ALIMENTARIE

When we are in a new place and want to get a feel for the food scene we always head to the same place and Santiago is no different. Where do you go to find the freshest food in town? The Central Markets, por supuesto! And, Santiago’s markets definitely deliver. As many visitors to Santiago will notice, the city is quite orderly, clean and has rather more of a Euro than a Latino feel, mostly because many of the historic buildings have been lost over the years due to earthquakes. Chile has a long history of quakes, the most recent being a Magnitude 8.8 that hit the country south of Santiago in 2010. So, much of the city core is filled with new buildings and is very orderly and quiet.  Not so in the bustle of the markets. This felt like the real Santiago.

Mercado Central, the first stop on our guided tour, is one of the oldest buildings in Santiago. Designed by British Architect Charles Henry Driver, it is a beautiful building of cast iron and glass. Driver was known for designing railway stations and other iconic buildings in cities across England and South America. And while the architecture is beautiful, I am more interested in the rows and rows of fresh seafood. Everything from scallops and clams- called machos here- to sea urchins, trucha and, much to our chagrin, farmed Chilean Salmon- Chile is one of the largest exporters of farmed Atlantic Salmon. Something not known by many salmon lovers is that much of the Atlantic Salmon found on menus in North America is, in fact, farmed in Chile and never swam in the waters of the Atlantic. But, that’s a rant for another day!

 

Meanwhile, back at Mercado Central, you can’t visit the fish stalls in Santiago without running into some congrio – conger eel – an apparent favourite of Chile’s Nobel Prize-winning poet, Pablo Neruda, who wrote an ode to the congrio entitled “Oda al Caldillo de Congrio.”   If you care to try a bowl, stop by one of the many seafood restaurants at the market. We chose Tio Willy’s and not feeling in the mood for an eel stew, I opted for a bowl of the seafood stew. I wouldn’t say it was the best seafood, I have eaten, but the setting made up for the slightly rubbery squid!

We visited the markets on New Year’s Eve and all of the fish mongers were in fine form.   Not quite the fish-throwing scene of Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, but close.  As Doug learned, be careful when you ask if they mind if you take a photo!

Our next stop was La Vega, an enormous market brimming with fresh fruits and vegetables, food stalls selling pastas and olive oils, cheeses and breads, and, lucky for us because we just happened to be having a craving…Santiago’s first Espresso Cart!   Café Altura is located in the back corner of La Vega and they make a mighty fine cappuccino, I must say.

 

New Year’s Eve, like everywhere else around the planet, is a big deal in Santiago. Fireworks galore, people everywhere, firecrackers going off at all hours. Outside the markets, vendors were selling yellow underwear- good luck befalls the wearer as midnight strikes, or so they say- containers of spray-confetti, firecrackers, and basically anything you can think of that will make a racket! Not being ones for the giganto Año Nuevo scene, we decided not to go to the city centre and instead opted for dinner at a great little Tapas Bar directly across the street from our B & B. Run by a Belgian ex-pat, Ruca Bar  serves inventive small plates made with local ingredients prepared by an Irish chef. Octopus is a popular dish in Santiago and Ruca Bar served it with a twist. The Pulpo on the Rocks was a play on octopus cooked in the traditional way, on hot rocks. This time, the “rocks” were potato croquettes dyed with octopus ink. Perfectly grilled octopus and a nice glass of Chilean red?  Perfecto!  And, being suckers for a good burger, we had to order the Mini Pulled Pork and Osso Bucco Hamberguesas.   As we slid back across the street just before midnight, we were invited to join a small Año Nuevo celebration with the owners of our hotel, Monica and Claudio!  Chilean bubbly at midnight and loads of hugs and kisses from the nicest people?  Not a bad way to start 2015!

