Back in 2012, when Irene and I were in Lima at the end of our Machu Picchu trip, we had one of the best meals of our lives at Astrid y Gaston, ranked as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world. While we didn’t expect that the Santiago branch of Astrid y Gaston would provide the same level of culinary excellence, we still thought it would be interesting to compare the two, and so we chose it for our final meal in Santiago before we headed off to Easter Island.

I’ve got to say though, that after our wonderful lunch earlier that day at Rancho Doña Maria, we could have easily skipped dinner or settled for a light snack. But we’d come so far, and had a reservation, and as they say, pass this way but once, so we pushed ourselves to hike around Santiago and the grounds of our hotel to make sure our appetites would recover in time for the meal we knew was waiting for us.

The offerings on the menu were, as was true for the Lima location, all extremely tempting. (more…)

Earlier this month, I told you about the best meal of my life. Now, because Astrid y Gaston was kind enough to forward me a copy of its menu, you can play the home game, and try to make up your mind as to what you’d order from this most amazing bill of fare (an English version of which seems not to exist anywhere else online).

First, the appetizers …

Then, the entrees … (more…)

My culinary adventuring in Peru earlier this month went far beyond guinea pigs.

When I learned that we would have an evening free in Lima at the end of our week spent exploring Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Sacsayhuaman, and other awe-inspiring sites, I was determined that I wouldn’t permit exhaustion to cause us to fall back on room service or a hotel restaurant. I wanted more than a meal. I wanted magic. And after a bit of research, I decided the best place to ingest that magic was at Astrid y Gaston, voted one of the 50 best restaurants in the world. I sent emails to our Lima hotel, hoping that the concierge would have luck snagging us a table, but by the time our trip began, I’d heard nothing back. So I started to worry.

And then, as I boarded our American Airlines flight in Miami, I saw the name of the chef, Gastón Acurio, on the cover of the inflight magazine, and a lengthy article inside touting the wonders of his kitchen. And I worried some more.

Because though I couldn’t understand Spanish, I did understand that such a piece might increase the already high demand for tables at Astrid y Gaston. So the first thing I did when I saw our tour operator after landing was to ask if he could help get us a reservation later that week. He did, and so on Friday night, we cabbed over, along with a few friends we’d made on the trip, to the restaurant one food critic called, “my favorite restaurant in Peru.”

When we arrived a few minutes before the 7:00 p.m. opening, the door was locked, the shutters were closed, and except for the small sign on an exterior wall, we had no way of knowing we were in the right place. But exactly at 7:00, the door was flung open, and we were warmly welcomed and shown to our table near the kitchen. (more…)