Mercado Central (Part 1) – Santiago’s Fresh Seafood Market
“La cuenta por favor,” I said to the waiter, trying to sound more confident than I really was. Turning my gaze back to Marco, I watched for confirmation that I hadn’t botched it.
Marco, my Spanish teacher, owed me a lesson, but I didn’t want to do this next one the way we’d been going about it. Instead I asked him for more of an authentic Chilean experience. Of course, when you offer someone a free lunch, it’s usually pretty persuasive.
At first we had planned on spending some time at Plaza de Armas. However, it’s going through some renovations and is currently inaccessible, so we had to change plans.
There’s a section of the city where several paseos (or pasajes – streets have been sectioned off for pedestrian traffic only) crisscross, forming a wonderful marketplace free of automobile traffic. This offers small businesses a place to set up booths and kiosks to sell their wares while providing a wide avenue along which people can walk leisurely and check out the various shops and vendors. With tiled streets, walking is more comfortable, and just about any shop or store imaginable can be found … except for authentic Chilean restaurants.
The USA and Europe have brought some good things to Chile. And the country has done much to capitalize on these imports. However, it could be argued that fast-food restaurants are not one of them. Of course, that’s a matter of opinion. In addition, the vendors in this particular section tend to be a little more expensive than just a few blocks over.
In an effort to provide me with great insights into Chile, my faithful guide took me to Mercado Central – a fish market contained in a plaza, along with restaurants. Approaching the market from a side street, the unmistakable smells of the fish market became ever stronger.
The restaurants in this market specialize in sea food. And you can find quite a variety of both seafood and restaurants while walking along the aisles; with prices varying more than you might expect. In a smallish restaurant you might pick up a plate for around $3.500 pesos or so, while another, more comfortable, restaurant just a hundred feet away might be $7.000 for the same dish.
As you walk the aisles, the employees of the various restaurants will try to convince you that they have the best food at the best prices. This charismatic gentleman was one of them.
Who’s right? Well, I haven’t tried them all. But it sure would be fun to try! Whatever you do, you can probably get them to throw in a complementary pisco sour (sort of like a margarita, but Chilean style) if they think they might lose you to another restaurant.
We finally settled on one of the nicer restaurants after walking around a bit. Why? No real reason, other than the fact that the gentleman who was grabbing the attention of passersby was particularly persuasive. I’ll share about that wonderful experience in a future entry.
The post Mercado Central (Part 1) – Santiago’s Fresh Seafood Market appeared first on EscapeArtist Chile.
