Mareal is a seafood restaurant in Pichilemu, a surf town on the coast of Chile southwest of Santiago in the O'Higgins Region. The restaurant is inside the home of chef and forager Gustavo Moreno and the menu changes weekly based on whatever local fishermen bring in and whatever wild plants, mushrooms and seaweeds he gathers. Sometimes his girlfriend Valentina cooks a menu of Indian food from the same kitchen on Saturdays in the winter. They’re passionate about wine and there’s a list of low intervention wines from local winemakers.
“I think it’s the food that I like eat, a lot of it influenced by fast food but with more technique,” he says. “Easy, not too many ingredients, but tasty.”
During the pandemic, Gustavo started buying a lot of vinyl records. It became his pandemic hobby that stuck around. He collects a lot of different styles, from hiphop to old school surf rock and more. Our Kitchen Playlist #3, titled Vinilos de Bosque Boliche, is just some of what is played at the restaurant.
“We like the idea that the customers - a lot of them are close friends - can interact more with the place and us, so we let them choose whatever they want to play, so they feel more like home.”
In honor of my birthday at the end of the month, which conveniently aligns with Peru’s Independence celebration, I’m offering a 35% discount on annual subscriptions until July 31. That’s less than $25 for a full year instead of $40!!
Create your profile
Only paid subscribers can comment on this post
Check your email
For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.
Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.