2025 Brazil Trip: The Restaurants, Pt. 2 - Sao Paulo

A Casa do Porco

1.) (1) Pork Shank Terrine with Cambuci, Gherkin, (2) Pork Tartare with radish and Caruru Leaf, (3) Mortadella with Brown Butter, (4) Pork Crackling Bread, (5) Ora Pro Nobis, Ginger and Turmeric

No words man, no words. This will likely be my reaction to most of the courses here. Each of these bites were amazing - from teh simple (the best tasting mortadella), to the "could easily be at a $200 tasting menu" complex like the shank terrine with fixings. These were all just masterful bites to start the meal.

2.) Second mix of (1) Sweet Potato Steamed Bun, Milanese Pork and Beetroot Mayo, (2) Roasted Pork Empanada with Hard Cream Cheese, (3) Pork in a Can with Cassava and Banana, and (4) Pork Broth with Miso and Tucupi

Another just stellar round of bites. That sweet potato bun with pork and beetroot mayo is really what made it clear that this is going to be a true just perfect place. That dish barely ahd any pork in it, but was still so delicate, so perfect - the sweet potato bun was so damn sweet. The other dishes were also quite great, even if the pork broth may have been just a bit too pork-y.

3.) Mix of (1) Pork Loin Carpaccio, Anchovies and Fermented Mustard, (2) Pork Crackling with Tomato Powder, and (3) Fresh Leaves and Tangerine Salad

This was the last 'here's just a bunch of stuff' courses until the main, and probably the least effective. Granted, the pork loin carpaccio was brilliant - the saltiness of the anchovies adn mustard somehow worked perfectly with the carpaccio. The crackling was great but too much tomato in the powder (I know, that's my problem).

4.) Cotecino & Pork Pasta with Braised Spinach, Toasted Vegetable Broth and Shrimp & Turmeric Oil

Sometimes I don't get the dabbles and bubbles of oil chef's add to these dishes. Well, you have a dish like this and you understand it perfectly. The shrimp and turmeric flavors popped so well and amplified the dish. The pasta itself was perfectly cooked, with the shrimp and pork mixture working so well. Just a masterful dish.

5.) Ground Maize, Pork Rib, Fried Chicory, Pickled Vegetables, with Corn & Cheese Form

Another just stellar dish, even if it looks kind of like a dessert. Granted, it looked less like a dessert when you crack open that ground maize and see the beautiful pork rib underneath it. These last two courses really took A Casa do Porco up a level - doing the little dabs of small bites are great, but a perfectly composed dish like this and the last one are great.

6.) Main course of (1) Roast Pork, (2) Pork and Sweetbread Sausage, (3) Freshly Harvested Eggplant and Banana

This is like when Borago served just their 24-hour spit roasted lamb as a final course. No real tweezery sides and garnishes. Here's just two incredibly soft pieces of pork (with perfectly crispy skin). The sweetbread sausage had a truly unique flavor. The vegetables again weren't anything fancy but just so fresh. Sure, you may want more pizzazz in your final course, but keeping it simple (I say this knowing it takes masterful skill to make) works too.

7.) Toasted Bread, Rice Pudding, Toffee Caramel, Milk Foam, Fresh Vanilla Ice Cream with Crunchy Peanuts

This dish was called "from the cow'd udder" as all of it had elements from cow (milk and such). Of course, a cow isn't a pig, but I can't blame them here. Still was a really nice dessert if a bit unmemorable (certainly compared to the rest of the meal).

8.) Petit Fours (including pork crackling dust on chocolate)

I'll say this, even their petit fours were perfectly unique, from cheese and jam, to pork crackling dst, to a little strawberry cone. Not the usual mimi ganaches and whatever the hell. A perfectly unique way to end a perfectly unique meal.

Rank on Trip: #2/6 (will be my new #13 on my list)

D.O.M.

1.) Cashew Pulp & Juice with Manoic Smoked Cashews

Kind of a weird start, but what looks fairly staid was actually quite tasty. The pulp & juice in teh spoon was incredible. Just the weirdest combination of textures and flavor. The cashew nuts were just cashew nuts, but also the smoke was amazing.

2.) Trio of (1) Potato Mangiapame with Small Fish and Corn. (2) Cassava with Beef Tartare and (3) Tamarind and Farofa Chicken

Unbelievable - all three of them. This was the only multi-bite course than D.O.M has, which I guess gives it the appearance of less courses than others, but really all three of them were just great. The Potato Mangiapane was perfectly swett. The Beef Tartare was about the best beef tartare that I've ever had (granted, it was just two bites). The tamarind chicken was perfect - the idea being to roll the chicken around in the farofa. All three of these were just divine.

3.) Dried Fruit & Pumpkin Tortellini made with Tapioca with Pumpkin Sauce

Another just monster dish - the tapioca tortelline with fruit & pumplin were amazing. As good as any tortellini that you would get in Italy - truly. And that pumpkin sauce was the best form of a thick, glistening punpkin soup - I've tried to make something similar to mixed success but not nearly this depth and clarity of flavor/

4.) Cured Egg Yolk, Fried Egg Whites, Butter Cheese and Red Rice

I'm not a cured egg yolk fan, otherwise I probably would've ranked this more highly in my mental notes of how good each dish was. It was cool to see the various preparation of eggs - including the eggy white thing at the top (what looks like chicken skin). Crazy inventive dish, just not my cup of tea.

