Breakfast Joint in Santiago, Chile
It's a bitch to be stuck in a foreign country when you wake up at 3PM, fuzzy brained and craving some goddamn ham 'n eggs, coffee, newspaper. Chile's no exception, it can be nearly impossible. That said, there is hope in typically the scuzziest looking joints, just ask for paila huevos basically scrambled eggs in a steel dish that you're supposed to eat with a big soup spoon. Con jamón or con queso and café con leche. It's incredible, and the Nescafe crap even tastes good when it's diluted 50-50 with milk.
Torremolinos (not pictured) just in from the Alameda on Lastarria has a good paila huevos although due to cockroaches you should bring your own immune system. Discovered another place in Providencia where there's a big clump of palm trees that might face the axe and people are protesting but I don't really see how it could get any uglier.
Anyway, the place is called Moara or something. Smelled like fried fish (memories of Spain) but, with a nice hint of toxic spray cleanser, the aroma was sufficiently a la chilena. Became inured to it quickly. This is on the Once de Septiembre side if that helps. The outside table was too bright to sit at.
posted by Chileno @ 2:43 PM
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8 Comments:
You ate there? Tell me it isn't so! ((((Gasps))) Those type of places are so gross. The food people eat in those type of joints always looks so stale. Just by walking near a place like that, one can be numbed by the rotten "aroma" of expired food. I am glad you are still alive! ;)
Glad to hear that you and Pati are in the fresh air. By e-mail, we should exchange addresses.
I've begun posting old journal entries in this blog world. I'm still very 'blog-challenged' - I may have to e-mail you for some instructions. I seem to have three identities - "El Comendador", "Cool Moose" and "Quixote" - reflecting a couple of false starts. But I've decided that "El Comendador" will be my 'name' in here.
I think it's reachable at:-
http://quixote-elcomendador.blogspot.com/
If you're interested, you can read about my "Ireland/Chile" connection, writtin in 1998 when I worked in Dublin - between trips to Santiago.
I'm enjoying your blog a lot.
FL: I ate there and it was damn good. And I went to Torremolinos this morning.
I had a friend San Francisco who explained to me that it was really hip to drink Pabst Blue Ribon and Budweiser because that was like 'retro' or 'working class'. What a pussy. It's really true what Thomas Wolfe says in You Can't Go Home Again: the US is a nation of advertising men, well beyond the frontier age but still selling that image. That book was published in 1940, not much has changed.
Most of the US is weak sauce, totally palatable. You don't know shit until you've eaten at Torremolinos.
I usually carry around a bottle of hand disinfectant in Santiago to wash my hands in case I end up shaking hands with a homeless person who doesn't get the knuckle thing. Also because most bathrooms in Santiago don't have any soap. At Torremolinos I actually gave the cook at the bar a dollop of hand-cleanser because it seemed he had a cold and was constantly wiping his nose and all he had to wash his hands was a blackened rag that looked like it hadn't been washed in a month. He's a really nice guy and didn't get all huffy. The completos and paila huevos are incredible and while I've seen a cockroach on the floor once I've never seen one in my food.
But like I say, for places like that it's bring your own immune system or bottle of hand-disinfectant.
Tom, nice to see you got that up! I'll email you. Take care!
Will
Incidents like that make me loose the little appetite I have. The waitstaff's blatant lack of hygiene in some of the "lugares typicos" o "picadas" in Santiago is really disgusting. An aquintance who once said I was a snob, ended up getting some type of food poisining for eating in places like that.
As for me, I normaly like to frequent those old-school Santiaguinean "Salon de Te". They serve breakfast(and Elevenses(onces)) with an array of scrumptious Petite Fours DeJeurnes, bisquits, and tea or coffe. Served in fine bone chinaware. Tea served in a bone china teacup, taste far better than a modern mug.
The habit of eating of high quantities of bread during the day has also contributed to the number of fat people. It's all about eating small portions of good food.
There's a place called Don Robins that consistently gave me food poisoning but I kept going back because it is irresistible.
Hello Will,
It's really great that you're including more pictures. Have you considered getting yourself a flickr account?
Nice post. Once I figure out what a décimo is, Il decimate you (once again), yet with style..
One of the things Ive missed here is exactly a good breakfast place...yet to find it, because pancakes here are in fact crepes...totally misdirected.
Torremolinos, with Saddam Hussein manning the grill, Coñac Tres Palos to the brim and sneaky cockroaches...so sad, but true.. I fucking hate cockroaches...especially sneaky ones. They can ruin your meal.
Other good breakfast places are outside of large metro stations at 7 am in the morning. For some reason aliados are unbelievably good, especially with pan amasado...and even watered down Nescafe..Pan Amasado and Pernil..thats a good morning bomb.
I attest to the glory of Don Robin. Lomito de Cerdo de excelencia...
Tomas - It's not misdirected,;)foods evolve differently over time. The pancakes you are talking about are the fluffly American "Aunt Jemima" kind. The American style is a variaton to the crepe. Americans made their own version since they like everything "supersized". ;) The pankcakes served in Chile are a based on the Mille Crêpes the French immigrants brought to Chile in the late 1800's. There are still some places that serve it as they did originally with fresh cut strawberries and cream. The Chilean version is served rolled up with either Manjar (my favorite) or miel de palma. Do not understand how guys you can drink that watered down Nescafe. Nothing beats a good cup of cafe de cafetera with hot steamed milk. yum yum =)
P.S.
I was surprised many seafood restaurants in Chile do not prepare el congrio in the medallion shape anymore. :(
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