Valparaíso eats like the port it is: boats unload congrio at dawn, hillside kitchens fry empanadas de machas, and chorrillana was invented down a passage off Condell. Three days of markets, caletas, cocinerías and century-old bars.
Valparaíso's 1913 produce market spreads over two floors: ground level for Aconcagua Valley fruit, sea urchin and machas; upstairs cocinerías plate caldillo de congrio and paila marina from 08:00 to 17:00.
Working fishermen's cove where boats land congrio, reineta and merluza before 10:00. Buy at the tiled fish hall, then eat fried reineta with pebre at the marisquerías above while sea lions patrol the dock.
Reopened in 2019 after earthquake damage, this iron-framed market near Plaza Echaurren houses seafood counters and small kitchens serving chupe de jaiba and machas a la parmesana in the old port quarter.
Record-lined café-bar on Almirante Montt doing the Chilean once — black tea, sopaipillas, cheese and cake — through late afternoon, then switching to pisco sours and live sets once the hill goes dark.
Artisan bakery on Almirante Montt baking sourdough, marraqueta and hallullas through the morning. Order the Chilean breakfast — warm bread, palta, scrambled eggs and filter coffee — eaten at the counter.
Down a passage off Condell, this cluttered dining room hung with junk claims to have invented chorrillana in the 1970s: chips buried under beef, onion and fried egg, shared between four with a jug of borgoña.
The 1930s terrace beside Ascensor Concepción looks straight down onto the container cranes. Come mid-afternoon for coffee, chirimoya alegre or a pisco sour rather than fighting for a table at lunch service.
Glass-walled kitchen on Cerro Alegre with the whole bay below. The menu is Chilean-modern — conger eel, merkén-rubbed pork, ceviche — backed by a Casablanca Valley sauvignon blanc and pinot noir list.
Wednesday and Saturday street market running ten blocks under the viaduct, among Chile's largest. Vendors sell mote con huesillo, sopaipillas with pebre and empanadas de pino between crates of produce.
Hole-in-the-wall on the ascent of Urriola frying empanadas to order: shrimp and cheese, machas, mushroom, all folded and dropped in oil while you queue at the window. Eat them on the steps opposite.
Fishing cove below Playa Ancha where the fishermen's union restaurants serve the day's catch — caldillo, pescado frito, erizos in season — at plain tables facing the breakwater and the returning boats.
Open since 1896 on Plaza Aníbal Pinto, walls papered with port memorabilia. Order a terremoto or a schop with a plate of arrollado, then stay for the tango and bolero singers who start around 21:00.