Farewell Dinner at Meson Nerudiano

After a long, humid day of scouring throughout the city of Santiago, the students and faculty members were more than ready to attend the final SIE dinner at Meson Nerudiano. Today was not any ordinary bus ride to a regular dinner. On this particular bus ride, everyone was greeted with Tyler and Jaden's spectacular idea of hiking up the Andes Mountains at 5:00 am the next day. When Tyler was finally able to get his hands on the microphone of the bus, he was miraculously able to get everyone, even the professors, in on his plan. I was the only one to disagree with this plan because even though I would like to go on the hike, I thought that this time was not ideal for everyone since this night was the last night that all of us would spend in Chile and most people would not be able to wake up in time. However, after Jay's attempt to throw me under the bus, just like everyone else I finally agreed to go on trip.

At around 7:30 pm, we finally arrived at the glorious restaurant of Pablo Neruda filled with over excitement and extreme hunger. When preparing to come to this restaurant, I was curious to know why this restaurant was designed in such a way to recreate mystical style of the houses of Pablo Neruda? As we walked into the vicinity, the restaurant gave a cozy and vintage ambiance, that made it seem as if we were walking into a home rather than a restaurant. In addition, we were greeted with a beautiful vintage staircase, beautiful paintings, and a two story case of diverse wines. Along the staircase was an assortment of various types of meat hanging on many strings that were not made to be eaten but to give an old Chilean vibe. As usual the thirty-five of us students and four faculty members dispersedinto four tables within the second floor of the restaurant.
Soon, we were all greeted with the waiters asking us for our drinks and food options. In my opinion, I thought that this restaurant was the best one that we have ever been to on this trip, since we were presented with so many delightful options. Everyone was given a three-course meal with an unusual 4 choice appetizer at the start. Although a couple of my peers and I are vegetarians, we were still satisfied due to the abundant amount of appetizers given to us. Even though we were only presented with appetizers, Adam remarked, “Amazing dinner. I only had the dishes before the main dish but they were delicious. I am excited for the main dish and dessert!" The restaurant's system to keep track of its customers' preferences was also unique to me. Each customer was able to choose their preference of food with colored cards. A blue card indicated that the customer wanted to eat bass, a red card represented beef, and a silver card represented that the customer did not eat meat. Some of the appetizers included bass served on two spoons, seasoned lamb kabobs, and a cheese and tomato kabob served with guacamole. Afterwards, although we were all enthusiastic to try the traditional empanadas,it was evident that the most excited person in the room was Thomas when he rubbed his hands together right when the beef empanada was placed on his plate before him.

When all the appetizers were completely served, the main dishes started to come out of the kitchen. The options provided to us were beef with vegetables, chicken with potatoes and vegetables,  gnocchi pasta, and a large salad. According to Emma, “I liked the vegetables, but I didn’t like the beef because it was under cooked." On the other hand, Angie thought that the gnocchi pasta was “so soft it melts in your mouth!" I personally had ordered the gnocchi pasta since this was the only other option I had besides a salad. However, I was pleasantly surprised with my decision. The gnocchi pasta had the perfect texture and savory, orange sauce required; the portion size was also more than enough for one person to eat. Later, the cake dish filled with cream were delivered to us as desserts to our tables. Although I was only capable of eat one spoon of the dessert since I was too full of the food before, I still thought that the dessert was greatly made. Our dinner finally concluded with Valentina's announcement of the winner of the Santiago city game.