Santiago, Chile

The adventure starts driving downtown to La Vega, the largest market in Chile, frequented by residents who crowd the stalls from dawn until early afternoon each day. After exploring the market maze and admiring the variety of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, spices, and meats, we start buying ingredients for the menu we will prepare later with our guide, a renowned chef.

We cross over the bridge to the other side of the Mapocho river and head to the nearby Mercado Central in order to select our final ingredients. This fresh fish market is popular with locals and tourists alike and gives an insight into just how rich the marine diversity is in Chile.

Once we have everything we need, its time to get stuck in! Inside the professional-level kitchen of our chef/guide, we prepare our meals. Our menu will consist of an olive oil tasting (Chile is world renowned for its olive oils), a starter such as a ceviche, a main course, accompanying wine and a typical Chilean dessert with coffee. While the pots are simmering away, we enjoy a tasty Chilean cocktail and appetizers and talk with the chef about the ingredients and their relationship to Chilean culture until it is time to sit down and enjoy the fruit of our labor!

Satisfied with our downtown exploration, the home-cooked food, and good Chilean wine, we are then driven back to our hotel to rest.

YOUR CHEF FRANCISO KLIMSCHA - PROFESSIONAL CHEF CHILEAN CUISINE SPECIALIST

Franciso Klimscha was born with a natural love and talent for cookery. Being a part of the 9th generation of his family to work in the field of gastronomy, one could say that for Francisco, the exciting, ever-evolving world of cuisine was destined to be his oyster. Chilean-born Francisco specializes in both the traditional dishes of his home country, thanks to the teachings of his father, as well as in the field of European Cuisine, thanks to his many years of study and apprenticeship in the prestigious hotel schools of Austria and Switzerland. From experimenting with Chilean ingredients bought at the Mercado Central, to cooking for President Clinton, Francisco is a multi-faceted, experienced chef who is passionate about regional foods and wines, especially those from his native Chile, which he considers being the best in the world.