5.) Mushroom & Bone Broth with Sweet Manioc Chips

Looks simple, but this was awesome. The bone broth wass so damn flavorful, with the mushrooms adding a graet additional umami bomb. But the real star of the show were those sweet manioc chips - little mini manioc tacos if you will. Sweet on their own, but a ridiculously tasty combination if you dipped them into the soup.

6.) Amazonian Fish cooked in Banana Leaf

I've had versions of this dish be it at home, or at Gaggan, and this preparation was as good as any. I didn't write down what the sauce was (the kind of cloggy loolking white/cream sauce) but it was great - so tart and fruity. The fish was cooked perfectly. It was a thick banana leaf where as you went you can scrape up bits of it as well. Great dish.

7.) Quail, Polenta and Native Leaf

Great dish - great qual, great polenta. The leaf was great. The sauce (a quail reduction infused with guava) was outrageous. Masterful dish, which is all the more surprising it wasn't the primary main given...

8.) Brazilian Bacon with Goat Sauce

... This was jsut something of a miss in my book. The goat sauce was ridiculously flavorful to be sure, as was the bacon, but the problem is that, as you can see (or not see), the bacon is barely visible - thinly sliced between the green thigns on the right side. I don't really know what that green thing was but it took over the dish a bit too much.

9.) Bean Cream, Melon & Machichi Granita

Really great dish - another restaurant where the best dessert might have been the pallate cleanser. The Machichi granita was probably the best part. All of it was excellent though. Great overall dish, and a nice bounceback after that just weird last main.

10.) Bucuri Fruit & Foam

I somehow forgot to take a picture of this I guess. And honestly don't really remember it too much. Shame on me, really, but across six tasting menu dinners it was bound to happen.

11.) White Chocolate & Tapioca Pudding

A really nice, and beautiful, ending. Each element was amazing. Tis was just a masterful version of what seems to be home-style Brazilian dessert. The clear white bit below the rose was jsut rose infused tapioca whic was awesome. A perfect way to end a meal.

12,) Petit Fours

Really nice last course of bites, all so Brazilian and crunchy. A great final last few bites of Brazilian high cuisine.

Rank on Trip: 5/6  (will be my new #26 favorite Tasting Menu)

2025 Brazil Trip: The Restaurants, Pt. 1 - Rio de Janeiro

Oro

1.) Rock Oyster with Guava and Piquinho Pepper

The oyster was incredible, a great mix of salty & sweet. But the real star was the guava, which would become a recurring trend in many dishes, both here and at all the other stops. Great way to start the first course of the first tasting menu stop.

2.) Trio of (1) Scallop & Heart of Palm Tartlette, (2) Kale, Codfish and Potato Sandwhich and (3) "Fancy" Ham Tomato & Bread

All of these were great, but the scallop & heat of palm tartlette was just exquisite. So well crafted, adn teh tartlette was strong enough to last 3-4 bites (I hate doing the "eat it all in one bite" routine. The other two were also quite good, the kale & codfish was probably slightly too crumbly, but really well cooked. The fancy toast was great except for my aversion to raw tomato. Take that little slice off, or change it to a raw fruit or something, and it may have been the best bite.

3.) Trio of (1) Crab & Lime Croquette, (2) Shrimp Soup with Brazilian Cracker and (3) Cheese and Nut Bread Bolinho

The crab in the croquette was nice, but the fingerling lime dollop on top was just amazing. Really added to the dish. The soup was interesting because the green color is just a parsley top, but the real star of the dish is the shrimp and cassava underneath - a really nice three to four spoons. The cracker, to be honest, didn't really add much. Finally the cheese bread (pan do queco) with nut was just divine. I love these almost dessert like early dishes to add a hit of sweetness...

4.) Trio of (1) Pork Tartare with Yolk, (2) Mochi of Shrimp & Olive and (3) Duck & Cassava Tataki Bolinho

... especially since the next trio was mroe umami, salty. It's almost like they plan these things! The pork tartare was quite good but the worst of the three. Worst is definitely relative, but probably so because it was the most traditional. The shrimp & olive mochi was just incredibly - such a great squishiness feel in the mouth. Finally the bolinho was amazing. Duck is far more a staple protein in Brazil than I ever imagiend and it with the brined cassava was special.

5.) Pork Belly, Pineapple & Kimchi "Cervantes" Sandwhich

The "Cervantes" is a famous eponymous sandwhich sold at a Boteco in Copacabana - featured at the tail end of the Rio Somebody Feed Phil episode. Here it was upscaled a lot and just divine. Probably my favorite course. I love it when a place like this takes a local street food specialty, keeps it qjite similar (so not just hit it with some molecular gastronomy) and go from there.

6.) Lobster with Leek & Pistachio Purees

The mains at Oro were all tasty, if some a bit too clsoe to something I could make, to where it probably ends up ranking 6th out of the six tasting menu spots. Now, it is cheaper than Lasai or D.O.M., and still worth visiting, certainly. The lobster was cooked amazing here, and the leek puree was excellent. Probably just a hint of too much pistachio which overpowered it a bit too much.

