Lazy Travellers That Lunch

There was plenty of nattering round the breakfast table this morning, although sadly not in Spanish, as the other guests are all from Germany. Judging solely from our travels and the people we have met and overheard, Germany is easily the most widely travelled European nation.

The sound that typifies Chile for me is the car alarm. One of the German guest's hire car insists on serenading us with its familiar tune. From Santiago to San Pedro, all cars seem to have the same alarm. Unlike the 'wee-wee-wee' or 'honk honk' alarms, which repeat the same sound and, if set off accidentally, can eventually be tuned out, Chile's cars emit a medley of sound effects that are remarkably similar to the little toys that boys used to show off in the school playground, which cycled through terrible 8-bit effects of grenades falling and machine guns being fired.

Our schedule was gruelling today and involved having an extended lunch at Quitor, a restaurant slightly away from the centre of town, but with an excellent reputation. Having sampled little more than the cheapest café and empanada shop in town, we had little idea of what to expect.

The three dishes on the menú del día were flavoursome and clearly created with love and attention, going gar beyond the expectations set by the 6000CLP price.

Entrada

With a punchy rica rica sour cocktail, we started with an 'apacheta' (named after the pile of stones seen around the desert) of black beans and large white hominy corn stacked using potato crisps, and a salad.

Plato fondo

Next up, we had a crêpe filled with creamy mushrooms and vegetables and topped with cheese.

Postre

This was followed by manjar de quinoa - a pudding made from the 'ancient' grain and dulce de leche. Delicious. I imagine we will return here before leaving San Pedro.