momoryori: Mercado Central (Central Market) & La Vega (Comida Chilena Pt 1)

When in doubt, head to the fresh food market!

Have you see the inside of a Sea Urchin? @ Mercado Central, Santiago

We love visiting fresh food markets! Its a blood line of any city or town, and you get a real flavour of how people work and eat at the markets!

Mercado Central is located in the centre of the old town, housed in a pretty yellow old building. It is the wholesale fish and seafood market of the capital with little local and larger touristy restaurants mixed with shops selling grains and dried goods on the outer set.

Handicrafts & Trinkets Stall.

A Pretty architectural feature from inside the market

QUANTO ? (How much)

The Central Vegetable Market (La Vegas) is across the river from Mercado Central. Upon walking into this new building, it immediately reminded me of the Sago Street Market at Chinatown back home in Singapore. 1F: Veg+Fruit 2F: Sundries, Clothes and Cooked Food. And what a pretty and splendid idea letting in skylight! And the bustling food stalls on the 2F indicated that lunch time was upon us. Chilean Lunch hours range from 1-3pm, if you want to beat the crowds for lunch, go at noon!

This could almost be in Singapore!

Black Maize, Plum coloured potatoes and peppers from a Peruvian Stall at the Market.

An Artichoke bouquet!

As non-spanish speakers, ordering food becomes a happy mix of guesswork, guidebook browsing, drawing, sign-language and luck! As a pescatarian, it was tricky as meat is a big part of the Chileno diet. And it makes up the main part of the meal with Veg on the side.

After scouting, we parked ourselves at Donde Kery, it looked the most crowded (with locals) and busiest ! Among 3 of us, we shared a Cazuela, a sort of soup and Grilled Fish and Rice with Potato.
Potatoes and Rice are common starchy sides accompanying meats and mains. The portions are really generous too ( not as big as North America but sizable!) so sharing was a common feature in our meals.