7.) Seabass with Corn Four Ways

My only critique of this dish was after one cut into the fish the pieces of baby corn on it started falling off - but if anything maybe it makes it better, because the baby corn on top infused with the corn broth below is just magic. This was probably my favorite main - a personal favorite type of dish for me, where they just take an ingredient like the humble corn and beautify it up multiple ways.

8.) Many Different Types of Mushroom

In a way this is similar, with four different preparations or elements of mushroom, down to the mushroom dust on the bottom end. The orange to the right is a 10-day cured egg yolk, which added some great funkiness. Again, if I had a slight critique it was the mushroom on the top (the white strips) were a bit too traditional. Everything else was a 10/10.

9.) Short Rib with Chestnut Puree

The short rib was cooked amazing. Like truly one of the best cooked short ribs I've ever had - better than Korea, better than anything. The chestnut puree was probably 10% too chestnut-y, which is still a nice flavor, but if anything may have slightly distracted from the perfectness of the short rib.

10.) Coconut Many Ways

The desserts were uniformally quite good on all of the tasting menu spots. Oro was the only one to have just one dessert (technically they have two, of which you pick one). I went with a panoply of coconut as everything on that plate is either fully or largely built on coconut. It was sublime, and I don't even like coconut taste in many forms. Great dessert - just which I could've tried the other one.

11.) Petit Fours

Oddly, the one they intentionally gave two of was probably my least favorite. The otehr were perfectly squishy, marshmallowy, gelatinous and fun.

Rank on Trip: 6/6  (will be my new #33 favorite Tasting Menu)

Lasai

1.) Arrow Root Cracker Salad

As is immediately fairly clear, Lasai was more technically beautiful and inventive. Now, as we'll get to it didn't work in every case, but as an initial go this was excellent, certainyl the best "salad" I've  had at a tasting menu. The arrow root base (the cracker on top and bottom) was quite tart and wonderful.

2.) Golden Flax Cracker with Baby Corn, Okra and Ricotta

And here's where I think it maybe doesn't always work. The Flaxseed base broke up way too much and was a bit too bitter and tough. Everything that was on top of it: amazing. The ricotta worked so well as a contrast to all the various bitter vegetables. Beautiful top, iffy bottom.

3.) "Carrot Crepe"

So simple in a way - the stuff in teh middle just julienned strips of native carrots pickled for a long time. The thing on the outside was a crepe made of carrot tops, which is just the type of stuff I love at a place like this. I throw out the carrot tops. Hell we all do, or just buy carrots with the tops already removed. But I guess you can do a lot more than just that, huh? The crepe tasted amazing.

4.) Scallop & Heart of Palm Yuzu Consomme

Probably the best early bite - heart of palm is such a flexible vegetable. Great in its basic setting (serving raw, maybe slightly picked) but also great in these more unique uses. The scallop was unsurprsingly excellent as was the perfect consomme - just the best hint of yuzu. 

5.) Quinoa & Eggplant Sandwhich

Oddly. the Quinoa cracker broke up more here than the Flaxseed cracker on teh second bite, but I'm far more forgiving on this one because the grilled eggplant in the middle was incredible. Probably the single best element of any of the initial snacks (the first 9 courses). Over the years, I've grown to appreciate the flexibility of the eggplant, but even for an eggplant this was truly great.

6.) Coconut Milk & Seaweed Uni Custard

A nice little change of pace, even if I'm someone who finds uni a bit overrated. That said, here the uni was mixed together perfectly with the coconut milk to create a really nice custard. Small bite, but again despite being probably all in all one of the weaker snacks, a welcome change of pace.

7.) Potato "Pillow" with Red Prawn Tartare & Aged Pork Belly

Ok, here's the thing - this was really good. The fish tartarte was super fresh and well spiced. The Pillow was great - really great mix of crunchy and soft. Only issue really was the aged pork belly. It was nice, but a little too little of it given how much a deal they made of how special it was of an ingredient.

8.) Fried Plaintain, Mochic, Sweet Plantains & Oxtail

I don't know what mochichi is - the leaf I guess? Doesn't matter, evetything else was really nice. I love how inventive they were with the use of banana. One of those classical Brazilian ingredients, The oxtail of it all was nice, but probably have had better oxtail elsewhere. Banana was rightly the star of the dish.

9.) Pan do Queco of Brie and Guava

A simple bread ball, with guava and brie in it. A classic combination, a more classic Brazilian combination. The bread far softer than it probably appears. Just a great way to transition into the mains.

10.) Yellowtail & Squash with two Tahini Sauces

This is going to sound worse than I mean it but this was the weakest of the mains, despite its beautiful presentation. What really hurt it was the normal tahini overpowered the dish a bit. It was a great tahini, but just taht. The black tahini (normal tahini but infused with a couple elements I didn't write down) was better - wish the ratio of the two sauces were reversed.

11.) Squid & Melon with Cashewnut Foam

One of those dishes where I stupidly didn't take a picture pre-foam, where visually it looked better. Anyway, the cashewnut sauces was far better here as a foam than say yesterday when it was more of a sauce. The melon and squid strips (what you see is melon - the squid was cut similarly) was an unexpectedly great combination.

12.) Braised Pork Coppa with Squash & Lions Mane Mushroom

Unreal dish - one of the best preparations of pork (admittedly, maybe until a couple days later at A Casa do Porco...), but even the other elements made this a final main worth of its place in the menu. The pork though was the star - cooked for 8 hours, being continuusly basted. Just such clear flavor. So delicate. All of this dish was incredible.

