Photo: P_R_ , Feature Photo: Photocapy
Dine with Chileans and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they can’t live without avocadoes or ketchup. If you look beyond the loathsome burger joints of the capital, you’ll find a staggering wealth of cheap, wholesome food that puts other countries to shame.
Chile’s unusual geography and long straggly coast, means fish, meat, fruit and vegetables are all in plentiful supply. Vegetarians will have an easier time of it than in neighbouring Argentina and although Chile is more expensive than Peru or Bolivia, bargains can be found at lunchtime wherever you see the ‘menu del dia’ sign.
Street Eats
The Italiano
Photo: magical-world
Despite the name, hotdogs don’t get more Chilean than this. Smothered in chopped tomato, mashed avocado and about 3 pints of mayonnaise this is Chile’s fast food of choice. Lose the avocado and you’ve got yourself a completo. Many swear by the Santiago chain Dominó.
Sopapillas
If you’re got the munchies after a night out and aren’t counting your calories, sopapillas are just the thing. Pumpkin and flour are shaped into patties before being deep fried and slathered with pebre, a delicious sauce of tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli, coriander and lemon that Chileans just can’t live without. Cheap as chips and sold on street corners everywhere, there’s also a sweet version served with sugary Chancaca sauce.
Empanadas
Photo: IntangibleArts
Popular all over South America, empanadas are pastry-wrapped portable pies similar to an English Cornish Pasty. Baked or fried and with a selection of fillings, meat based Pino is the filling of choice for locals. Aficionados head to Pomaire (a small village famous for its pottery just outside Santiago) for the stomach-expanding ½ kilo version. The best in the land (and write in if I’m wrong) are at Los Hornos de Rio Seco in Cajón del Maipo’s San Alfonso.
Comfort Food
Cazuela de Ave
A stalwart during the winter months, Cazuela is a rich, soupy casserole full of goodness that’s perfect for dunking your bread into. Chicken on the bone is cooked in a nutritious stock with hunks of pumpkin, potato, carrot and corn on the cob. True carnivores can check out the beef version, Cazuela de Vacuno.
Paila Marina
Photo: devlinleedrew
Seafood fans will think they’ve died and gone to heaven when they see this. Traditionally served in an earthenware bowl, every conceivable type of shellfish is thrown into this traditional seafood stew along with herbs, spices, garlic and plenty of coriander. Best eaten in the Southern coastal towns, it’s pretty darn good at El Rincón del Pancho in Valparaiso’s Mercado Cardonal too.
Pastel de Choclo
Minced meat, chicken, raisins, black olives and eggs are crammed into a pie dish and then topped with a layer of creamy mashed sweetcorn and a sprinkle of sugar. It may sound weird but it tastes delicious. Every Chilean mum will tell you that hers is the best.
Photo: P_R_
Chorillana
Ooh this is dirty and wrong but it feels so right. Usually big enough for two, a massive plate of greasy chips is covered in fried strips of steak, onion and scrambled egg. Your heart will hate you but your taste buds will be begging for more. Studenty Casino Social J Cruz in Valparaiso serves the best.
Something Special
Curanto
The pride of the island of Chiloé, Curanto is traditionally prepared over hot stones in a hole in the ground. Shellfish, meat, potatoes, vegetables and potato bread and covered with nalca (Chilean rhubarb leaves) and left to cook for an hour or so while everyone knocks back a few glasses of red wine.
Veggie Delights
Humitas with Chilena Salad
Photo: Cobalito
Summer is the best time for veggies to come to Chile, if only to try the humitas. Made from parcels of fresh corn, onion, basil and butter, they are wrapped in corn husks and then baked or boiled. Served with a sprinkle of sugar and a tomato and onion salad (Chilena), these babies are deliciously, deceptively filling.
Porotos con Mazamorra
Chilean country-folk have a knack for cooking beans and this dish is the pick of the bunch. A warming stew made from fresh beans, pumpkin, ground corn, onion, garlic and cumin, this ‘poor man’s food’ is proof that you don’t need to be rich to eat well at the bottom of the world.
