Chinese eatery wows visitors

The Chinese restaurant, Bamboo, located in the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia, is the southernmost Chinese restaurant in the world.

From its location at what can be considered the end of the world, its flavors delight locals and tourists alike who arrive here attracted by word-of-mouth recommendations.

Ushuaia, capital of Argentina's southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego, is celebrated for its exquisite gastronomy that draws its ingredients from the sea including king crab and hake.

Another of the area's specialties is Fuegian lamb. Thanks to the locals' work on the pasture that the animals graze on, and helped in a large part by the marine air, the meat from these animals is widely considered to be some of the most delicious - as well as lowest in fat - in the world.

These delicacies are available all year around and, although there are restaurants that specialize in their preparation, you can find the dish at any of the city's restaurants, including Bamboo.

Bamboo opened three years ago and holds the award for being the southernmost Chinese restaurant in the world.

Here you can sample international haute cuisine as well as the special of the day, which is prepared for the thousands of tourists who make their way to Ushuaia every year, many of them Chinese, on a layover on their way to the Antarctic Peninsula, located about 1,000 kilometers to the south.

Qu Guiqiu, the restaurant owner, known among friends as Daniela, says: "It is the only Chinese restaurant in the city at the end of the world.

"We are open nine months out of the year, except for April, May and June when the family goes on vacation to China," she says.

"During the summer we serve a lot of tourists and countrymen, and in winter it's more locals," Daniela says.

In the day to day work, she relies on the help and support from cook Xiao Huijun and her husband, Shang Jiabin, who strive to provide the best service to friends and strangers alike.

Although China may be geographically very far away from Argentina, the restaurant bridges the gap by merging the culinary tastes of Asia and mixing them with the local flavors.

So, nestled on a street corner in Ushuaia, where San Martin Avenue meets Argentina Antarctica street, in the southernmost reaches of South America, Bamboo offers the faraway flavors of Dalian, a Chinese city in the northeastern province of Liaoning - and a welcome taste of home for some visitors to this remote locale.