13.) Ciruella Granita & Passionfruit Pannacotta

Not sure what Citruella is, other than to say it is great. I know what passionfruit is, and it's rarely been this good. I don't know how much of a compliment it is for a place like Lasai to say that your favorite dessert was the palatte cleanser, but this was fantastic.

14.) White Chocolate Mousse with Honey & Toasted White Chocolate

Really nice dish, and the honey woven in worked excellenty. The toasted white chocolates (the thing that looks like normal chocoalte dirt) was great, but overall just a tad too simplistic, or maybe more accurately less Brazilian than I would've liked.

15.) Petit Fours

Ah, the age old question of is it annoying when you get just a Petit Two. Well, when they're both quite good and you're already full. than not really. A really nice way to end a great meal.

Rank on Trip: 3/6  (will be my new #19)

2025 Brazil Trip: Day 11 - Santiago

Day 11 - A Great Collection of News and Olds

Sometimes you would think it is difficult to write about the same cities over and over again. Then again I've written daily diaries across all seven trips to Cape Town, so doing Santiago for a third time shouldn't be an issue. Santiago also been just an amazing city all aroudn helps as well - especially with the strongness of its places good enough to keep going back to, and enough few new things to keep trying out.

The day started with a trip to Plaza de Armas, the main square in Santiago, which is beaming with life on another fairly cloudless, not humid 82degree days in STGO (as their large stylized sign calls it in the square). The square has many buildings worth visiting, though this time I limited it to the Cathedral - which was as beautiful as ever. Honestly the best church I think I've seen in South America (comparing it to the ones in Lima and Buenos Aires). Some of the sculpture work in the Santiago Cathedral rivals what you would see in Europe - as does the overall size and airiness.

A block away from the Plaza de Armas sits one of the better history museums of a particular area - the Museo del Arte Pre-Colombiano. I've visited it now each time I've been to Santiago, despite 2/3rds of it being roughly the same. The two story main building goes from around 1600 BC to 1500 AD (European Conquest) showing the development of Central and South America - so this is squarely NOT a Chilean museum. The artifacts are all interesting and just the right amount. It whets your appetite for the basement.

Before we get to the basement, the rotating exhibition side building - the only new part this time - was showcasing some beautiful textiles in Chilean history - some intricately detailed and some giant. Anyway, in the two-story ceiling basement sits the same conceit but now purely about Chile - going through in great detail the artwork, ceramics, t3extiles, sculptures of pre-Spanish Chile. 

It's the first of what I call the "Three Part History of Chile in Three Museums" - with this one taking you uptil around the time the Spanish conquered. Then the main "history' museum in Plaza de Armas (went last two times, not this time) gives Chile's history from Spanish conquering through to Independence right up to the Pinochet coup. And then the Museo de Derechos which is all about the atrocities of the Pinochet regime and the fight for independence. I plan to go there tomorrow.

After this I headed over to Pulperia Santa Elvira for lunch, which is a new spot for me. It's a truly great restaurant serving michelin star type food in a much more homey location. The main chefs were michelin trained and serve a three course meal where you pick one of four starters, one of four mains and one of four desserts. All of them sound just amazing, so definitely a place better to go in a couple or group where you can each order different things. For a starter I got a two part dish, one a local shellfish served in shell with fixings and then a beautiful bass tartare with tons of other stuff. So fresh, so good. As was the main of another Chilean fish with two sauces, both luscious but one green, one oragne, and a bit of piure served in it as well. Even desert was incredible - a mushroom & vegetable popsicle which somehow was far better than you would think based on that description. Santa Elvira is just a beautiful place.

I had another new spot in mind to go to next, which was the Ralli Museum which is a small art gallery with rave reviews. Of course, when I reached I realized it is closed all February for vacation. Of course, this was not noted on my brief googling, so another tough miss on this trip, but did allow me to do another new thing - which is roam aroudn the beautiful Parque Bicentenario nearby. It is a stunning park, well manicured with sculptures, gardens, ponds, all with Sanhattan (Santiago's FiDi) overlooking it. This is all in Viticura, an upscale neighborhood of Chile, and walking it you would think you are in the US.

From there I did more roaming over in Barrio Italia, which is just an amazing area. So many indoor art and food fairs (indoor meaning there's a roof, but generally open walls). So many little boutiques. So much art. Granted, quite a lot of it is not necessarily Chilean, and a lot of it is clothing, so not exactly what I at my peak souvenir mindset, but I did find a few doo-dads within a really nice furniture and home goods stores. You can spend a while in Barrio Italia and never feel bored. Same with Gluck Restobar which had eight great taps of which I tried three of them.

Dinner was at Borago - and of course more to come on that, but the meal was fantastic. Hard to know if I liked it more this year than last year. I did freak out early when they brought over a giant pink tomato to say that this delicacy of Chile was a star being used in many dishes in many forms. I hate raw tomato. I was worried this was going to be ruined. The first dish was basically drinking tomato juice (with some other vegetables) out of a hollowed out pink tomato. All I'll say is if every tomato was one of these giant pink tomatoes, I would probably eat tomato more.