 

Our last night in Santiago was reserved for dinner at a new-ish gastro spot called d.o. Restoran. Known for its “cocina originaria” or, designation of origin cuisine, d.o. Restoran prepares local and regional Chilean ingredients in innovatively delicious ways. Without the Espacio Culinario sisters, Fran and Anita, we would never have found this great place. The chef, Juan Morales, was a runner-up in Top Chef Chile, spent ten years working in top kitchens in Spain and is the head of an NGO that works with street kids by providing them scholarships to culinary schools.

Luckily for us, Fran requested the eight-course tasting menu when she booked, and being one of only a few tables as it was just after New Year’s, we were given the royal treatment. And, annoying photo-taking access to the kitchen.  Always helps to have a couple of local foodies at your table!

Our first course was simple, fresh-baked mini Bocados de Damas,  served piping hot in a brown bag with pickled onions, octopus ceviche and a chilled Chilean lager on the side! Each course was served on simple Chilean pottery and featured traditional recipes made with indigenous ingredients, re-constructed for a modern twist.   Loco, a shellfish similar to abalone was perfectly “cooked’ in a lime marinade and served with pickled vegetables.

 

After our first course, we moved inside to get down to the serious eating. Roasted trout, coated with a black olive tapenade, sat on a cloud of quinoa and vegetable pilaf.  Loco, a shellfish similar to abalone was perfectly “cooked’ in a lime marinade and garnished with pickled vegetables. Slow-braised pig’s cheeks cozied up to pureed camote– sweet potato-  and cebolla frita- crispy fried onions.  Cow’s Tongue, to be honest, not something I would eat by choice, was made surprisingly delicious with a garnish of avocado mousse and vegetable ceviche.  Quinoa Salad, garnished with micro-greens… cannelloni stuffed with goat…I’m sure I’ve left a course or two out.

Each new dish seemed to out-due the last, and if I was a really diligent food writer, I would have taken extensive notes. But, we were having too much fun to get bogged down in the minutia. And, lucky for us, Anita is a trained sommelier and chose a delicious Chateau Los Boldos, Carménére that paired perfectly with everything.  Even the three, I kid you not, THREE…dessert courses!  Milk Ice Cream with sweet milk foam and candied papaya on a bed of white chocolate “sand,” a mini custard-filled beignet with mango helado and, just when we thought it had all, sadly, come to an end, the chef sent out a platter of quince jellies and mini bread puddings.

 

I’m not usually a fan of tasting menus. I find that the whole culinary experience is so contrived that you leave forgetting most of what you ate and feeling completely over-stuffed. Not so at d.o. Restoran. Surprisingly, we left feeling very content, in a bit of a wine glow, and lamenting the fact that the following day we would move on, leaving our new-found foodie friends behind. We vowed to return. There were way too many restaurants that still needed to be checked out and, let’s not forget, we never got a chance to try that famous Chilean hot dog, “ El Completo!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rule #1:  In order to have the best time possible in Santiago, Chile, make sure to befriend a Chilean food blogger, food photographer, culinary specialist and all-round terrific person about six months before travelling.

Rule #2: Be prepared to eat a lot of deliciously grilled meat- Parilla-style, roast pork- aka, cerdo- salchichas, and loads of fresh seafood.

Rule #3: When you think you can’t eat another thing, never pass a Heladaria without grabbing a quick Dulce de Leche or Crema de Chocolata to go.

When Doug and I decided that the starting point for our South American travels would be Santiago, I contacted my friend Francisca Amenábar, immediately. Fran and I met at a food photography workshop in England last summer. I was doing the food, Fran was honing her photography skills. Fran and her sister Anita are the talents behind the popular Chilean food blog, Espacio Culinario. Who better to give us a crash course in all things delicious in Santiago?

After a long, overnight flight and a brief nap at our hotel, we met Fran and her boyfriend, Enrique, for our first night out on the town, Chilean-style.

