They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but Irene and I managed to get one at Hetu’u restaurant on Easter Island.

As I mentioned in a few of my previous posts about our trip, we got to spend one more night on Easter Island than originally planned. As we were checking out of Chez Maria Goretti for our flight home that afternoon, we were told there wouldn’t be a flight that afternoon. We assumed it had something to do with the weather, which had been quite stormy the previous night, causing a cancellation of the Tapati festival, but once we arrived at the airport we learned that a passenger had experienced a heart attack on the lone inbound flight from Santiago, causing it to turn back.

As a result, LAN Airlines put us up at the Hotel Tupa at their expense, plus offered to pay for our lunch and dinner. Good on LAN. (Though we didn’t take them up on the dinner, as we spent the night at the festival.) What this all meant is that instead of being on a flight Friday afternoon, we were instead at Hetu’u restaurant, enjoying that free lunch.

Because our meal was paid for courtesy of a coupon handed us by the hotel, we didn’t get to choose from Hetu’u’s varied menu, some of which can be seen on the sandwich board out by the street, but were served a set menu, which ended up being a surprisingly good lunch anyway.

We started with a salad that wasn’t the traditional Chilean salad of tomatoes and onions. This one had tomatoes, cheese, asparagus, hearts of palm, and more.

Then came a bowl of fresh sopapillas. They’d have been wonderful sprinkled with powdered sugar, though I guess that would have made them more a dessert than a luncheon side dish.

The main course was pescado a la plancha con salsa de alcaparras. Nicely cooked, and tasty, too. It’s been awhile since I’ve had capers.

And for dessert, lemon pie, one which Irene still remembers as having been excellent.

Actually, now that I think of it, though LAN picked up the cost of the lunch, the tip was on us. So perhaps I can’t claim that there is such a thing as a free lunch. But I think I’ll keep doing it anyway …

If we ever end up on Easter Island again—which I’d love, but since the world is so wide, it’s probably unlikely—I’d definitely return to Hetu’u restaurant. Their full menu sure looked tempting. If you ever manage to get there, let me know what you find!