After dinner was the last miss of the trip, where I found out yesterday that Siete Negronis, a top cocktail spot, closed due to a rent dispute. But the loss of Siete Negronis ended up being replaced by what honestly is a better spot - a cocktail bar called Backroom Bar, with has live music until 12:30am as well. The backroom of the Backroom is also open air (the reverse of the Barrio Italia spots, this with no ceiling but walls) and was just a great setting to try some cocktails.

The last bit if tourism for the day isn't a new, but went well enough it may replace La Feria (or even Espacio 93) as my go to, as for a second night the sideroom and downstairs room of Club Ambar was amazing. Just a great spot to dance the night away finsihing up as fulfilling and fun a day in Santiago as I could've wanted. This is exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to end the trip in Santiago.

2025 Brazil Trip: Day 10 - Transit to Santiago

Day 10: Reminiscing about Brazil

Most of the day was taken up by flying from Foz do Iguacu to Sao Paulo and then to Santiago. I woke up at 4:55am for my 6:55am flight. I was able to successfully sleep for most of the flight, and even a good 90 minutes of the second flight. I bought a cheap upgrade to business for the Sao Paulo to Santiago leg on LATAM (was basically $120 more than economy), and was very glad I did. There was a fairly late equipment change to their newer variant of the B787-9 - while the older one also is lie-flat, it is a 2-2-2 configuration, vs the 1-2-1 configuration I got. 

The flight itself was excellent - LATAM with a very good product. The food was served a bit slow, but also I had the bad luck to be in the last row of business class after a maintenance issue was there on my original seat, so that contributed to the length of the lunch service. The starter of smoked picanha and cheese was excellent, as was their bread. The main of tenderloin, fried cheese, farofa and zucchini was interesting in that the beef was overcooked (usually a standard for airplane beef) but everything else in the dish was great, as was the Malbec. Before I knew it, after a nice sleep in their lie flat, we were touching down in gorgeous, sunny, Santiago.

I'll talk about my evening in Santiago in a minute, but first some lasting thoughts on Brazil (of which I'll probably have many more later on):

= It is honestly my fault that it took me so long to visit. I don't know what made me put so many other places higher on my priority list than Brazil, even within South America. Looking back, I could've easily done the trip I'm  doing now in 2022/23/24 when I went to Lima / Buenos Aires / Santiago. It shouldn't be a surprise that the world's 5th largest country both by population and size would have its own wonderful, unique culture, even within the context of South America

= It's staggering how helpless I feel with the Portugeuse language, especially the Brazilianized version of it (which from an accent and pronunciation, I love). There's a few key words I know and could say well enough to get by, but so often I had to quickly shift to English, or actually more frequently, shift to Spanish.

= The food is a lot better than I was expecting. Obviously, not shocked that the tasting menu stuff was great, and I knew the steak would be excellent (I preferred it here to Argentina, to be hones), but even their more street food and normal food proved much better than I was expecting - the things you can do with a bolinho I guess!

= I've never been to a place where the average person was just so cool, and to some degree as well friendly. There's just a very positive vibe about Brazil. Granted, the country does go through its economical challenges, so some of it may be putting on a good face, but it still is just a very positive place.

= I never really felt unsafe. Granted, I didn't go for long walks at night, and any time I did walk at night it was in heavily trafficked places where other people did as well. But still, I never felt unsafe, and I hope no one is dissuaded from visiting Brazil due to safety concerns.

Anyway, back to Santiago - which I started my trip by realizing quite a few of the places I was hoping to revisit are closed. First was the Patio Bellavista version of Bar SpOH (craft beer). The brewery still exists and has other taprooms, but their more far afield. So instead, I did check out a new craft brewery called Intrinsical which probably was slightly worse but still quite good. I'll get to the other closures when it makes sense.

Before Intrinsical, I did head to the Plaza Moderna, befit with its comically large, glowing in the wind Chile flag, and the always nice underground Cultural Center, which is great for some nice curious and more to it nice exhibits. The main one this time was particularly great - a giant exhibition of the art and life of Jose Venturelli, a famed Chilean artist who spent time in his life also living in China, Cuba and Switzerland. The last one was particularly interesting, as it was him living in exile after the Pinochet coup, and most of his artwork from that period was very, very dark and real.

After a quick fresh up at the AirBNB - a stunning, artsy loft in the heart of Bellavista, I hit up 99 Restaurante for dinner. What's great about teh place is how focused they are in their approach, picking a specific region of Chile and exploring the produce, meat, traditions and such of that region. This phase is the Aconcagua Valley, a region to the north of Santiago. The food was sublime - the main dish featured horse meat which I can confidently say was cooked as well and was as tasty as any beef I've had.

What's even better about 99 Restaurante is it is housed in the lovely CV Galeria in Vicatura (itself a very upscale Santiago neighborhood) and right outside it sits Prima Bar, one of the better cocktail spots in Santiago. Their rating on Google is quite average for a spot this reputed (4.0), but if you go through nearly all the negative reviews are about the food - so I guess don't go there for dinner. Do what I did and go there for driniks, which were excellent, from a coffee-infused negroni, to an old fashioned with a melon infusion, to so much else. 

