Eat Like Ushi

After trying to second branch in Punta Arenas (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/la-mesita-grande-punta-arenas-11-2016), it seemed an easy lunch decision to visit the conveniently located mothership branch in Puerto Natales.

The vegetable soup of the day (CLP3,300) was Italian cream of pumpkin and very nice and rich. Pancitos salmon (garlic bread with smoked salmon and grated parmesan cheese) CLP4,300 was excellent, with thick slices of fish that I wished I could have found for the hike.

La Barros Luco a lo Pobre (mozzarella, tomato sauce, beef, caramelised onion, egg) CLP 6,900 was a nice version with chewy meat, fried egg and adequate crust.

They also served a local brand of organic juices (Tamaya CLP3,200) of which the blueberry was delicious. Unfortunately they didn't have available the exciting flavour I wanted of Chilean black cherry.

This pizzeria was originally born in Puerto Natales and then the quality and reputation spread to Punta Arenas. It was the first taste of Italian food in South America and didn't disappoint.

The lasagna (CLP6,500) was served in a deep casserole dish with lovely melted cheese on top, layers of fresh pasta and a sugo with a hearty flavour and no tomato acidity. The Patagonian lamb pizza (La Mesita Grande - mozzarella, tomato sauce, marinated spicy lamb, onions, green peppers CLP6,900) was my first introduction to the regions famed animal. The redness in the meat was still visible. Although nice, it didn't seem particularly different from any other decent lamb I've had, but overall the pizza was good. The crust was relatively thin and chewy but I would have liked a bit more seasoning.

It was all washed down with a housemade lemon/lime-ade (CLP2,500) which was refreshing and had minimal fizz.

Doppel is known for cocktails and atmosphere rather than food. But it seemed easy enough to get some (expensive) foods to accompany the drinks. After perusing a long cocktail list, the waiter asked what sort of drinks we liked. In the end there was one sour and one sweeter, of which a few ingredients were revealed at the time, and now I realise them all after looking at the receipt, menu and online.

- Humpty Dumpty master cocktail (cognac, Hendricks, chartreuse, sambuca, lemon, prosecco, ristretto) ARS165
- Isidoro Canones (Zubrowka vodka, brandy, contreau, St. Germain elderflower, lime, mango, pomelo) ARS165

The drinks were nice, fruit and refreshing and it would have been great to find a spot at the bar to see the action and chat to some neighbours.

- Calamares salteados al ajillo con papas doradas ARS165 - nicely seasoned calamari with garlic in a sauce, not deepfried like I expected;
- Langoustine wantons (marinated in ginger & spices) ARS195 - not wontons but prawns coated in a thin fried shell.

It was funny that I had listed Mo from Viña del Mar as my gelato place for after the beach Playa Acapulca. It was serendipitous that I stumbled across another branch in Santiago (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/gelateria-mo-santiago-10-2016).

The staff here were quite unfriendly, laughing at my attempts to speak Spanish. The female serving was very unhappy letting me try one or two flavours (the Spanish-speaking couple before me tried about 8 and they didn't mind).

The coconut was outstanding with pieces of flesh riddled throughout. It was nice and creamy. The chirimoya al agua had a nice flavour but the "al agua" part make it more of a yoghurt or cream and very soft - not to my textural liking.

In Cerro Alegre, there's 2 known empanaderias - Taller de Masas and Pan de Magia. I had the lucky opportunity (stomach space) to try both during the same late morning.

Pan de Magia didn't have any empanadas ready until after 12pm so I had to come back after visiting Taller de Masas, which in hindsight was lucky. They only serve one type of empanada here - Carne Mechada for CLP2500 (which is a LOT for an empanada). 

However unlike the substandard generic ones sold in cafes and bakeries, this was delicious, well seasoned and piping hot. Definitely better than Taller de Masas in my mind and better than all the other empanadas I tried in Chile and Argentina.

In Cerro Alegre, there's 2 known empanaderias - Taller de Masas and Pan de Magia. I had the lucky opportunity (stomach space) to try both during the same late morning.

Taller de Masas has a duck emblem. I'm not sure why, but there probably doesn't need to be a proper rationale.

They serve 3 empanadas - pork pieces with tomato & very mild blue cheese, carrot & couscous, and zucchini. The first two were both nicely seasoned and pretty good. Larger than expected also for CLP1500-2000 each. I wasn't so enthused by the zucchini one.

Next I tried Pan de Magia which I liked more.

My Rough Guide recommended breakfast and decent coffee at Cafe Con Cuento. My Airbnb host suggested a different nearby place El Desayunador. Deciding to go with the local recommendation, the coffee was a distant bitter cousin to the decent cups in Buenos Aires.

Breakfasts include a set menu freshly squeezed orange juice, scrambled egg with unnecessary bacon and some toasted Chilean bread. The other options are sandwiches of which the staff recommended one with nice pieces of sliced beef, scrambled egg and two slices of cheese. It was essentially a higher quality version of a breakfast McMuffin.

I had my reservations about Taulat. It wasn't on the list but for somewhere like Valparaiso it's difficult to find information other than a few blogs and Tripadvisor. The back entrance was much more discreet (didn't realise there was another entrance at the time) past the cooks' kitchen and to the counter. The menu looked like Chilean-influenced Spanish and they advertised their rooftop with blankets to shield the cool breeze.

