Take a Wok: My favorite place in Costanera Center

Every time I go to Costanera Center  I want to eat in Take a Wok.  I love this place because the food feels light and healthy and it always leaves me with the craving for more.

Take a Wok is a noodle bar with a simple but varied menu. You have to pick a base, 2 types of toppings and a sauce.

Take a Wok is located on the 5th floor of Costanera Center

Juan and I always choose the Wok Super which includes a base, one protein and 2 vegetables.   I choose egg noodles with beef, zucchini, red peppers and teriyaki sauce.  Juan chooses the egg noodles with beef, mini corn cobs, broccoli and coconut curry sauce. For an additional cost you can add peanuts or almonds to your wok and a beverage.

Next time I go I want to try the wild rice because it looks really good.

Have you gone to Take a Wok? Do you like it?  I certainly do!

La Signoria: Fresh Pastas in Bellavista

Life is too short (…) I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0- Sophia Bush

On weekends I usually don’t want to cook so Juan and I tend to go out and explore new places to eat.  Last Saturday we decided to go to La Signoria a small place in our neighborhood that we had seen a million times but had never visited.  This place caught our attention because every time one passes by it smells delicious, it has a banner that says fresh pasta, and a window where one can see the pasta being made.

We went at 3:00 p.m. and the place was packed. They have few tables so we had to wait a while.  The wait was totally worth our time.  The food was spectacularly delicious.  We will be going back and here’s why:

1. Their juices were not the typical Chilean flavors (raspberry, strawberry, chirimoya) they had orange banana, apple pear and other amazing blends.
2. They give you an antipasto made with arugula, tomatoes, and pate on top of a slice of bread with balsamic on the side.  I must confess I was afraid to try it but it turned out to be an omen of the great food we were about to eat.
3. The pastas are prepared daily so they are as fresh as they come.
4. It is real Italian food, hard to find in Chile.
5. The serving is enough.
6. The pastas are stuffed with gourmet ingredients and mixes.
7. Everything feels like homemade.
8. The raviolis stuffed with blue cheese and pears with white sauce and walnuts were out of this world.
9. The raviolis stuffed with eggplant and zucchini with pomodoro sauce were also out of this world.
10. The desserts, which are also homemade, are delicious.
11. The best panna cotta I have eaten outside of Italy.
12. The passion fruit mousse was moist and had the perfect consistency.
13. Even though the service was slow because the restaurant was packed the workers were very friendly and attentive. 

Orange-Banana to the left and apple-pear to the right. These juices were full of flavor.

Antipasto, the omen of what was about to come =)

Ravioli stuffed with blue cheese and pears in a walnut and cheese sauce. Absolutely delicious.

Ravioli stuffed with vegetables in pomodoro sauce. I loved them.

This is how our plates ended up.

The Passion Fruit Mousse had great consistency and flavor.

Panna Cotta with raspberry topping. Yummyness galore ❤

Have you gone to La Signoria or other Italian restaurants in Chile? Please comment below and let me know.   If you want to try these pastas the restaurant is located in the intersection of Bellavista and Loreto. 

Wonderful Café: Macarons and more in Lastarria

I eat macarons and I say to myself  what a Wonderful world- Me

A couple of days ago everyone and their mother were posting photos of macarons in instagram.  Since I live in Chile and can’t go to Ladurée to get my macaron fix I was kind of bummed. Juan, the best boyfriend ever, brought home a bag of macarons from Wonderful Café.  We loved them.

Since last week had a holiday we decided to have lunch in Wonderful Café in order to try other things. This was a great idea because we ended up having a delicious and satisfying lunch.   We liked it so much that we went back on Sunday. The place is really cool, the workers are attentive even though they’re very busy, and the food is awesome.

I will keep going to Wonderful Café even if it is only to drink a latte and eat macarons.  I’m totally obsessed with them =)

Here are some photos of all the food we ate on our two visits:

Mango Juice for Juan. Diet Coke for me.

Humongous tuna salad made with organic lettuce. Juan said it was delicious.

Roast Beef Sandwich served with Terra Chips. The bread was a crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside ciabatta. It was absolutely wonderful.

Milhojas de frambuesa (Sort of raspberry strudel). It also had manjar. It was really good, I will have this one the next time I go back.

Nutella Cheesecake. It was good but it din’t taste like Nutella it was more of a chocolate cheesecake. (I have high standards in things that are supposed to taste like Nutella because I love that stuff and have been eating it for over 2 decades)

Açaí Bowl with granola and bananas. Juan said he felt energized after eating it.

Darjeeling Tea for my Chilean tea lover ❤

My new obsession vanilla latte with macarons. I could have this for breakfast or “once” every day.

The second time we went to Wonderful I chose the prosciutto and pesto sandwich. I I liked it but I prefer the Roast Beef sandwich I ate the first time.

Typical Chilean avocado toasts. The avocado portion was quite big, Juan really enjoyed these.

Four years ago finding bagels in Santiago was almost impossible. Now they’re everywhere and this sesame one with butter and blackberry jelly was pretty good.

Wonderful Café serves good food at reasonable prices. You should check it out.  They have two places, one in Lastarria and one in Las Condes.

La Ex-Mordida: My favorite place/restaurant in Santiago

Anytime there is Mexican food around, you can bet I’ll be eating it- Eva Longoria

I have mentioned La Mordida before and don’t really know why I haven’t dedicated an entire post to it given that it is my favorite place in Santiago.  I found La Mordida walking since it is conveniently located in my street. It first caught my attention because it has a Mexican catrina in the sidewalk. As I said here I love Mexican food and Juan and I have probably eaten in La Mordida over 20 times since we found it last summer.  At first we tried different dishes but now even the waiter knows what we want.  We order 2 margaritas, half order of guacamole nachos and the tacos al pastor. We will continue to go back and here’s why: 

Lime Fresh Mexican Grill Yummy Tex-Mex in Santiago

Last night I didn’t feel like cooking so my partner told me we should go out and try this new Mexican place near El Golf.  I was sold by Mexican. I adore Mexican food since forever. Rumor has it that my mom ate Mexican food every week during her pregnancy so my fascination with Mexican and spicy food comes since I was a fetus.

I had never heard of this place before. Lime Fresh started in Miami and now it has several restaurants in the eastern United States.  It recently opened two restaurants in Chile, one in Viña del Mar and one in Las Condes.  It is more or less the same concept of Moe’s or Chipotle.  I will definitely be back and here’s why: