There's Always a (Chinese) Guy Named Tony

In which we explore one of the hottest new, modern Chinese restaurants in town.

There’s a TV/movie trope that there’s always some guy named Tony who has a pizzeria or a pasta joint. He’s always the guy in the know. And it never matters if there really is a Tony, just that everyone who works at Tony’s knows he’s “the guy”.

And so we come to Tony Wu Cantina, Loyola 851, in Villa Crespo. There is no Tony, as best I can tell. Who there is, is José Delgado, a Venezuelan chef who arrived in Buenos Aires a decade ago after cooking stints in the US and Canada, then spent several years working for sushi chain Fabric. From there, he moved on to Saigon where in after hours he met and teamed up with Vietnamese chef Thomás Nguyen, and with the backing of Saigon’s partners (if I understand correctly), opened up Cang Tin, one of the few Vietnamese restaurants in the city, which I reviewed a bit over four years ago. While Tony Wu was in the plans, there were “obstacles”, and a year or so ago the two opened up Yakinilo, a baker’s dozen seat sushi and wine bar (which I have yet to review) that is always packed. And now we come to the “modern Chinese cantina” which opened this past February.

The design elements are meant to mimic the style of an old school Chinese policial, a Chinatown TV or movie police drama. It’s colorful, it’s got vaguely Asian stylized lettering on things. It’s got a cool vibe in my generation’s slang - in the current one, I guess it would have a great aura or be mad lit. That’s as far as I’m going with Gen-Z slang. Service is attentive, friendly, helpful courteous… they’re all, without knowing it, living up to the Boy Scout code. Over the last two weeks I’ve visited three times, twice with a friend (once for lunch, once for dinner), and once with Henry for lunch. We’ve covered a decent portion of the menu, though there’s plenty more.

While not every dish was my cup of (Chinese) tea, everything we tried was, at the least, good, and several dishes were just superb. When I was trying to explain to Henry what it was I really liked about it, it was a combination of two things - bold, interesting flavor combinations, and, an interesting freshness - ofttimes Chinese food comes across as a bit on the oily side, but these dishes don’t - the oil is used sparingly, and to good effect. On to the food….

First, from their dim sum menu, from which we’ve sampled more of than from the main course menu.

Wonton Chili Oil - slippery, beautifully cooked dumplings filled with pork and green onions, in a sauce of chili oil, black vinegar, and a touch of broth. Absolutely delicious. Perhaps a rather small portion of five (a number which popped up on several dishes) coming in at just shy of 16000 pesos, just over $2 per wonton. I’d still order them again (and we did).

Shumai de Langostinos y Cerdo - pork and prawn filled open dumplings topped with trout roe. Another excellent dish, and another “five”, and up to nearly 18000 pesos. The place is not cheap, but it is so good.

By the way, on request, they’ll bring you a little caddy of three sauces - soy sauce, traditional Chinese chili oil, and a housemade hot sauce. The last is fiery, flavorful, and I want jars of it at home. Interesting that they don’t offer them, you have to ask. But they’re visibly on display, and I’d venture that about half the people in the place do ask, especially those who’ve been before.

Honey Caju Shrimp - almost tempura style prawns glazed in a honey mayo, and tossed with chives and candied cashews. I’m not normally big on sweet style dishes like this, but jeez this was good. Added some of their hot sauce and it was a perfect balance. And eight, yes, eight, jumbo prawns at 24000 pesos, which in contrast to the dumpling portions is quite generous.

Turnip Cake - I love a good turnip cake in dim sum restaurants. Usually steamed, and packed with flavors from slightly sweet Chinese sausage, sometimes some mushroom, and green onion. I’m going to say this has been our least favorite dish. Though the menu states it includes char siu pork rather than the traditional sausage, it wasn’t evident in the flavor. The shiitake mushroom flavor kind of overwhelmed all others, and the crust from frying had a weird, slightly chewy texture that stuck in the teeth. Okay, there was one dish I wouldn’t order again. 13000 pesos. (By the way, I’m rounding up slightly here. All these even numbers are actually with the Chinese triple 8 for luck, so this one was actually 12888 pesos… etc. Given that 112 pesos is currently worth about 7 cents US, I’ll take the rounding.)