The chirimoya juice was fresh and the Pisco sour with ginger was a revelation - like an excellent alcoholic ginger beer.

- Machas a la Parmesana CLP10,900 - the Chilean seafood specialty dish of razor clams covered with soft creamy cheese was a nice starter, best appreciated by taking the whole unit, swallowing the cheese first then chewing the clams to taste the clam flavour;
- Paella Mixta CLP18,900 - a delicious paella with beautifully cooked al dente rice but unfortunately no crisp bottom texture. The top layer had some grilled parts to it but I think the seafood had been thrown into the oven for too long and so the mussels and (less so) clams had been shrivelled and burnt. The chicken was overcooked but still adequate and the calamari and prawns were also overcooked but had good flavour. Despite the ingredients not being dealt with that well, the delicious rice and overall saffron & paprika flavour made up for it.

It wasn't the best food nor the cheapest, but satisfying enough.

There were a few restaurants to pick from for the final dinner of the holiday. Staying in Cerro Alegre meant the choices were all preferably nearby, which is easy because it seems to be the area with the most restaurants, tourists, safety, rooftop views and entertaining graffiti. The choices included Pasta e Vino, Espiritu Santo or Montealegre or even Bar Cinzano for the live music atmosphere (as the food has mixed reviews). However after looking around Tripadvisor, the near universal praise for Casa Luisa and it being so close to the Airbnb made that decision in the end.

The restaurant looks set in the living room of a beautifully adorned home. Staff are very friendly, attentive and jovial. The English menu reads as though it had been Google Translated then pasted (because I tried the same thing at home before the meal) but much better than my Spanish menu reading. Obviously the menu items with local Chilean ingredients appealed most.

We were treated to a complimentary cheese platter (mild smoked cheddar, Camembert and a mild blue cheese with pickled onions) and a glass of wine about to be added to the menu (from the Atacama dessert region which smelt like fuel but tasted sweet and nice). There was also fresh juices, of which I had forest berries (jugo del bosque) CLP3,500.

- Serrano Salad (olive oil dried figs, Serrano ham, Camembert cheese, seasonal greens, herbs, Modena balsamic dressing, dried fruits) CLP7,900 - a nice combination of textures and flavours including mild jamon, dried fruits, cheese and salad;
- Patagonian Guanaco Crudo (handcut guanaco steak, green olives, Spanish onion, lemon juice, black pepper, capers & Dijon) CLP7,900 - the bread was thin slices of toasted baguette and quite ordinary but luckily the quality of the meat made up for it. The individual cubes of meat were discernible and had likely been cured for a while as the meat had a grey "cooked" surface like ceviche and a lovely combination of mustard and citrus in flavour. The meat was soft and a little chewy like good tartare and surprisingly not gamey at all;
- Atun (Tuna seared, salted & crusted in sesame & cochayuyo dust, prawns, risotto, sauce of chardonay, green pepper, carmenere from Colchagua valley, merken from Chiloe & sea salt) ARS15,900 - the waiter warned it would seared to a beautiful rare and it definitely was perfectly done so. The meaty flesh was delicious and the crust added some nice saltiness. The rice was similar to a dry risotto/paella with prawns creamy rather than crisp. Overall it was a very good dish;
- Robalo (Sea Bass marinated in Sauvignon blanc & garlic, with paella-style rice with creamy saffron, paprika, fish stock, prawns & passionfruit jam) ARS10,900 - I tried getting Chilean seabass/Patagonian toothfish in the Melbourne fishmongers without success (they didn't even know what it was) so was great to see it on their local menu. The thin fillets were expertly cooked and the fish tender. The paella was good and the prawns the same as the tuna dish, but I didn't really like the passionfruit sweetness.

My only issue was both rice dishes had salt crystals underneath which meant a very oversalty hit every now and then. I can't say that any of the dishes are unmissable, but they were all prepared and presented with skill. The service was very much appreciated and I added extra tip to the standard 10% propina.

Nuestra Parrilla (or Freddy's Parrilla - both the same place despite both names being used online) is a San Telmo institution. The food is cheap, hearty and tasty and the best known item is the choripan, a chorizo (ie. housemade sausage rather than the heavily smoked type I'm used to in Spain) in bread. It is a hot dog, but a damn fine version where the sausage is the specialty and cooked over the coals of a parrilla.

Nuestra doesn't have a sign or at least not one that I saw. But the people eating inside and outside and the smell wafting around the south entrance to the San Telmo mercado made it easy to spot (and Google Maps helped too).

For ARS35, the sausage choices are chorizo and morcilla. Both are delicious, probably the chorizo moreso with a deeper meaty flavour. The morcilla has the distinctive flavour albeit not that strong but still good. The textures of both sausages are nice and smooth. I went back a few days later (the carpark choripan in the Sunday feria smelt great but I couldn't justify it for ARS65-70) and tried the vaciopan (beef flank in bread) for ARS80. It was a long roll with two big slices of meat cooked through. It was chewy as expected (I think rare isn't an option in that kind of place particularly when the meat is cooked until it is ordered) but it tasted nice my incisors had a good time tearing away at it.

All the choices, in particular the flank, were improved by a healthy serving of both chimichurri and salsa criolla which added herb flavour, texture and lemon tang.

It isn't the best of the meat places but it may be one of the cheapest and possibly the best value for money. Satisfying.