Saturday in Santiago: Aquí Está Coco
There are a lot of great restaurants in Santiago these days, and when my family came to visit, we did our best to hit up as many as possible. But there was one we had to visit twice after we all fell in love with the service and, more importantly, the food: Aquí Está Coco.
It’s primarily a seafood restaurant, and the decor reflects a nautical vibe without veering into cheesy territory. The whale crafted out of seaweed (kelp? maybe it’s kelp) is a neat touch, although you’ll have to see it in person since the lighting wasn’t good enough for me to capture it well on camera.
Sadly my pictures of our delicious second visit aren’t the best. Luckily, the pictures of the two dishes I completely fell in love with turned out just fine – fate? I can’t bore you today with tales of other people’s meals, but I can still show you the things that I want to eat every day for the rest of my life.
All of the main courses we tried were great – and the portions were huge – but for me it was the beginning and the end of the meal that stuck out. The Easter Island tuna tartare has an amazing tang from the capers. With avocado on the bottom and little crunchies on top, I never wanted it to end.
For dessert, I’m usually a chocolate girl. For whatever reason, I stepped out of my routine to try the passion fruit tart. Best. Decision. Ever. The crust is flaky, the filling creamy, and the passion fruit and orange sauce gets you right in the jaw in that pleasurably tart way. Eat it now, and thank me later.
Aquí Está Coco is filled with wealthy businessman types, but it manages to avoid being stuffy. It’s certainly not one of the most budget meals in Santiago, but the quality of the overall experience is worth the prices (especially if your dad’s paying). For a fancy fish dinner, it’s a solid option in the heart of Providencia.
More in this series:
Saturday in Santiago
Yum! Passionfruit looks delightful – sometimes the fruit desserts are the best even though I’m hesitant to stray from chocolate too
Chocolate’s just sort of guaranteed to be good, isn’t it? But this was amazing.
“The Easter Island tuna tartare” ummm love it! I would fly to Santiago just for that haha.
Do it! You can tell me if it’s good as eating Easter Island tuna actually on Easter Island.
Mmm. I’m a big fan of lemon tarts so I think I’d really like the bitter-sweetness of the passion fruit tart.
The orange flavor didn’t come across as orange so much as just giving a citrus-y kick, so I’m sure you’d love it.
Sounds great! I love the whale hanging from the ceiling!
And it’s so much better in person! The lighting really killed both Rodolfo and me in our attempts to get a good picture, but it really is pretty cool.
Hi Emily!
Your blog is pretty cool!. My wife and I have been reading your blog quite often since we are going to Chile on December 26th, 2011. I am from Chile but I haven’t been there in while. Probably I will visit some of the places you mentioned in your blog but let me know where are the must see places in Stgo. these days.
Thank you,
Carlos
carlitii@gmail.com
Thanks, Carlos! I loved this restaurant and think you’d really like it for a splurge. If you’ve been missing empanadas try this place, and you’ve got to take your wife to La Piojera if she hasn’t been! Not sure if you already saw my suggestions on where to go dancing, but they might come in handy too.
Cool! will do, keep up the good work. Have a good one.
Been here pretty good place!
Glad you liked it too!
The tart screams passionfruit and I’d love to try it!
Come visit!
[...] was skeptical but then one of our favorite travel bloggers, Emily In Chile, wrote about her amazing experience with this restaurant… So the locals DO in fact love it too. Okay, gotta try this [...]