Sunday, December 6, 2009

The W

Last night we checked out the restaurant at the gourmet market, Coquinaria, at the new W hotel that opened a couple of blocks from our apartment. We hadn't intended to go anywhere but after putzing around at the new apartment for too long (pics to come, by the way), we realized suddenly that it had gotten dark out and, guess what! We don't have a light fixture installed in the kitchen yet. Oops, I guess that meant we had to go out. Luckily our neighborhood has many restaurants and we just started walking toward something.

After a tour de Isidora Goyenechea, a street nearby with a cluster of restaurants, we happened upon Coquinaria sort of on accident, because it's a flight of stairs below street level and we hadn't seen it from across the street a few minutes earlier. At first I was a bit apprehensive of the choice because W hotels have a reputation for being uber-cool and we, well, are not. But my fears were assuaged rather quickly when we discovered it occupied by some fairly normal (looking, at least) people.

The menu was interesting compared to many of the restaurants I've been to here in Chile. There was no Barros Luco (Chilean cheesesteak) or anything A La Pobre (with eggs and fries) on the menu, gratefully. Instead it looked a bit more like a little part French bistro, a big part American cafe and a little dash of Chile. As with most restaurants in Chile (or maybe just outside the US, period), the menu is fairly compact.

Nick ended up choosing a sandwich with prosciutto, mozzarella, and arugula on a baguette (around US$8), and I chose the roast beef salad with a mustard vinaigrette (around US$10). We shared a bruschetta appetizer as well.

The service started off a little bit shaky. It took about 10-15 minutes to get our beverages, which were simply lemonade and water. Since we had been walking for a while before arriving, this was an unfortunate wait and we got pretty antsy. But then the food began to come and it was uphill from there. The bruschetta was 4 little pieces of baguette spread with a parsley pesto-- parsley pesto sounded rather anticlimactic to me but it was really interesting. It had a sweet and fresh tang to it that I didn't expect. I guess normally one doesn't taste parsley as much as one just sees it. On top of the pesto were different accents-- smoked salmon (I stayed faaaar away from that-- I really don't like anything smoked except bacon), shrimp, or prosciutto. The saltiness of the prosciutto best accented the parsley flavor.

Dinner arrived promptly after we finished the bruschetta. The presentation was great-- everything looked exactly how I imagined it which doesn't always happen. Nick's sandwich came with french fries that were the best I have had in Chile! There is not really peanut oil available here, so the french fries don't have quite the same flavor that I've come to expect but these more than made up for it by being made from Chilean potatoes-- If you don't know already, Chile is where potatoes originated and I think they have the best potatoes on Earth. They are light and fluffy like an Idaho potato but have a buttery, rich flavor like a Yukon Gold--they hardly need any additional flavor.

My salad, with the mustard vinaigrette, was a refreshing change from the ubiquitous DIY lemon-and-oil dressing. Although I think lemon-and-oil is a great flavor, I sometimes enjoy having a bit of herb or spice in my salad. In addition to lettuce and roast beef, the salad featured really flavorful cherry tomatoes, cubes of rather non-descript cheese (typical of here), and parmesan "croutons" made from toasting thin slices of parmesan cheese. All in all, a really refreshing and flavorful change from the norm!

I didn't suppose that we would have dessert, but after so many days of work trying to make the apartment come together, we felt like we deserved it. We opted for the creme brulee. I think it's probably completely cliche, but creme brulee might be my favorite dessert. I don't know what could be better than creamy, lightly flavored custard with little spiky bits of sugar. This particular one featured a limoncello flavor which was perfectly subtle but piquant. Although the whole meal was very good, the creme brulee was my favorite part.

So-- Coquinaria gets an A from us and we will definitely return! I look forward to checking out the fresh bakery and produce which is available earlier in the day. Expect to hear more about this from me.

1 comment:

Hanna said...

Mm That food sounds so good! I wish I could have the sandwich and creme brulee right now.