For the end of night adventures I headed back to Bellavista (the reason msotly I pick an AirBNB there) and this gets to the second sad closure. This really is more of just awful timing. My favorite EDM club in Santiago is Espacio 93, but they are taking this weekend off. So yeah, taht was a bummer. Less of a bummer was spending time in La Feria, which was music closer to my style than last year where it was more latin, and Club Ambar, which is interesting. The main room there is not my type (too Istanbul or Bangkok, if you will) but they have two side rooms, one playing house and one underground playing techno, and those two were excellent. Both spots are two blocks from each other so I could ping pong back and forth for a couple hours and dance away the end of a great first night in Santiago.

2025 Brazil Trip: Day 9 - Foz do Iguacu

Day 9 - Iguazu Falls (spot the difference!)

There was a very good reason it turns out to see both sides of Iguazu Falls - the Brazil side and the Argentina side. In fact there are many good reasons. Most are around just how different an experience it is - Argentina's side is more vast, with more trails (or at least more that everyone should do) with the main conceit being it takes you super close to the falls, a far more eye-level view of the beauty. Their devil's throat is also quite different. The only disappointment is one of the reasons is not to get Argentina stamps on your passport, because apparently those aren't done in Argentina anymore...

But I digress - the day started after meeting the driver that I coordinated through my AirBNB host to lock down for the day - basically to take me to the park entrance on the Argentina side and back. The border crossing there was quite painful, though luckily that was not repeated by the crossing on the way back which was quite painfree. The first step was to leave Brazil, which involved going into a building and getting an exit stamp (Brazil very much about stamps), and then to enter Argentina is a more traditional road crossing where you get stuck in lines for longer than you want and constantly think all the other lines are going slower. 

We finally crossed without incident, though it was harrowing to see what seemed to be a 2-3 hour line of people seemingly leaving Argentina into Brazil, though my driver convinced me (turns out rightfully so) that by the time we go abck in the evening it wouldn't be so bad. The drive to the park entrance takes about 20 minutes from the border, where the roads and general conditions do seem worse than the infrastructure on teh Brazilian side. Which is ironic, since the park itself is more built up.

You enter and then walk past a series of buildings until you reach the first "trail", which is a short 1km walk to the "Cataratas Station" where most of the trails all go out from. The two main trails are the Superior and Inferior - not qualitative judgements, as the names should be read more as upper v lower. The third main trail is their devils throat, but requires a 20 minute train (like a Disney World ride train) to get to. 

I started with the Superior, which is about 2km long, mostly at ground level with some ups and downs. It's all well marked on cantilevered walkways that are 1-way only - basically if you go you are supposed to go through the whole circuit. Much like on the Brazil side, there were ample areas to walk out and observe the falls, take photos, etc. You're basically in this one at eye level of the river bacnk above the falls, so you get some great shots of the top of the waterfalls, whether it be frighteningly close to the actual drop point, or seeing the cascade down about 50 feet away. The whole route takes about an hour with pictures. 

By this point I was hungry, so back at the cataratas station there's a nice little cood mart - nothing crazy but decently good (and nicely wamed) empanadas, ice cold coke, water and other stuff (candy, chips, etc.). They have a ton of these in the park, which is super nice given the amount of walking - basically at the starting point and finish point of every trail theres one of these, if not more than one. I will say they are not cheap - a coke is about $4, and the empanadas were $6 each, where you would need at least three to call it a meal. Ironically, the park entrance is cheaper on this side than the Brazil one.

The inferior trail was sadly a bit inferior in the more qualitative sense, but mostly because a good 1/3rd of it was closed due to some maintenenace that was needed on the walkways. Of course, this happened to be where some of the most beautiful views are on that trail, but alas the remaining bit (which due to closure can be done quickly) was still quite nice. The trail does strart with a straight down path of about 200m elevation drop that takes you to the lower level. Now this is not generally at the base of the waterfalls, but about halfway or so down. The trail has a series of steps up that makes up about half of that drop over the course of it. There were some truly special small areas - definitely the most intimate of the trails, if the least grand in terms of the "wow" factor.

For "Wow" factor, that's best saved for the Devils Throat trail. The train journey is a bit uninspired, mostly since there are no real views on the way. Same then with the first like 80% of the trail, as you have to walk from land over the river at the top level over to the fails. Because of this, that first 80% is serene as you walk over the water, but fairly staid save for the random catfish or pretty bird that comes along. But that last bit is a great deal of suspense as the falls get closer, the sight of the blowback cloud of mist gets bigger, and then you reach it.

You are basically on the top of the main part of the falls - the "upper view" of yesterday's Devil's Throat "lower view". It isn't as misty as I expected, but the white cloud did give us a beautiful rainbow streaking in the middle of it. There is a fairly long large pathway platform there to take it in at every conceivable angle. It is mesmerizing, and a great way to end the time at Iguazu Falls.

In the end, before I talk about a surprisingly fantastic last night in Foz do Iguazu, I should do a quite pro's and con's between the falls experience on the Brazil side vs the Argentina side. Firstly, I should state if anyone were to come here they should absolutely do both sides. Both sides are well organized, with nice walkways, a ton of platforms for photos, etc. The Argentina side is more built up, there's a bit more to see, but also a bit commercial. The Brazil side definitely has the more stunning views (it's just more awe inspiring to see the full breadth and size of the falls) but less of them. I would lean slightly to the Brazil version of the Devil's Throat, even if you will get drencehd - but there's always fun in that. In the end, I probably say the Brazil side is slightly better, but again, definitely do both.

