Santiago · Food

The municipal market on the Recoleta bank of the Mapocho: produce downstairs, a ring of small cocinerias upstairs doing cazuela, pastel de choclo and fried fish at prices locals actually pay. Lunchtime only — it winds down through the afternoon.

Avenida Italia and the streets off it make a solid two-hour graze of cafes, bakeries, small restaurants and wine bars in converted houses, busiest Thursday to Sunday. Better for dinner than for lunch.

Chilean bar-restaurant with four branches — Av. Providencia 1353, Pedro de Valdivia 047, Luis Thayer Ojeda 019 and Merced 298 in Lastarria — doing plateada, mechada, fried fish and pichanga. Nearly three decades old and loud late; go for the food and the room, not for quiet.

Weekday lunch is a fixed-price menú del día almost everywhere and is the cheapest good meal in the city. A completo is the hot dog buried in avocado and mayonnaise; a terremoto is pipeño wine with pineapple ice cream, and one is generally enough.