Stuffed Chicken Wings - pork and prawn stuffed wings, glazed in a sweet soy. Again, slightly sweeter than my usual choice of fare, but with a dollop of the hot sauce, absolutely on-point. 20000 pesos. A price for which I can get around 18 hot wings from any of several places around the city. Yes, these are stuffed and lacquered and different, but it still seems a tad high. The prices, by the way, are almost roller coaster in being high or low. On our third visit, a young man sitting next to us ordered a stir-fry of udon noodles, that comes in at about 26000 pesos, and it was a huge platter that was enough for two to share.

Gai Lan - Chinese broccoli sautéed with a ton of crispy garlic and chilies and as good as most of the dishes we’ve tried were, this might just be my favorite so far. 13000 pesos. And a decent portion as well.

Jing Sui Dan - steamed egg custard with smoked shiitake mushrooms and trout roe. One of the more unusual dishes in Chinese cooking here in Buenos Aires - I don’t think I’ve seen the dish offered anywhere else. It might have been on the “Chinese people only” menu at Beijing (which, for locals, is slated to re-open this month after being closed since the pandemic). Hauntingly good, I’d order this over and over again. 13000 pesos.

Szechuan Pickles - offered as an “accompaniment”, it wasn’t at all what we think of as Szechuan pickles, which are usually pickled Chinese cucumbers in a chili, Szechuan peppercorn, ginger, and garlic oil and vinegar cure, this was basically just some greens in vinegar with maybe a hint of the peppercorn. Refreshing and tasty as a nibble between courses, but not what we were expecting. And 6000 pesos for a tiny bowl is a bit much.

Cocktail interlude. At dinner we tried a couple of their creative house cocktails. The Bloody of Wu is basically a decently spicy gin-based Bloody Mary with a prawn, and Tony’s Margarita throws in a touch of cayenne and mango to the classic.

On to a few main courses.

Salt and Pepper Fried Fish - Excellent version of this dish, with perfectly cooked, flaky white fish in a crispy crust. The spicy warning on this one is unnecessary, as the only spiciness seems to come from the couple of rounds of jalapeño scattered on the plate. If there was spice in the crust, it wasn’t evident. Five pieces. 26000 pesos. Hmmm…

Mapo Tofu Pork - Now, mapo tofu is a longtime favorite dish. It is, classically, a dish of tofu in a numbingly spicy sauce of chilies and Szechuan peppercorns, with some ground pork added as an accent. This version switches it up. It’s almost all ground pork, with just a few scattered cubes of tofu. And despite being marked as the spiciest dish on the menu, it had little chili in there, and we didn’t get the sense of any Szechuan peppercorn. If it’s there, it’s beyond subtle. Don’t get me wrong, it was a delicious dish, it just seemed a long stretch from the traditional. 25000 pesos.

Kung Pao langostinos - a prawn version of a classic kung pao - moderately spicy, could have been spicier. Without peanuts, on request (Henry’s not a fan). A whopping generous portion of prawns - more than a dozen of them - he only ate about 2/3 of the dish. We’d happily get this one again. 28000 pesos.

Mongolian Beef - a moderately spicy stir fry of beef, peppers and green onion in a sticky sweet chili sauce. We didn’t expect the sweet component. Hot sauce balance strikes again! 28000 pesos.

Overall, great ambiance and service. Really pretty impeccable for a casual spot like this. The food, with the exception of the one dish, I’d happily order any of it again. If this place was in our neighborhood, we’d eat there once a week. Well, we might have to watch it - it would add up. Two appetizers and two main courses, with rice (5000 pesos), water (4000 pesos each), and drinks (around 11000 pesos each) can easily top 100000 pesos for a meal for two. But we’d be happy.