Sweet Treats
Calzones Rotos (Ripped Knickers)
Photo: roboppy
Ok, so there are better desserts than this, but none with a name this good. A flat fried pastry twisted into shape and topped with icing sugar, sweet-toothed Chileans can’t resist them. Look out for the soft round pastry sandwiches filled with gooey caramel known as alfajores too. They are guaranteed to liven up long bus journeys and make great presents.
More Food On Matador
Dig food from South America? Don’t miss our Guide To Eating In Brazil and also take a gander at our Ceviche Primer. Those who over-indulge might follow Matador Nights’ Tom Gates as he eats his way through the world, with recent stops in Berlin and Bangkok.
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16 Comments... join the discussion!
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Thanks, now I’m hungry! I think I can find some empanadas here. They won’t be the same but they’ll fill me up for the night.
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The best empanadas are in Blasoni (Concepcion), simply delicious!
And way better than the curanto is the pulmay (same ingredients but made in a big pot, so you can drink the juice… mmmh!).
And “pernil”, “arrollado”, “chancho en piedra”, “caldillo de congrio”, “plateada al jugo”… so good chilean food!
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That Italiano just made me tear a little. I want one so bad. I want two in fact. Do they do mail order?
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@ Paul:
Mail order may take a while… but they’re easily made at home. Just taken a normal hot dog, mash up an avocado, chop up some tomato and then squeeze on the mayo it’s begging for mercy. Then squeeze on a bit more. The photo really doesn’t do the mayo quantity justice.Sorry for making everyone hungry.
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Thanks for the recipe Natasha. I’m gonna stock up on mayo just for this. I think it’s really the Avo that gets me in the end tho. Love avo.
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I loved Chilean food, tastes great! Although, in my opinion, they can’t serve it nice and it’s always a pile of food in your plate, delicious though! Italiano, pastel de choclo mmmmmmm….!
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el completo, lleva americana y repollo (chucrut) tHIS is for further info about completos, italianos, palta tomate mayo, y completo palta, tomate, chucrut, mayo, palta.
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I wasn’t a fan of the italiano so much, but I think I had a completo 3 meals a day for the 4 days I stayed in Santiago. I would camp out the street meat vendor stands until they would open their carts. No other town in Chile really compared, though I did give everyone a shot.
There was also a delicious deep fried egg roll type treat that was sold outside of every subway stop that cost next to nothing, but was my second favorite food in the whole country.
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I liked a chilean fruit that tasted soo good…Forgot the name! But it was on bizarre foods.
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i am chilean and think the italiano es overrated, but mi countrymen usuaally disagree. i prefer completos, and the best are served at dominó. they add some salsa verde (which have onion and coriander), a unique feature of that place (and mi mother’s house). to jean: if you describe the fruit, espacially its taste, maybe i can tell you its name.
the best empanadas in my opinión are those from la fuente suiza, especial those filled with cheese and ostiones (a chilean shellfish, a sort of oyster).
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@ Jean,
Could it be ‘Chirimoya’? A bit bigger than an apple with knobbly skin and big black seeds inside? Taste delicious and great in juices?
Or ‘Pepino Dulce’ (literally sweet cucumber)? Stripy skin and like your own individually sized cataloupe melon? Bloody gorgeous.
Not sure what else it could be… Anyone?
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When I was in Chile I couldn’t get enough churrasco completos and hot dog completos. The creamy wonderful avocado is the ultimate ingredient of all Chilean food and brings together all the flavors.
When I would order my churassco completos I would douse them with the chili tomato sauce. So gooooood!
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could it have been “lucuma”??
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Im from Chile. Glaad to read those post about my country!
The best high-standar Empanada, in my opinion, is the Empanadas from La Punta.
This restaurant is located in Santiago, in Lo Barnechea.It’s not specially cheap. 2 dlrs the unit.
You can’t miss it!
KEEP COMING TO CHILE!
WE HAVE DESERT, MOUNTAINS, THE EASTER ISLAND, PATAGONIA, 4000 KILOMETERS OF BEAUTIFULL AND VIRGIN BEACHES.I LOVE MY COUNTRY!
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