Chatting Chatarra

Best of IgoUgo

A travel journal to La Paz by SeenThat

Quote: On Bolivian junk food and more…

31 Photos

Silpichs

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Restaurant | "On Fried Dirt"

Sillpichs Interior Photo - La Paz, Bolivia

Quote:

"Fried dirt," I answered my host after I saw a "silpancho" for the first time. This is one of the most popular Bolivian snacks. The stalls selling it in the main markets serve a very thin – translucent – slice of meet breaded and deep fried. Greasy and transparent, it just resembles fried dirt. This time I headed to the best place in La Paz for tasting this local hit.SillpichsThe name "silpancho" is peculiar; it isn’t a word in Spanish, Aymara or Quechua. No denizen can expla...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 18, 2010

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Sillpichs

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Restaurant | "On a Dirty Soup: Chairo"

Bicentennial Atrium Photo - La Paz, Bolivia

Quote:

In a dirty cheap trick, I’m reporting from the same place for a second time in the same journal. In my defense I can only claim this is one of the best institutions in La Paz for tasting Bolivian junk food, "comida chatarra."The AtriumI already described Sillpichs in the silpancho entry of this journal. Now I want to expand on its surroundings. Visiting the area is unavoidable while in La Paz, the location is too central. Moreover, there is a recent and very good reason for reaching it. In April 2010, the Bicentennial Atrium was inaugurated in front of the U...Read More

In a dirty cheap trick, I’m reporting from the same place for a second time in the same journal. In my defense I can only claim this is one of the best institutions in La Paz for tasting Bolivian junk food, "comida chatarra."

The Atrium

I already described Sillpichs in the silpancho entry of this journal. Now I want to expand on its surroundings. Visiting the area is unavoidable while in La Paz, the location is too central. Moreover, there is a recent and very good reason for reaching it. In April 2010, the Bicentennial Atrium was inaugurated in front of the UMSA University – the main one in the city. The atrium covers a minor tunnel – La Paz is a city of bridges and tunnels due to the steep terrain – and offers good views of the area, though the upper and lower parts of the city are not visible from here. Despite commemorating the bicentennial from the uprising against the Spaniards, the atrium also symbolizes the recent re-foundation of Bolivia – now the Plurinational State of Bolivia – and the definitive end of the colonial state. What a prelude to a soup!

Chairo

In the cold weather of the Andean High Plateau, thick soups are a staple. As commented in the first entry of this journal, potatoes are native to the area; in fact there are over two-hundred varieties, and that’s without counting related plants. Thus, what would be more natural than a thick potato soup? Here is where the Western visitor would probably fail to guess right. Potatoes don’t last unless you have refrigerators. Thus, the solution is using dehydrated potatoes for preparing the soup.

The chuño and tunta are still main ingredients of many dishes; both of them originate on regular white small potatoes and differ only on their dehydratation process. During the Altiplano's frozen nights, the chuño is left to freeze on the ground surface after being harvested. Following that, it melts down under the morning sun. During the early afternoon it is pressed with bare feet so that the water is filtered out; the result is a black potato of irregular surface. Subsequently the dehydrated potato can be stored for years while keeping its quality. The unhygienic process is of little concern since the potato is boiled up before consumption. It has a very distinctive pungent taste. The tunta is obtained by putting the potato within a water stream for a fortnight. In this way everything except for the carbohydrate fibers is washed off the original potato. The result is a small, regular shaped, white potato with very little taste. Due to the differences in the process, tunta is much more expensive than the chuño. Hence, the chuño is perfect for preparing soup; "chairo" is the name of the result. The word is Aymara and can be translated as "a bit of everything;" this is because the soup is very rich.

In chairo, the chuño is broken into small pieces and boiled for a while. The result gives the soup its very dark color and muddy texture. Luckily, the other ingredients dilute the bitter taste of the chuño; in fact the result is almost sweet. Corn, carrots and beans can be spotted occasionally in the thick blend. Spices seem to have very little effect on the thick liquid; the soup is dominated by the chuño and the lamb meat. Sillpichs being a relatively upmarket institution means the soup is served with two large chunks of meat. Unluckily, one of them was from the spine area; the irregular shape of the accompanying bone didn’t allow its consumption. The variety of lamb used here produces a rather fat meat, though it doesn’t have any residual taste or odor typical of this meat in other areas of the world. Actually, the oily soup helps softening the chuño’s strong taste.

The way a dish is served is important; Sillpichs shows here being faithful to the traditions while trying to make suitable innovations. The dish is served with pieces of fried pigskin atop it, and a small bowl containing crouton-shaped pieces of the same ingredient. This is rather unusual, but brilliant. Beyond reminding me of Laos, it was a perfect match to the soup. The smoky taste and crispy texture blended awesomely with the oily sweet soup.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 19, 2010

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Sillpichs

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Restaurant | "On Bright Orange Junk: Fricase"

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Outrageous! Following two consecutive publications about the same establishment and my obvious plan to add another one on the third day in a row, protestors in La Paz demanded the immediate excommunication of SeenThat from IgoUgo. In an unwavering show of courage here is the third report on "comida chatarra," another fine example of Bolivian junk food. Would a fourth one follow? Stay tuned.DrinksSillpichs – the snacks chain reviewed in the first two entries of this journal - distinguishes itself also in the soft drinks it offers. These include some diet varieties – an unusua...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 20, 2010

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Pollos Copacabana

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Restaurant | "On Altitude Coffee"

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Improper LocationExplaining the word "proper" is difficult in Bolivia – as in the other parts of South America I have visited – and not because of Spanish lacking proper words for this term. Simply, actions and their timing are not classified as proper or improper here. The results of this are everywhere to see, even in a local fried-chicken outlet known as Pollos Copacabana."Wait a minute, isn’t this entry about altitude coffee?" is the attentive reader thinking by now. That’s exactly my point. Copacabana Chickens (that’s what "pollos" mean) is also one of the most popular coffee shops in La Paz. French fries and an espresso? Why not! Breaded spicy wings and a thousand-...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 20, 2010

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Chifa Pollos Jin San Jiao

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Restaurant | "On Chifa, Chaufa and China"

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"Why Chifa?" I asked the first denizen that used that word with me to design the nearest Chinese restaurant. Obviously baffled by the question, the anonymous denizen denied me an immediate answer. "Because it is Chinese," was hesitantly said to me a few seconds later.As with other names mentioned in this journal, I learned to stop asking. They just don’t know and the names have not any specific meaning. "Chifa" is a generic name in Bolivia for Chinese owned establishments serving breaded, fried chicken with rice or noodles. "Chaufa" is the name of the rice served in these institutions. Why Chaufa? Oh, don’t start again… My best guess is that chaufa, chifa and ...Read More