Santiago's most beloved traditional bar-restaurant — a no-frills downtown institution since 1940, with cazuela (Chilean stew), pastel de choclo (corn pie), and cold Kunstmann beer at prices that have stayed stubbornly local despite the neighborhood's gentrification around it.
Why It Belongs on the List
Bar Nacional has been a Santiago fixture since 1940 — a counter-service restaurant in the centro where the cazuela (beef or chicken stew with corn and pumpkin), the pastel de choclo (ground beef and corn baked in a clay pot), and the empanadas de pino are exactly as they should be. The most honest Chilean home cooking available to a visitor in the city center.
What Stands Out
- Santiago institution since 1940
- Cazuela, pastel de choclo, empanadas
- Most honest Chilean home cooking in the centro
- Local prices
- Always busy at lunch