4 Best Restaurants in Southern Chilean Patagonia, Chile

This restaurant is zealous about meat; so zealous, in fact, that there's no seafood on the menu. Great care is taken with the excellent lomo and other grilled steaks, and the room is filled with the smell of roasting meat. The place used to be a pharmacy, and much of the furniture is still labeled with the remedies (catgut crin anyone?) they once contained. There's lively music, dim lighting, an open fire, and a friendly buzz; wear removable layers since it can get warm when the grill is cranking.

You'll watch the wind whip the Seno Última Esperanza from a comfortable lounge in front of the fireplace at this modern bar and café in the hotel NOI Indigo Patagonia. It is a nice spot for a Calafate sour, and when you're ready, just amble downstairs to the small restaurant where they have an excellent menu with a little bit of everything, including organic salads made with veggies from their very own huerto (garden).

It’s not a backpacker town without a great pizza joint, and this one is Puerto Natales's, located on the Plaza de Armas. Diners eat together at long, open tables on classic pies and more creative offerings heaped with cordero (Patagonian lamb), merkén (a spice similar to smoked paprika), or local smoked salmon. If you’re not in the mood for pizza, their pasta menu is equally delicious.

Named for the strait on which Puerto Natales is located, Restaurant Última Esperanza is perhaps your last chance to try Patagonian seafood classics in a town being overrun by hip eateries. This traditional restaurant is well known for attentive, if formal, service, and top-quality, typical dishes. Poached conger eel in shellfish sauce, king crab stew, and cordero are specialties—dishes served with plenty of flavor and little fuss. The room is big and impersonal, and for this reason alone the restaurant may be losing ground to new arrivals more focused on atmosphere and comfort.