Boragó

Santiago, Chile

It’s interesting to see where world famous restaurants choose to situate their locations. Geranium, for example, is in Parken Stadium—the home of FC Copenhagen and the Danish national football league. Not exactly where I would expect to find a high end restaurant.

Boragó is similarly located in an unusual location. It’s nestled amongst a wellness centre with the restaurant surrounded by fitness areas and tennis courts. It felt a bit strange to be dressed up for an elevated food experience and have casual tennis players walking by the window.

The meal was a great way to explore the regional ingredients in a creative way. It is always a delight to experience flavours that are unique to a region and Boragó’s spring menu, Endémica, did just that.

Chile from north to south with red murtillas (berries) and Changle mushrooms, deep fried, to start. Sea Sunstar of Jibia. Pulmay, a seafood stew, was smoked in tepú. Cremoso of sea asparagus. Piure ceviche and spring extracts. A kollof broth served with wilted chard rock plants and sea extract.

Milcao cooked “al rescoldo” served with pajarito butter transitioned us into the savoury courses of deer aged on bee’s wax and cured on peumo tree. A hot ceviche of mushrooms, served on tepú roasted apple custard treated as cheese for over a month. The texture of the “cheese” was interesting and reminded me of a bread bowl. Lastly, Patagonian lamb served with a “fig tree” that was a branch made of fig.

The Atacama-based desserts were creatively presented as flowers and a butterfly including a custard apple; semifreddo of rose of the Year of Atacama desert; Rica-Rica and algaes; loyo mushroom, seaweed, and Maqui wild fruit; and lastly, a “cold glacier” which was a freeze-dried meringue that was eaten in one bite.

Verdict

As I approach the end of this adventure, I have started dividing the list into thirds. At the top of the list is definitely the cream of the crop, the best of the best with absolutely incredible food and experiences. In the middle are fantastic restaurants with great tasting menus, with fantastic service, that follow a standard tasting menu format. At the bottom are restaurants that are really good but maybe didn’t live up to expectations for one reason or another.

Within the list, I’d place Boragó solidly in the middle third. All-in-all, a lovely meal that, if you find yourself in Santiago, I’d definitely recommend.

Photos