I have remained quite silent thus far on our travels as I have been, quite frankly, unispired with the food we have eaten in South America (accepting of course the multiple empanadas we have indulged in, however they will require a more dedicated description at a later date). So when we arrived in Easter Island, my expectations were not very high about the quality we might encounter. And then we indulged in one of the most delicious meals I´ve eaten.
We started our dinner at the Aloha Bar with Equatorian prawns wrapped in fresh tuna, dipped in a light tempura and served with oyster sauce. They were so amazing, my mouth just watered at the rememberance of them. The prawns were fresh, the tuna locally caught, the batter light and crunchy, and the oyster sauce surprising subtle as a dipping sauce. They were incredible.
We followed this with Toremo, the local fish, it was maybe grilled or lightly pan fried, but was cooked beautifully. Toremo has a light coloured flesh, but with a similar texture to tuna and was just delicious. This was served with taro mashed with cheese and coriander, and a salad on lettuce, tomato and palm hearts (kind of similar to artichokes).
All in all one of the best meals I´ve ever eaten. So good in fact, that we returned there the next night as the god´s had delayed our flight back to Santiago for some reason, I am sure it was to give us a second go at Aloha.
This time, the tuna empanadas so begin with. Nice chunks of fresh tuna, onion, and herbs wrapped in thick crunchy pastry. Devine.We then had the toremo again, but this time rolled up, stuffed with spinach and bacon, and served on ratatouille style vegetables with a creamy prawn sauce. The sauce was quite rich, and with an obvious lack of prawns, however still very tasty. A fantastic way to cap off our stay on the Island.
(Photos to follow due to some current technical issues) xx
My impression with the cuisine of Chile was pretty negative. I mostly wrote it off to the fact that many of our meals were associated with our very inexpensive tour of northern Chile but even when we tried to find some good food on our own we never really found it. Glad that Easter Island was such a food find for you. Coincidentally we had an Easter Island sermon at our church yesterday. I'll tell you about it later if you're interested. Do look forward to eating in Peru. There is a true Peruvian cuisine and we delighted in it. Enjoy your travels it's been fun to hear your observations. I am sorry to hear about your grand father. We met him and knew what a wonderful person he was. Hugs to both of you. Janice.
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