Last month, my wife and I celebrated our seventh anniversary by traveling to Chile and Bolivia. Our itinerary for the memorable anniversary trip was focused mostly on exploring the Atacama Desert in Chile and the Bolivian highlands across the border. We did have one day in Santiago, Chile’s capital, during our trip so I wanted to use that opportunity to finally check out the highly acclaimed Boragó from chef Rodolfo Guzmán. The restaurant had long been on various lists of best South American restaurants, so we had high expectations for Boragó. It was an impressive dining experience that Jun and I enjoyed quite a bit, offering us compelling culinary vision and philosophy a diner would not likely encounter elsewhere outside of South America.

As we got settled on our table, the postcard from the restaurant immediately caught my attention. It was a thoughtful presentation of Chile’s geographical landscape from which ingredients for the dinner were sourced from. Chef Guzmán is very committed to showcasing the native ingredients from more than 200 collectors and small producers across the country, with a focus on seasonality (the restaurant changes menu each season) and sustainability. You will see some stunning presentations of the dishes at Boragó from the beginning like we did with pink tomato pebre and chancho en piedra (think Chilean salsas) on an actual plant and the tasty bite of a bee made of truffle and alfalfa. One of my favorite dishes from the night was scallop crudo with seaweed extracts that worked quite well with the crunchy cracker underneath, and we were also fans of fresh seafood “garden” inside a beautiful Chilean bellflower called copihue.

I am a huge fan of the Korean marinated raw crab dish called ganjang gejang, and didn’t certainly expect to see the kitchen bring out a playful take on it with Chilean crab called jaiba; of course it didn’t have the same flavor profile as the original dish from Korea, but I appreciated the ingenuity behind the Chilean version. Another dish I was very fond of was the conger (a type of eel) submerged in a broth of kollof roots and accompanied by summer flowers; we also got lobster cooked in seaweed bladder and grilled tomato on the side. If you want to see what a dish inspired by Van Gough would look like, Boragó will show a stunning dish of vegetables and flowers that would make you feel you are looking at an actual painting. The final savory course, Patagonian lamb, was quite tender, but Jun wished the meat’s seasoning could’ve been toned down a bit. The desserts at Boragó were no less impactful, starting with sea strawberry-based palate cleanser, followed by frozen seaweed ice cream inside a shell that you can open in half.

Getting a reservation at Boragó wasn’t overly challenging but the restaurant was certainly fully booked during our dinner so making a reservation in advance is essential. The location of the restaurant in Vitacura, a suburb outside of Santiago, was somewhat puzzling (you can see a tennis court outside the window), but the dining space itself with open kitchen at the far end was quite sleek. There is no set wine list at Boragó and if you are inclined to check out wines from Chile, I highly recommend trying the wine pairings with thoughtfully curated selections from across the country’s diverse wine regions. The service was generally professional and attentive, although you might encounter some language barrier from time to time (as you will while visiting Chile (and even more so Bolivia) if you don’t speak fluent Spanish). We were very appreciative of the experience at Boragó as we got to savor unique ingredients and flavors we hadn’t come across during our travels elsewhere. Santiago is probably not the first destination to stay for an extended period of time in Chile, but if you have at least one dinner window, Boragó is a place you would want to consider.

Address: Av. San José María Escrivá de Balaguer 5970, Región Metropolitana, Chile

KenScale: 8.5/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.5/10)

Website: https://borago.cl/en/welcome/

Reservation via Website