Chile » Santiago » Guide to Santiago Restaurants

The food in Santiago is remarkably good.

The following list is based on our own personal experiences – but we are always looking to keep the list up to date so please let us know of any new gems or any disappointing experiences.

Always ask your waiter for suggestions – in Chile they will recommend the best dish and not necessarily the most expensive! Similarly, ask for help with wines to get the most from your meals.

Expect to pay between £4 – £10 for starters or main courses and £5 – £13 for a bottle of wine in a good restaurant.

You can expect the quality of the food to be outstanding.

Bellavista

Most of our favourites are in the lively Bellavista area of the city, at the foot of the San Cristobal Hill. For this area, rather than an address, we list the closest street intersection as this is the information you will need to give the taxi driver.

Galindo Dardingnac #98/Constitucion. Simple, gingham tablecloths, busy and full of young bohemian types. Cheap but very good. Wide range of fish and meat dishes as well as the staple sandwiches (chacarrero, churrasco, etc).

Order the salmon in Galindo sauce (shrimp & cheese) washed down with a couple of glasses of Casa del Toqui and you will go home happy and about £5 lighter.

El Tablao Dardingnac/Constitucion. A flamenco restaurant. Expect the singing and dancing to start at about 11pm.

Get there earlier and they will ask you to pay about £1 to come in but the food is well worth it.

The influence is very much Basque/Spanish (the chef is from San Sebastian). The plates of cheese and/or hams and olives are a treat as are the pisco sours.

Eladio Pio Nono #251/Constitucion. Look for the green neon sign – it’s almost unreadable but persevere. Bright, busy restaurant serving meats from the wood grill.

Vegetarians despair. Carnivores can expect to eat exceptional meat – the Asado Gaucho is a large slab of steak of very high quality.

Try a bottle of the Valdevieso Carmenere. The Caremenere grape only survives in Chile and makes a big, bold wine.

Zen Dardignac #175/Constitucion. Sushi. Some of the best sushi in the world. Even if you don’t like sushi – eat here as it has converted many a person.

Of particular note are the salmon, tuna and sea bass sushimi. Perfect English spoken by the owners Ron & Paulina.

Azul Profundo Dardingnac/Constitucion. Very pretty restaurant dedicated to fish and seafood.

Restaurant Kilometre Dardingnac #145/Constitucion. Dedicated to Chilean wines – there is a sommelier on hand to make recommendations. Very stylish surroundings, the food is good, French influenced. They have a couple of Chilean Malbecs which are worth a try.

El Otro Sitio Lopez de Bello #53/Pinto Laguirre. Very pleasant surroundings for this Peruvian restaurant.

Meats, fish and seafood impeccably presented and served.

At times the waiter will make recommendations almost to the point of telling you what to order – it’s all very funny though. Very good pisco sours.

Central Area

Tongoy Calle Bulnes 91. A little way west of the centre but well worth the taxi ride. Friendly, excellent fish and seafood at prices which will make you want to move to Chile. Good wine list.

Hotel San Francisco The chef here also happens to cook for the President and at state occasions. Food of an international standard in comfortable, conservative surroundings.

Mercado Central

The fish market has many places open for lunch. In the centre are a couple of restaurants but around the edges are lots of very basic kiosks where you can eat basically the same food for much less money.

Donde Augusto right in the heart of the market. Excellent seafood, huge range of wonderful Chilean specialities, menus in English.

Myriam on the edge of the market (locales 19-20), friendly, basic, chaotic and entirely non-touristy. Eat whatever happens to be available that day. Cheap,fresh and excellent.

Plaza de Armas

All day you will see people standing up eating their Empanadas de Pina (much like a Cornish pasty) and drinking a beer at the stalls under the colonnades around the central square. Cheap and cheerful.

Providencia

This is an upmarket area of offices and middle-class housing. The price and style of these restaurants reflects the more aspirational, ‘international’ tastes of the area.

Da Renato Av. Isidora Goyenechea 3471. Italian. Very, very highly recommended by clients. Quite a way up into Providencia (near El Golf metro) but worth the journey
Salvaje, Avenue Providencia 1177. International menu. Good value.

El Huerto Orrego Luco 054. Very good vegetarian food.

Miguel Torres Isidora Goyenechea, 2874, Las Condes. Tel: 02 242 9711. For anyone looking for a restaurant recommendation for a special occasion or treat. Spanish dominated menu but again with the advantage of amazing Chilean ingredients. Winelist dominated by wines from the Miguel Torres stable (they have wineries in both Spain and Chile).

Liguria three sites in Providencia. Av. Providencia 1373, Av. Pedro de Valdivia 047 and Luis Thayer Ojeda 019. Italian but with the advantage of the best Chilean ingredients. Very good Chilean winelist.