Welcome to the most disappointing day of dining on my trip. For lunch, I went to a spot on the beach. It was very busy and I think it might have been a tourist spot. Service was very slow. For the starter, I got camarones al ajillo. I think the idea was that it was supposed to be like the shrimp and garlic appetizer I got when I had my incredible meal in Madrid. It was okay, but it couldn’t compare to the shrimp dish I had in Madrid.
For the main course, I may have had grilled eel. (Well, it looks more broiled than grilled, doesn’t it?) Eel is definitely not something I would normally order. Maybe I was being adventurous. Or maybe I copied the wrong Spanish word from the menu.
Here’s where it gets real disappointing. I was really looking forward to my dessert–torta merengue lucuma. Torta merengue lucuma is a traditional Chilean layered dessert made with crispy baked French meringue; whipped cream; and the pulp of lucuma, a fruit native to the Peruvian Andes. It sounds somewhat delicate. But what I got was a frozen brick that was difficult to eat. I really couldn’t enjoy it. After my trip, I asked my friend who used to live in Chile if it was supposed to be like that. He said it absolutely wasn’t. I loved Valparaíso, but I won’t be going back to the restaurant.
Things got worse at dinner. There weren’t many restaurants open while I was waiting around in Viña del Mar for my late bus because it was Sunday. I did find a Bavarian restaurant, of all things, not too far from the bus station. I got spaghetti with pesto. (Not very Bavarian, I admit.) The pesto was basically green water. It was abysmal. I DEFINITELY won’t be going to that restaurant! It was just part of an evening that was not at all fun.
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