Category Archives: chile

restaurants & cafes, santiago

Restaurants and Cafes of Gay Friendly Santiago Chile

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Like most big cities, Santiago offers a wide spectrum of options from high-end restaurants to late-night fast food joints.  For gay travelers the cluster of restaurants, bars, and clubs in Bellavista are extremely popular.  The “restaurant row” of the neighborhood is Pio Nono street which is easily walkable from the string of gay bars on Bombero Núñez.

Aside from restaurants, a decent percentage of Santiago’s gay bars offer tapas-style menus.  (Use the VamosGay Google Map of Santiago to plan your trip, or navigate the city on your mobile phone.)

Bocanariz

José Victorino Lastarria 276
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Winner of the TripAdvisor’s 2015 Travelers’ Choice Award, Bocanariz is the place to try Chilean wines.  The accompanying food menu is equally phenomenal.  Bocanariz is located in the Lastarria district, home to the Museo de Bellas Artes, and adjacent to the gay neighborhood Bellavista.

Cazaluz

Avenida Italia 805
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Excellent cuisine from Spain in a stylish setting.  Cazaluz is located in Santiago’s Italian district within a 25 minute walk, or a short cab ride to Bellavista.

Ciudadano Restaurant

Seminario 400
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Great Italian food with a trendy crowd.  Ciudadano attracts mostly hip young heteros, but gay guys often stop by for beer and pizza.

El Caramaño

Purisima 257
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Very authentic Chilean food.  Family-style dining where you can try the classics of Chilean cuisine.  No hipsters, just great food.

El Toro

Loreto 33
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Very gay-friendly restaurant celebrating the flavors of Spain.  The waiters keep things lively.

Fuente Alemana

Avenida Libertador Bernardo O´Higgins 58
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Fans of gigantic tasty sandwiches adore this neighborhood restaurant.

Galindo

Dardignac 98
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Traditional dining spot with Chilean dishes that even the young and trendy can’t resist.  One of the best places to try chorrillana, Chile’s most iconic (and heavy) fast food.

Los Miserables

Calle Antonia Lopez de Bello 14
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
No, that’s not a typo for a French restaurant.  The name really is Los Miserables and it’s popular Bellavista Mexican joint.  Fans of San Francisco taquerias will feel right at home with tasty burritos and tacos.

Patio Bellavista

Pio Nono 73
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Located in the heart of the neighborhood, Patio Bellavista is home to over a twenty restaurants, food stands, and gift shops.

White Rabbit

Antonia López de Bello 118
Santiago, Chile      Google Map »
Weekend brunch with friends is not as popular in Chile as it is in Europe and the US.  However, Bellavista bistro White Rabbit may change that with their phenomenal brunch menu.  See for yourself at the White Rabbit website.

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“Boa Noite, Cinderela”

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There is something darkly sinister about the Portuguese phrase “Boa Noite, Cinderela.” It sounds like something an evil witch in disguise would say to an innocent Disney princess before feeding her a poisonous treat.  In Brazil, it describes the phenomenon of drugging victims in bars to later assault or rob them.

Outside of Latin America, mostly women are targeted with this type of crime, and sexual assault is usually part of the equation.  South of the Equator, gay men are often the prey.  The predators may also be gay, or they may be heterosexual.  Assailants only need to act gay long enough to befriend and flirt with a single gay man before slipping a drug into his drink.

The substance itself could be an existing party drug which creates the desired effect (Special K, GHB, or Rohypnol.)  Or, it could be scopolomine, a particularly scary drug with the abilities to subdue victims, make them compliant in their own robbery, and leave them with memory loss.

The goal is almost always robbery, and the story almost always ends with the victim awakening hours, sometime even days, later with no memory of what happened after they met their attacker.

Recently, the crime has entered the digital age with an assailant using Grindr to pick up, drug, and rob gay men in Sao Paulo.

The tips to staying safe are obvious, but worth sharing:

  • don’t accept drinks from strangers
  • keep your eye on your drinks (bottles and cans with smaller openings are more difficult to slip a drug into)
  • take your drink with you (to the dance floor, or the men’s room)
  • if you do take your eye off your drink, just dispose of it and order a fresh one
  • use the buddy system (or, set up a check-in with someone if you go out alone)
  • don’t party too hard if you do go out alone; it’s hard to tell the sensation of a knockout drug kicking in if you’ve already had ten caipirinhas
  • take only what you need for that night in your wallet
  • if traveling, make sure your room key is unidentifiable (trash the little envelope labeled “Copacabana Palace, Room #318”)

One final tip is to share your story if you have been victimized.  When attacks have happened in the gay bars of Sao Paulo, victims and their friends have taken to Facebook to post warnings and even distribute surveillance camera images of their attackers.