Restaurant San Antonio (Pomaire)

Restaurant San Antonio is a traditional country restaurant on Calle San Antonio, the main street of Pomaire, a pottery town in Melipilla province about 60 km west of Santiago. Pomaire is known across Chile for its clay ware, and the town's restaurants have developed a style in which food is served in the same greda (clay) pots produced by local workshops. The menu is criolla, meaning traditional Chilean country cooking, and includes grilled meats from the parrillada, pastel de choclo baked in a clay dish, cazuela, and empanadas de pino, which in Pomaire are often large enough to be shared. Dishes are hearty, portions are generous and flavours are simple, built around beef, pork, corn and potato. The dining room is a rustic, open space with long tables, and the atmosphere is casual, family-oriented and noisy at weekends, when day-trippers from Santiago fill the town. Dress is informal, and service is straightforward. Prices are in the mid-range, with the large portions offering good value, and a shared parrillada suits groups. Lunch is the main service, daily, and weekends are the busiest. Reservations are not usually needed, but tables fill after 1PM on Saturdays and Sundays, so arriving earlier helps. The restaurant can be combined with a visit to the town's pottery shops, where visitors can buy clay cookware and watch artisans at work, and the drive from Santiago takes roughly an hour. Because there is little public transport, many visitors reach Pomaire by car or on organised tours. The restaurant suits travellers looking for an unpretentious country lunch and an easy half-day outing from the capital.