Baltinache Restaurant — Restaurant in San Pedro de Atacama

We were told this was the best restaurant in San Pedro de Atacama, so we had to check it out. Getting a reservation was straightforward. I just messaged them on Whatsapp, and the restaurant was super responsive. We were able to get a table same day.

The menu is prix fixe and the food was solid. We got:

1. Sopaipilla y guacamole - This fried dough amuse bouche was so yummy. The guacamole was incredibly fresh and full of spice and flavor
2. Cream of zucchini with pumpkin seeds - this dish was also wonderful. Just the right amount of zucchini aroma, with a much welcomed spicy kick 2a) The other appetizer option was a caprese salad with pesto and toasted corn. This was beautifully plated, fresh, and yummy
3. Charred duck with dried pear sauce, lima beans, giant corn kernels, squash, and balsamic reduction. The duck was cooked a nice medium but still a bit tough
4. Mousse made from añapa local dried fruit, topped with red berries and quinoa. The mousse was very light and fluffy. It had very subtle hints of vanilla and supported the sweet tartness of the red berries well. 4a) The other dessert option was quinoa flan with cactus seeds. This was reeeaally sweet.

Overall, I really enjoyed our meal. It is a bit pricey for what you get, but considering you're in the middle of the desert, the restaurant did a fine job.

Service was a bit slow but...

A little bit away from the (relative) crowd of San Pedro de Atacama, this restaurant has a beautiful Adobe and stone design and the food is quite good, by far the best I had in town, if not cheap, with a stylish service and beautiful plates and cutlery. At the end of my meal, I was presented with the bill of another table of several people for 71,000 CLP approximately instead of my lonely one. When my bill finally arrived, there was an adding error of 10,000 CLP in excess (42,000 instead of 32,000). I am mentioning it for the record because these two mistakes left me...

If you want to try local specialties, it is the place to go. The menu changes every day and consist of appetiser, starter, main course and dessert. We had wild lama and some fish as main course and local variant of panna cotta and delicious apple pie with walnuts as dessert. They have amazing choice of Pisco Sour (cocktail) with local herbs at very good prices of 4,500 CLP.

Overall great service, good explanation of menu, good food presentation and good price -quality (comparing to European standards) hence the cutlery could be of a...