What to eat in Santiago: 10 Chilean dishes and drinks to try

Chilean cooking is simple, generous and closely tied to the seasons. Here is our list to start tasting it in Santiago.

1. Empanada de pino

The queen of the Chilean table: baked pastry filled with minced beef and onion, hard-boiled egg, an olive and raisins. Eaten all year, and above all in September during the national holidays.

2. Completo

The Chilean hot dog, topped with tomato, avocado and mayonnaise (the "italiano", after the colours of the Italian flag). Fast food with a strong identity.

3. Sopaipillas

Fried pumpkin dough. Eat them with pebre (tomato, onion, coriander and chilli) or "pasadas", soaked in warm chancaca syrup on rainy days.

4. Pastel de choclo

Ground corn and basil baked over beef, chicken, egg and olives in a clay dish. A summer dish, when fresh corn is in season.

5. Mote con huesillo

The drink of summer: cooked wheat (mote) with dried peaches (huesillos) in their sweet juice, served ice-cold from street carts.

6. Barros Luco sandwich

Beef and melted cheese in a marraqueta roll, named after a president who always ordered it. Its cousin, the "Barros Jarpa", comes with ham.

7. Machas a la parmesana

Razor clams baked with parmesan: a coastal classic you also find in Santiago's seafood restaurants.

8. Caldillo de congrio

Conger eel soup with potatoes and vegetables, so beloved that Pablo Neruda wrote an ode to it.

9. Pisco sour

Pisco, Pica lime, sugar and egg white. The Chilean aperitif par excellence.

10. Terremoto

Pipeño wine with pineapple ice cream and a dash of grenadine or fernet. Sweet, strong and famous, born in Santiago's traditional bars.

Where to try them

The Mercado Central and the downtown eateries are the essential starting point; Barrio Italia and Bellavista add contemporary Chilean cooking. To taste several dishes in one outing, our downtown street food tour visits carts, local eateries and historic bars. And if you would rather learn to make them, see the Chilean cooking class.