by Manos Angelakis

Chiringuito Restaurant.

Caleta de Zapallar
Chile
56-32 741-024

About 50 minutes northeast of Valparaiso, along Chile’s long Pacific coastline, is the town of Zapallar, a summer haven for Santiago’s more affluent residents that in the last decade decided to forgo the over crowded beaches and streets of Viña del Mar for a quieter area. In my opinion, Zapallar is one of Chile’s most beautiful beach towns.

Viña del Mar had been for years the traditional summer resort for Santiago’s staid, upper middle class. Villas and large estates dot the hills above the city, as well as the rugged sections of the coastline that flank Viña’s renowned beaches. But the overbuilding of condominiums and multistoried summer rentals in Viña, have converted a fairly quiet family summer resort to a never-ending-spring-break-party-town with a rowdy crowd of young adults spending their time in all-night discos and bars.

So, the more affluent and conservative residents moved further north to other towns, still within comfortable commuting range from Santiago, in search of peace and quiet and away from Viña’s excesses. Now, great food and drink have always been a passion of the Chileños, and Viña was also known for excellent family restaurants that served the bounty of the Pacific and the many farms covering the foothills of the Andes. With the invasion of Viña by McDonalds’, Starbucks and other North American style fast food establishments that came following the crowds, many of the better restaurants closed, to the dismay of their family oriented clients.

Chiringuito opened in a quiet cove below the cliffs of Zapallar, to the delight of residents and visitors alike. This is a rustic, family restaurant and, the evening we were there, extended families i.e. grand parents, parents and children were enjoying the offerings of the kitchen. It is a wood-walled building with large picture windows overlooking the cove, and a thatched roof; the kitchen offers absolutely fresh seafood, excellent fish, and vegetables and salads that were picked from local farms that morning.

I love machas alla parmesana; Chile’s large pink-fleshed razor clams covered with Parmesan shavings and passed under the broiler until the cheese bubbles. I also love conger eel, a white-fleshed fish that is cut into thick filets, battered, and deep-fried. Both were available and both were delicious. Another sea-creature we had on the table was a nice, tender octopus grilled on charcoal, with olive sauce in lemony vinaigrette and sprinkled with finely chopped cilantro. We also had charcoal-grilled mixed vegetables, and Chilean salad i.e. vine-ripened skinless tomatoes with sliced avocado. There were also nice tuna filets, grilled grouper (mero), and grilled sea bass (merluza). Lemon slices were offered with all the fish. The food was paired with white wines from the Veramonte vineyard, who hosted our dinner, as well as another local vineyard. It was interesting to see the side-by-side comparison of the product of two competing vineyards from grapes grown in the same valley. We all loved the little, round courgette fritters that rustic Chilean restaurants use instead of bread. 

© December 2006 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.