After touring the antiques shops of Barrio Italia, a walking tour of the city centre led us to the Santiguan institution, La Fuente Alemana for a Lomito Completo and a beer. Odd, you might think, this being Chile and all. The German Fountain? Who would have thought our first meal in Santiago would be inspired by Deutschland? Turns out that the restaurant is named for the fountain nearby that was donated to Chile by Germany upon its independence from Spain. I had read about this 1950’s style lunch counter, but, to be honest, wasn’t feeling inspired to hit a German-style eatery on our foray into Chilean cuisine. But, when Fran and Enrique suggested we drop in for a bite, La Fuente Alemana being a must on any food tour of Santiago, we wiped our minds of any preconceptions and submitted to the Completo.

So what is a Lomito Completo, or Completo, for short? First off, the lomito is said to be the iconic Chilean sandwich– some say maybe even the unofficial national dish– a massive sandwich made from roast pork, braised for hours and thinly sliced, with a variety of toppings, on a freshly-baked soft white bun. A Completo, is actually a gigantic hot dog topped with loads of mayonnaise, avocado, tomatoes, ketchup and mustard. At La Fuente Alemana, as far as I could tell, the lomito and the completo became one as a towering sandwich, oozing with pork, mayo, tomatoes, mashed avocado and, get this… sauerkraut! Not a combo I would have thought of, but, I have to tell you, incredibly delicious. Entering La Fuente Alemana can be a little intimidating. The place is usually packed, three deep, and the only seating is at a u-shaped counter, surrounding the open kitchen where the all-women sandwich cooks, dressed in white, prepare the food.  Apparently it is normal practice to hover around people sitting in the stools at the counter until there is an opening and then to grab your seats fast. Within seconds, our order was taken and we were left to watch the cooks assembling sandwiches in unison, hardly a word spoken. No need for words, La Fuente Alemana has been in business for over 60 years and I am sure some of the cooks were there when it opened its doors.

As we were really only stopping in for a snack- it was 6:30 and most Chileans don’t go out to eat until at least 9:30- we ordered two to share between all of us and four mugs of icy cold Pilsner, pulled from the tap by a towering Pilsner-meister.  After staring down the sandwich and wondering how on earth we were going to get our mouths around it, Fran advised that the only way to eat a Completo is with a knife and fork. And so with cutlery in hand, our culinary initiation into Chilean Cuisine began!

All finished with our  our pre-dinner “snack,” we decided to cruise trendy Barrio Lastarria and see what the hip crowd were up to.  After passing a trendy hot dog  joint with the Anglo-Chilean name, Hogs Salchicheria and making a mental note to go back the next day for a Completo of the hot dog variety, we checked out Bar The Clinic, a local’s pub where Santiguans debate politics and drink beer in a bar that has bras hanging from a gigantic chandelier! According to Lonely Planet, “it’s the official watering hole of Chilean political magazine The Clinic” a political satire weekly started in 1998 after the arrest of former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The newspaper took its name from The London Clinic, aka “The Clinic,” where Pinochet was arrested. As we learned more and more about Pinochet’s horrific military dictatorship of 1973-1990, a public place where politics could be argued freely took on greater meaning. And it was packed, and loud! Unfortunately for us, there wasn’t a seat or a square inch of floor space to be had. Just time for a quick pic and off to the next stop.

We knew that Chile was one of the major wine producers on the planet, so where else to go but a wine bar that had 400 Chilean wines on the menu, with 36 by the glass? Bocanariz, the name a play on “mouth” and “nose,” both needing to be in good working order to appreciate good wine, is considered one of the best places to taste Chilean wines in Santiago.

At tables filled with locals and the odd smattering of Gringos, were oenophiles and hangers-on, fully engaged in the art of wine-tasting. Being our first day and suffering from jet lag, we decided not to do a formal tasting (are we crazy?) and, instead, handed things over to Enrique who ordered us a beautiful Chilean red and a sampling of some traditional cured meats and cheeses.

Que perfecto!  Next visit, we will try to work our way through the wine list or maybe one of the many tasting flights! And so in a bit of a wine haze, Fran and Enrique led us to the subway station.   As we blundered our way home to a good night’s sleep, we looked at each other and said in unison…we’re in SANTIAGO!