lomo and chaufa, all those recipes we're using have been in her family for over 70 years," says Thibault.
It's a link that's even more meaningful since Aguila tragically died of cancer earlier this year. Thibault knows "how proud she'd be" of the restaurant and he especially appreciates how his kitchen – led by head chef Gabriele Di Landri – honours her memories.
"He's really humble in the fact that he knew how important these recipes were to me personally and not to steer away from them."
His Peruvian mother-in-law Edith Leon, who came to stay with the family before Aguila died, also maintains a strong link to Casa Chow: she's given them family recipes that were missing from his wife's collection.
Leon was also a chef, and so was her mother. "They all come from a long ancestry of chefs."
His mother-in-law, who regularly cooked Peruvian chow mein for him, recently sent him the instructions so he could add the dish at Casa Chow. Even from Peru, she's enthusiastically chiming in with ideas for making the menu bigger.
"We just opened!" he says and laughs.
Although Casa Chow presents twists on Peruvian classics, too (the ceviche is made "chifa-style" thanks to crispy wonton chips), he's aware of the importance of nailing staples like lomo saltado.
After endless troubleshooting, the lomo saltado is now wok-tossed with Scotch fillet strips and Thibault can tell the sauce is right just by glancing at the glaze.
"That's probably the dish I've had the most through the years," he says.
His daughter is also a fixture at Casa Chow, given its connection to her mum's birthplace.
"She comes into the venue like she owns it. She's only eight. She's very proud."
Surely she's a fan of the lomo saltado, given its pivotal role in her parents' lives (and the fact the stir-fry has a kid-friendly amount of French fries in it)?
"Yeah, she just eats the chips and picks around all the great additions on there," he says. "We'll get there."