After a fairly easy drive back (again, the driver was completely right, the Argentina exit border was practically empty by 5pm or so when we were crossing), I took in a few last brews at 277 Craft Beer, which really impresses me in the quality of their beer. Their American IPA is fantastic, as was their chocolate stout, which is something I rarely find outside of the US. But as good as 277 Craft Beer was, it doesn't hold a candle to dinner.

The place is Emporio con Arte, which will immediately shoot pretty high up my list of best non tasting menu restaurants. It probably toes the line but falls slightly into the "fancy" category. The place is in some sense an art museum of decor inside (hence the name) with some incredible food made with such care and intention. When I sat, first the gregarious waiter took me through each item in their menu (about 8 apps and 15 mains) with such great detail. It took about 8 minutes, but was captivating. At that point I already wished I came here yesterday as definitely more than one night's worth of food seemed appealing. 

In the end, I went for two bolinho's the classic Brazilian stuffed manioc ball, but these were stuffed with some gourmet shit - first dried beef, pineapple and guava (amazing, the two fruits making hte dried beef sing), and then one that was roasted banana (but really the skin)  with hummus, which was such a weird combination but worked just fine as well. For the main, I got their supposed special, a confit duck leg with guava and cinnamon sauce, farofa and roasted beets and onions. Every bit of this dish was special, from some of the better roasted beets and onions (so tender and sweet), to of course that incredibly well confited duck. They had a ton of other dishes that sounded great but I went with the waiter's read on what was best, and enjoyed it.

Same with dessert, where i had the Brazilian version of a crepe (to be honest... it's just a crepe) stuffed with slightly roasted banana and a cainnamon sauce - which also was just amazing. It was like my favorite dessert / breakfast of a banana and nuttella crepe, but just ever so slightly different in a good way. Emporio Con Arte is a mesmerizingly good place, the type of place I want to exist in any town, be it a tourist stop or not - just people that clearly care so much about theri food and their product. Love it, can't say enough about it.

Honestly, I feel much the same way about Authentic Bar, where i went to end the night. Now, they aren't supreme mixologists cooking up their own stuff (at least outside of an assortment of Cachaca inspired drinks - things I've generally kept to being dinner drinks rather than post dinner), but they make the classics so well. And the oddest part is this is the type of place with teh decor, and frankly the vibe (music, the crowd) where they could easily half ass a negroni and it would be fine, but they don't. Their classic drinks were great, enough to make the fact the US lost ot Canada slightly more acceptable.

I'll write more about my overall thoughts on Brazil in tomorrow;s entry, as 75% of my day will be flying from Foz do Iguacu to Sao Paulo to Santiago, but this does end the Brazil portion of my trip. In a way, the best compliment I can give Brazil is that it has me questioning if I'd made the right decision to end my trip in Santiago. Now, I'm sure when I'm strolling Bellavista tomorrow I'll remember just why I did this, and candidly not really sure where I would've spent the extra three days (Salvador seems like a popular option), but Brazil was fascinating and lived up to the hype / expectations in every way, and continues to make one of my travel commandments hold up true - that South America may quietly be the best Continent for travel.

2025 Brazil Trip: Day 8 - Foz do Iguacu

Day 8 - Iguacu Falls

We can split this trip into four parts essentially - the first quarter was the weekend in Rio de Janeiro - Thursday Night through Saturday Night. The second was a slightly quieter reset through Rio to Sao Paulo. The last quarter in Santiago, an opportunity to replay the hits. The third quarter are these two days in the jungles of Iguazu Falls. Veted one of the seven wonders of the new world, Iguazy Falls was hyped up a lot - both by that distinction, and by my parents who visited back in 2005 on a trip with their friends, a trip notable for it being the first time they went on a long trip without my sister and I. Anyway, it seems in the intervening 20 years, things haven't changed much.

Much like Victoria Falls, where we went two years ago, Iguazu Falls lies between two countries in Brazil and Argentina, and there is a town where visitors can stay on either side - Foz do Iguacu in Brazil, and Puentte Iguazu in Argentina. I chose to stay on the Brazilian side primarily because there is much more connectivity to the airport on the Brazil side, but having spent a lunch and then evening / night in the town, I'm glad I did as the town of Foz do Iguacu is much closer to a real city than the one on the Argentina side.

I had a super early flight from Sao Paulo, reached early in the cute little Foz do Iguacu airport, and by 9:00am I was checking in to my AirBNB in a tall residential building in the city center. The falls themselves are perfect for 1.5 days of visiting, as the Brazil side you can do in half a day, and the Argentina side in closer to a day (especially when factoring in border crossings), so I timed up everything with a certainty that worked well - especially when the weather ended up being much better than I was expecting a few days earlier.

After a quick nap (again, had to get up at 5am and then had little luck sleeping on the 90 minute flight), I arose for an early lunch at Bendito, a fairly middle-end steakhouse (basically the main form of food in town) that opens at 11am and received me at 11:15. The Brazil side of the falls involves a reservation where you pick a time to ride the bus from the visitor entrance to teh falls area, and mine was 12:30 so I did rush a bit.

In the end, their combination of a heart of palm salad, and picanha (portioned for one this time) worked perfectly. I'll say their picanha had just a huge fat cap that I felt bad cutting off 75% of it, but I couldn't really justify it. The remaining 25% was enough fat to make it quite a perfect picanha, and giving me the sustenance for the walks ahead.

