Celeste Imperio is a famous Chinese restaurant in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
. It was founded in 1994 and served as one of the pillars of modern Chinese food in this small Central American country. The most attractive characteristic of this Chinese restaurant is the Chinese style
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
, which resembles those of ancient Chinese palaces. To date, this is the only Chinese style façade in El Salvador. Famous dishes from this restaurant are Chow Mein, Cantonese style rice, Chop Suey and fried
wantan. The flavour and style of many of the dishes were modified to suit the taste buds of Salvadorans.
Origins
Celeste Imperio was founded in 1994. The cooking style of Celeste Imperio is based on the Cantonese style tradition from the small town Jiu Jiang (九江) in
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province. However, seeing the need of making
Chinese food
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ...
appealing to Salvadorans, the restaurant modified some of their cooking styles, naming it Chinese-Salvadoran. Although there are a few modifications, the dishes still have the distinctive taste of the Cantonese style cooking. Many Salvadorans were attracted to the taste of this new hybrid cooking style and made Celeste Imperio their favourite place for a family dinner or lunch.
See also
*
List of Chinese restaurants
This is a list of notable Chinese restaurants. A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves Chinese cuisine outside China. Some have distinctive styles, as with American Chinese cuisine and Canadian Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the ...
External links
*http://www.elsalvador.com/elsalvador/informacion/gastronomia/index.htm
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070219131612/http://www.elsalvadorturismo.gob.sv/servicios.php?id=RES00278&ver=ok&tip=RESTAURANTES
Chinese diaspora in North America
Chinese restaurants outside China
Restaurants in El Salvador
1994 establishments in El Salvador
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