Distinctive Cuisine

Distinctive Cuisine

Mountains plummet to hills, tumble to plains, and fall to ocean quickly in the thin strip of land that is Chile, and the seascape-landscape variety provides the ingredients for a distinctive cuisine. From the ocean come delicacies such as conger eel, sea bass, king crab, and locos (abalone the size of fat clams).

But the Pacific isn't Chile's only answer to fine dining -- European immigrants brought with them a love for robust country cooking. Indeed, many simple country dishes are among the best offerings of Chilean cuisine, including cazuela, a superb stew made of meat, potatoes, and corn on the cob in a thick broth; porotos granados, a thick bean, corn, and squash stew; and humitas, ground corn seasoned and steamed in its own husk. At markets all over the country, vendors try to woo you with the ubiquitous and delicious pastel de choclo, a corn pie that usually contains ground beef, chicken, and seasonings. Empanadas, pastries stuffed with meat or cheese, are popular everywhere.

International cuisine has caught on here, too, especially in the cosmopolitan capital, where you can dine in every type of ethnic restaurant from Japanese to Jamaican. But be sure to sample those restaurants that capture the essence of local cuisine. There are several standouts: Santiago's Aquí Está Coco dishes up the capital's best fish and shellfish, but Azul Profundo's unadorned seafood grilled to perfection gives it a run for its money; an elegant 19th-century mansion high above the Valparaíso is the setting for fine dining at Café Turri; way down south in Punta Arenas, waiters dressed as gauchos carve lamb off the spit at Los Ganaderos.