After a 20min uber ride, I was out the Iguacu Falls park, where I caught the double decker bus that takes you from the visitors center another 11km to the start of the trail. There are numerous side trails and excursions in the intervening 11k, that require a few stops on the way. Most are trails taht lead to river level (away from teh falls) where most of the boat tours leave from. After about 20 minutes we got to the stop where the main falls trail starts, and within about two minutes from the bus stop you find yourself at the first of about 20 different platform lookouts with the falls on the other side. And it's mesmerizing, instantly.

The trail from beginning to end is about 1.7km, and walked at a leisurely pace with tons of stops to take pictures takes about 75 minutes (a lot of pictures). It's generally flat with maybe +/- 20 meter inclines throughout, and all the while hugging the coastline on the Brazil side with teh falls growing ever larger and wider on the other side. Unlike Victoria Falls which is primarily one large giant sheet of falling water (which has its own advantages), Iguazu Falls is really like a few dozens falls broken up by rock formations and hills and such on the Argentina side - which gives a great contrast. Some areas are the rushing, crashing large sheets like Victoria. Others are these picturesque areas where the falls stagger down to the lower river level in 3-4 stops, creating a bueaitful cascade of falls and rock pools. It's all incredible, and setup really well with the walking path to give a bunch of great spots to take photos and take in the awesomeness.

And then you get towards the back end of the trail and it all ratchets up a notch. That's when the falls finally curve around, and you get to the point where the Argentina side is as grand as ever, and the Brazil side gets into the action, and we reach the Brazilian Devil's Throat - which is just an amazing walkway built on the rock pool that the Brazilian falls fall into. It gets you pretty out there, and it is just mesmerizing. This is the one part where it resembled Victoria Falls in that the mist and blowback from teh waterfall makes it constantly raining. Not drenching as Victoria Falls was, but still you get quite wet - which is nice after a 60 minute walk in searing heat. It's just an incredible way to end a visit to the falls.

At the end is a nice rest station wtih food, wifi, drinks, a full bar, etc. - of which I probably took part in all those before starting a walk back to the start of the trail - going full pace without stopping as much took me about 40 minutes. Why did I do this? For two reasons - frist to just imbibe more views of the falls, and second as a hack because catchign the bus from the trail end back means waiting in a line at least 3-4 buses (they come in about 10 minute intervals), but I can catch a bus from the start (where most people get off), and take it to the end and just stay on. It worked perfectly. Not sure if it actually saved any time, but again - can't put a price on getting more amazing views.

With some time to kill (until the craft brewery opens), I decided to check out the Parque de Aves (Bird Park) which is conveniently located right outside the entrance to the park, and I'm super glad I did. It isn't the biggest or fanciest bird park I've been to (say comapred to Jurong in Singapore, or even the one in Cape Town I discovered for myself in 2022), but it does one aspect better than most, with nearly 2/3rds of it being in aviaries with netting well above you and birds just flying all around. There was a giant area of parrots and toucans with this, of more aquatic birds. They had the normal stuff with owls and falcons and the like as well - the owls interestingly to me being more present than usual, whereby I feel like more often they're hiding in a corner. On the whole the circuit takes about 45 minutes if you go at some pace and was great. I went as a time pass but would recommend as a staple.

Back in town, I headed to their one out and out local craft brewery - 277 Craft Beer, which is a really nice location and setup. They have a nice selection of like 20 taps, nearly all brewed in house, with a projector screen showing the last moments of Real Madrid's win over Man City, and a great place to spend time after walking quite a bit before. The beer also was quite great, with me trying four different brews going with half portions of each.

Dinner was at Santo Cupim, which seemed to be the most elegant of the various semi boteco's semi restaurants - basically places that serve all types of standard Brazilian fare, and have a full bar with anything imaginable. These places make up seemingly the remaining 50% of Foz do Iguacu restaurants, with the rest being more steakhouse like, but Santo Cupim seemed to be definitely the most earnest about the food.

For a starter, I got a Brazilian Linguica (sausage spiral) with yuca, which was qiute nice, the sausage spcied well and smoked a ton (if maybe a bit too much at first) before grilled on and served on a griddle. For my main I went off the board a bit to what was described as when translated "filet mignon flambeed in cognac with musrhoom and tarragon sauce". I ordered it, wiht a side of raddichio and bacon bits, and got something that was great but completely not what I was expecting. What was served came in a small cast iron dutch oven, and when opened revealed what basically was a brazilian stew. Luckily, it was excellent, the meat very tender and the sauce working well. Not sure what the cognac brought to the table, but it was fine all the same.

Post dinner, there are various night options in Foz do Iguacu. There's one club open Wed - Sun, 10pm - 5am, but from all pictures and a brief dalliance is more a club / hookah lounge / place more befit for Bangkok or that part of the world - which is sad because they had a live music band rather than just a DJ so the music was actually nice. I settled at "Authentic Bar" which was the one notable cocktail bar in Foz, which was excellent and had a nice crowd of locals, and finished the night at Rafain Chopp, a boteco version of the Rafain Churrascaria (more famous Foz restaurant), open till 2:30 (I left at 1:30), serving chopps or cocktails with live music. I've probably done less live music than I could've on this trip, so it was nice to get a little bit of that in an unexpected place in this town deep within Brazil.