A typical Chilean food menu at Galindo Restaurant
One of the most exciting ways that Lewis the Lion got to taste some traditional Chilean food was one evening when his friends met up at Gallindo restaurant and played a variation of the game, pass the parcel!
Lewis' friends play pass-the-parcel with the Chilean dishes!
They decided to order four dishes. They would then eat a quarter each and then pass the plate on! Lewis the Lion thought that this was a great way to experience local dishes all in one go!
The four dishes that they tried were:
Pastel de choclo: Corn pie made of mashed corn, grounded beef, onions, egg, chicken, black olives and raisins. (Lewis the Lion thought that this was very sweet tasting and thought that the tradition that accompanied it was funny: the person who finds the olive has to pay for the meal!).
Lomo a lo pobre: beef sirloin steak with fried eggs, fried onions and French fries
Plateado con agredado: Casseroled beef meat with a sauce made of onions, red peppers, carrots and spices with a side dish
Porotos con Longaniza: Beans with mashed corn, pumpkin, basil, red pepper and a pork sausage.
Traditional Chilean sausage with lentils
His favourite dish from the game was plateado and his friend Mel agreed. However, Alessandro and the other Helen preferred the porotos con longaniza.
You can have a look at Gallindo’s menu to see other traditional Chilean dishes.
Lewis and the waiter from Galindo
Here is another photo of another traditional menu that Lewis the Lion saw in Santiago, Chile.
Lewis looks at a traditional Chilean menu
Otherwise, the main food that made an impression on Lewis the Lion in Chile was the variety of the seafood, as he told you in his blog when he visited the famous fish market in Santiago. Some fish dishes are:
Atun – Tuna
Albacora – Swordfish
Congrio – Congerell
Corvina – Seabass
Merluzo – Hake
Paila Marina – Fish broth with a piece of fish and assorted shell fish
Salmón – Salmon
What an enormous salmon fillet!
A special prawn dish served in the Fish Market
Often bread would come to the table with a special condiment called chimichurri, that is a tomato and onion based salsa.
Lewis with the chimichurri sauce
He was also impressed by the variety of fruit and vegetables.
Lewis with an avocado and palm hearts salad
In the north of Chile particularly you can find exotic fruits like chirimoya (custard apple), papaya, tuna (which is not what Lewis the Lion thought ‘tuna fish’ but cactus fruit!) and pepino dulce (like melon).
As far as puddings were concerned, he noticed that there were good ice-cream parlours in Chile and the alfajores biscuits were popular, just like in Argentina.
Emporio La Rosa Ice Cream Parlour
Lewis with a tasty ice cream
Lewis at the Alfajores seller in Valparaiso
In terms of the drink, he noticed that for the grown-ups, there was lots of good quality Chilean wine at modest prices!
Lewis learns that Chile is famous for its wines
Of all the Chilean food that Lewis the Lion tried, what would you like to try the most and why?
