Eat Like Ushi

For the meal to celebrate a 7-day, 6-night, dried food hike extravaganza in Torres del Paine, the final meal in PN was at a restaurant outside of the main city area. It's a little far south but worth the journey. If I'd known there was an attached bakery and sweets store, I may have been tempted to visit earlier in my stay.

The mango and chirimoya natural juices were fresh and delicious.

- Tostada Francesa con centolla CLP7,900 - there was a choice between fried king crab and king crab French toast. Large pieces of crab meat in a butter and egg crab sauce with soaked white bread. The bread was pretty average but the crab topping was wonderful;
- Pulpo Patagonico con tortilla de papas y verduras salteadas CLP10,900 - very tender soft octopus, coloured purple likely from the long cooking time. There wasn't any hint of chewiness in this version;
- Chupe de centolla CLP11,900 - this was a better crab pie than the previous versions I tried with some nice meat chunks, lots of onions and a good parmesan crust.

I think next time the grilled conger eel with black rice & butter sauteed shrimps would be an excellent alternative for a main.

Given this was the night arriving back from TdP, a dessert splurge seemed reasonable. I thought calafate cheesecake (CLP3,000) was a type of cheesecake not realising at the time it's simply a cheesecake made from the calafate berry. It tasted like a nice grape. The other cake (Kuchen Parras CLP1,500) I thought had a base of apples and crumble. The little red berries (they called them parras, but also known as corinto) being local Patagonian ones made it appealing and were small little tart things with a flavour similar to raspberries. There wasn't an apple bit in sight and it was all butter/thick crumble. Still sweet and nice but not what I expected.

Of all the restaurants in Patagonia, Afrigonia was the one I was looking forward to the most. African-Chilean fusion cuisine with Patagonian ingredients? That sounded incredible. Initially I intended to dine here the night after returning from Torres del Paine but after spending too much time queuing for hiking provisions at UniMarc, it seemed easier just to come here being closeby and unlikely to need a reservation due to the low(ish) season.

Naturally the waitress recommended king crab and lamb dishes, as the specialty ingredients of the region. I was only too happy to oblige.

This was the place of my first taste of fresh chirimoya juice (CLP2,500). I wasn't sure what it was and they couldn't quite describe it to me. It tasted like custard apple - I later discovered it is custard apple so that makes sense. Mango sour (CLP4,000) was a fruity take on the local Pisco sour specialty and an improvement in my opinion. There were two courses of bread to kick off procedings - sticks with hummus and lovely warm rolls with salsa criolla.

- Austral King CLP12,000 - fresh king crab wrapped in medium-intensity smoked salmon (the salmon probably overpowered the delicate flavour of the crab), king crab mousse with a sweet berry glaze, king crab gratin. It was a creative way to present boiled crab meat in a variety of forms;
- Seafood Masala CLP10,000 - prawns and scallops in a ginger flavoured curry with some chilli kick;
- Cordero a la Menta CLP14,000 - perfectly cooked medium rare roast lamb chops with a delicious sweet glaze rather than the advertised mint sauce (the waitress did confirm it was mint sauce afterwards). One of the best roast lamb racks I've had;
- Tsavo (fried whole potatoes seasoned with lemon & herbs) CLP2,700 - tasty as expected with discernible lemon;
- Wali (rice with almonds, raisins, curry) CLP2,800 - the rice was a good filler but not as seasoned and delicious as I'd hoped. I think I expected a bit more.

The food was delicious and cooking well executed. It showcased local produce with some African flare.

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.