99 Restaurant – Santiago
[email protected] | |
Andrés de Fuenzalida 99, Providencia Santiago Chile | |
0056 2 2335 3327 | |
www.99restaurante.com |
Chef: Kurt Schmidt
During our recent trip to Chile, we were happy to discover a beautiful example of quality no-nonsense dining in Santiago: ‘99 Restaurant’. The restaurant is situated in the bustling area Providencia, where you can find many high-rise apartment buildings as well as a significant portion of Santiago’s commerce. With attractive lunch options and a creative bistronomy cuisine, restaurant 99 is well known in this business district.
The restaurant’s interior is simple but warm. Rough stained tables, wooden chairs and recycled furniture bring a vintage atmosphere and the artwork and the colourful light bring a more cosy touch. If the weather permits, guests can eat on the charming terrace outside. The open kitchen brings atmosphere and movement in the restaurant.
Head chef and owner of 99 Restaurant is Kurt Schmidt, a dynamic chef that formerly worked at Taller De Raiz. The young self-made chef travelled around the world to gain experience in gastronomy and worked with Rodolfo Guzman at Boragó Santiago, with Eneko Axta at Azurmendi in Spain, with Ángel León at Aponiente in Spain, and with René Redzepi in Noma in Copenhagen. An impressive list!
Today he and his team cook light and intense, pure and accessible, well-conceived and simple. Kurt strives to achieve a perfect balance between the main ingredient and the diversity in the components on the plate. Guest will enjoy the creative and surprising dishes made with local ingredients. The chef himself often goes to the Mercado Central to select fresh ingredients and his focus on the essence of the product is the strength of his cuisine. Dinner offers a reasonably priced tasting menu in 6 (28€) or 9 (36€) courses. The Friday lunch is well known as they organize theme lunches that offer each week different variations on street food.
We went for the full 99 experience and opted for the 9-course tasting menu. To start, we had a Chilean sparkling wine “Inicio” Blanc de Blanc. Delicious bread with mushroom butter was served, together with the appetiser “Crunchy and greatly seasoned crisps of Cochayuyo seaweed & powder of Cochayuyo”.
A salad with different herbs, flowers, watercress was served with bottarga and hazelnut paste. A fresh and light dish, with enough crunch and the right seasoning. The natural Riesling 2012 from Casas de Bucalemu in the Valle de Santo Domingo was a perfect pairing showing freshness, fruity flavours and minerality.
Smoked deer tartar with oxalis leave, trifoliate garlic, turbachia flower (garlic flavor), lemon juice and chives. This dish might be inspired on the famous ‘Noma tartar’: simple, powerful, and delicious. From the Casablanca region we tasted an unfiltered Pinot Noir Refugio 2013.
Next dish was a peach variation with syrup, green apple brunoises, lemon juice and hyssop herb. This dish looked like Sea Orchin but was a fruit dish. Not bad, but maybe a bit too sweet and thus a little bit too early in the menu. This dish was combined with one of the best Pisco’s we tasted during our trip, the Waqar Pisco from de Valle del Limari made from muscat grapes.
Mushroom textures combining a puree of mushrooms, portobello, shiitake oyster mushroom and powder of the dark pine mushroom ‘callampa del pino oscura’. If you like mushrooms, this has to be your thing. Great mushroom textures, the powder gives great intensity, while the shiitake was a bit too sour. The served pairing with this dish was not a match for us and the Pinot Noir Rosé 2012 frizzante from Casa Roca could not convince.
Slices confit of lamb tongue were served on a cauliflower puree with plums and caramel. Another great dish that offers a powerful flavour mix with using only few ingredients. From the Maipo Alto Valley we enjoyed a delicious biological Tellus 2013 with petit verdot, carmenere and syrah.
The tasteful Chilean Sea bass was creatively served with beetroot, lemon, yoghurt & crunchy beetroot. The cooking of the sea bass is top, the skin perfectly seasoned and the yoghurt and beetroot were also good. However, all the ingredients together missed a bit of harmony. The matching wine was surprisingly a sparkling wine from the organic Domaine Raab-Ramsay, blanc de blanc chardonnay.
Duck with pickled onions and pear. Great duck dish with crispy skin and intense flavour, beautifully paired with an extraordinary organic wine. From the Maule Valley we were served the Carignan 2011 from Garage Wine & Co.
Kurt’s Patissier, Gustavo Sáez, is one of the most talented of Chile and displays unique and tasteful creations based on only a few strong ingredients. His first dish was a green apple sorbet with oxalys, fennel and yoghurt. A refreshing dessert, but it laced a bit of texture. Great discovery tasting the Kundalini natural wine made from moscatel & torontel.
The last dessert was one of the highlights of the evening. A carrot sorbet was covered with coconut foam & caramelized peanuts. Simple but so delicious! This dish was matched with an other Kundalini wine from cinsault, carignan and pais.
Kurt Schmidt has a great team that assists him in his restaurant. The passionate Argentinian sommelier Ramiro Mozes helps guests with the wine choices or offers an organic wine pairing with the menu. He focuses on natural and biodynamic wines from local and small producers.
Restaurant 99 is a perfect gastronomic ‘no-nonsense’ intermezzo when you visit Santiago, focusing on simplicity and creativity. Chilean bistronomy rocks!
Be-Gusto
Be-Gusto score: 15/20 Be-Gusto price/quality score: 15,5/20 99 RestaurantAndrés de Fuenzalida 99
Providencia, Santiago Chile
Phone: +56 2 2335 3327
www.99restaurante.com
Original review made for wbpstars.com. Discover the ultimate guide for food lovers, travellers and the restaurant business. Discover many thousands of images and hundreds of films of the most amazing culinary wonders in the world. An exclusive documentation of the very best.
i am a customer who went to the 99 restaurant in Santiago de Chile. Having noticed various high recommending reviews about this restaurant, i went there with two other friends, expecting something special. Unfortunately the result is the opposite. We just got back from dinner, still hungary, and thought to write this comment, as we are very disappointed.
The location, and environment of the restaurant is very nice, all the decoration, and plates are really nice, special materials. But the food, and flavour is very average. We had the whole 9 dish course, between each dish, we at least waited 15 minutes, very small portion. I’m afraid, I can get much better food and experience with the price we paid at 99 restaurant. Not sure, how you guys reviewed and ranked this restaurant, but would like to just leave a note and opinion from our side.