Santiago Revisited

I love Santiago and those who live there.  The food is damn good too.  My favorite place that I visited this time was definitely Como Aqua Para Chocolate, modeled after the awesome novel and its tasty food.

Yummy bread began the meal

Then I had fish

The flaky white fish was perfectly grilled.  The crispy skin was topped by a mango relish and supported by simple marinated mushrooms and drizzle of balsamic.  Weird combo?  Maybe, but it totally makes sense that tangy and sweet mango goes well with a light fish, balanced by earth mushrooms.

custardy

Then to completely undo the relatively light meal, I finished off a milky custard with bruleed cream and more milky sauce around it.  Custard should really be in its own food group.  Is there ever bad custard?

Chile's proximity to Peru means that there are awesome Peruvian foods to be consumed.  Starting with the cutest cup of pisco sour at El Otro Sitio.

wooden goblet!

Wooden goblets are definitely underrated.

garaaagharhaagaa (ala the gourmand, homer simpson)

OMG, these ceviche empanadas were ridiculously good.  Like revelatory good.  The fried dough was so incredibly light.  How did the fresh seafood innards not soggi-fy the empanadas, I will never know.  But maybe if I eat it a few million times, I'll know enough to tell you.  Who wants to sponsor my empanada study program?!

i heart soup

Peruvian chupe is really different from the thicker, stewier chupe of Chile.  This particular seafood chupe was light but filling.  Swirling the runny yolk into the murky broth, it was so satistfying.  I also loved the huge corn kernels!  Starchier and less sweet than the corn we're used to, it acted as additional carbiness.

and because i really needed dessert after all that

So I got a suspiro.  Kind of a parfait thing made with condensed milk (my first love!), caramel custard.  Some berries and fruits I couldn't identify were thrown in for health.  Really, the menu had me at condensed milk, it's like my "hello".

Mané

Peruvian is one of those cuisines that I need to eat more often.  I think every week is probably a fair place to start.  So I did just that in Santiago, breaking my own traveling rule and eating at the same restaurant twice.  Mané, you had me at ceviche especial.

ceviche with corn!

There was a yellowtail-like fish that was sweet and buttery.  And some shrimps. And slices of calamari.  All living in perfect harmony in lime juice and thinly sliced red onions.  To add more textures, there were hominy and these fried corn things that were soooo good.  Like Cornuts on crack. OH CORN, HOW I LOVE YOU AND YOUR MANY INCARNATIONS.  The two orange chunks were sweet potato.  Did it go with the seafood, not really, but I love sweet potatoes, so I didn't care.  

fish in shrimp sauce

My entree one night was fish layered between fried corn tortilla like things (but more flaky) and topped with a creamy shrimp sauce.  This was awesome.  The fish was pan fried, one of my favorite fish preparations (along with steamed and raw)  The chips gave the dish a completely different textural contrast.  YUM.

seafood and rice

Another night, I had the seafood stew and rice.  It was tasty with lots of different seafoods, but I have very little recollection besides, "mmm, I'd eat it again".  Blame the pisco sour!  

chocolate cake

I have no idea what possessed me to order a chocolate cake for dessert one night.  I rarely order dessert and even less likely to order chocolate cake (not a cake fan, more a custard/pudding or pie kinda girl).  But I actually really liked it.  Probably because it was soaked in rum or something other liquor, so it escaped the sad and unfortunate dry cake syndrome that so many other cakes have been inflicted with.  This cake was so moist that it was almost a pudding!  yay for puddings!