Saturday, December 29, 2012

Chilean seafood - it could be the best, by far, if......

...... Chileans knew how to cook.

Unfortunately, average Chileans don't know how to cook well, not seafood, not meat, not vegetables. Very strange when you consider that in one of the neighboring countries, Peru, you find the most exquisite and diverse Latin American cuisine.

Years ago I ordered an appetizer of clams in Pucon, a charming town in the picturesque South of Chile. Guess what they served me - canned clams!! Canned clams in the country that rightfully boasts to have the best seafood in the world!!

I raised hell - poor 15 year-old Felix felt so embarrased about his complaining dad that he would have contemptuously denied to be my son at that moment - but it didn't help as the owner of the restaurant probably thought: "What's the matter with this scandalously behaving foreigner? Fresh clams, canned clams - what's the difference, anyway?"

Most restaurants in Chile, even in the capital city, Santiago, serve sub-standard food, cooked without any grace and love, let alone imagination. So, eating out in Chile can be a complete turn-off.

What a frustration knowing that the culinary 'raw material' the Chileans have, the fish and the "fruits of the sea" are absolutely superb: King crabs, all kinds of mussels and clams, sea urchins (a delicacy in Chile, and to my knowledge not in danger of depletion), abalones, stone crabs, sea snails, and fish, of course, many sorts, of which the "congrio" (= conger eel) is the most popular.

During our recent stay in Iquique, Karin and I preferred to go to super markets to buy yoghurts, fruit, cheese, crackers, nuts, and cookies. Couldn't go wrong with that. It's a good thing that we can both have frugal meals, and still enjoy life.

On our last day, Karin felt like having something special: a delicious MacDonald chicken burger which I passed, out of principle - dry bread yes, anytime; junk food, even tasty one, no way.

Instead, I went to have my last dinner in a seafood restaurant right in the fishery harbor.

Look what I ordered:



Yummy, right? Wrong!

You see me smiling because Karin took the photograph right before I was having my first bite. After 'savoring' it, I felt I was done - the soup at the bottom of the bowl looked and tasted like salty dishwater, the mussels were huge and tough, the fish had an extremely fishy, almost oily taste, so much so that Karin told me that only a pervert like me could  order such a smelly "Geschlonze" *) - she almost had to vomit.

Nice to have such delicate table companions, huh?   :-)

Felix, on the other hand, would have been quite proud of his old man had he been around.

I promised some people I care for to be more civilized and courageously control my anger when I feel my 'rocky mountain oysters' moving up all the way to my throat, as we Latins poetically describe that almost incontrollable urge to spit it all out in a fit of rage. :-)

Thus, I courteously asked the waiter for the bill, and even forced myself to say the soup was "buenisima" but that much to my chagrin the numerous rolls of bread I ate with it had filled up my tummy before I could finish the "Geschlonze" *).


*) Karin made up the word "Geschlonze". It means - well, just as it sounds, quite yukky, as "Geschlonze" simply HAS to be...  :-)


PS: I just realized that I never published this blog, written five years ago. For some reason I kept as a draft - I am posting it now, unedited, as my opinions expressed therein have not changed. I am currently traveling in Northern Chile, and eating out in a regular restaurant (Chilean restaurants seem to be all 'regular') is still the same old mierda (pardon my Spanish) as it was back in December 2007...   :-)

I almost forgot to wish all the readers of our blog a VERY good 2013 with most of their wishes fulfilled!!!!

Wolfgang and Felix










4 comments:

Wolfgang said...

Today I had Caldillo de Mulato at "El Neptuno" in Iquique. It was an absolutely delicious fish soup- there are always exceptions to the rule.

"El Neptuno" is probably the best seafood restaurant in the entire Northern region of Chile. Should you ever visit this booming desert town, be sure not to miss the Caldillo de Mulato at the "Neptuno". Historically, the restaurant itself is worth a visit - the house was built around 100 years ago when Iquique was experiencing, along with Antofagasta, the saltpeter boom.

Some people think I only bitch - they are wrong. I bitch when there are reasons to bitch, by the same token

Wolfgang said...

Today I had Caldillo de Mulato at "El Neptuno" in Iquique. It was an absolutely delicious fish soup- there are always exceptions to the rule.

"El Neptuno" is probably the best seafood restaurant in the entire Northern region of Chile. Should you ever visit this booming desert town, be sure not to miss the Caldillo de Mulato at the "Neptuno". Historically, the restaurant itself is worth a visit - the house was built around 100 years ago when Iquique was experiencing, along with Antofagasta, the saltpeter boom.

Some people think I only bitch - they are wrong. I bitch when there are reasons to bitch; by the same token, if I find something good to be said about people and things, I do so whole heartedly.

yancy said...

I bitch when there are reasons to bitch; by the same token, if I find something good to be said about people and things, I do so whole heartedly.
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walter said...

I'm chilean, and I think the same of you... regrettabilly, the cook in chile is without imagunation or charming... If you want something good you can go to "El pirata Suizo" in Los Molles, a little village of fishermen way to La Serena... as you can imagine, the chef is not chilean else swiss, for that reason he haves more imagination to cook all the fruits of the sea offered in my coast...