99 Restaurante Santiago Review: Kurt Schmidt’s Remarkable Celebration of Chile

Santiago is a city full of gastronomic surprises, and 99 Restaurante remains one of its most distinctive dining experiences. However, the restaurant operating today is a significantly evolved version of the intimate, understated establishment I first visited many years ago.

99 closed following the social unrest that affected Santiago in 2019 and the pandemic that followed. After a three-year hiatus, chef and founder Kurt Schmidt reopened the restaurant in January 2024, moving it from its original address on Andrés de Fuenzalida in Providencia to a new home inside CV Galería in the affluent neighbourhood of Vitacura.

The restaurant may have a new address and a more ambitious format, but the defining ingredient remains the same: Schmidt’s intense commitment to Chilean produce, producers and culinary identity.

A New 99 Restaurante in Vitacura

The original 99 was low-key, intimate and almost suburban in appearance. Its simple fit-out made the sophistication of the food feel even more surprising. The new restaurant retains that sense of intimacy but presents it in a more carefully designed environment.

Located at Alonso de Córdova 4355, the present-day restaurant occupies a bespoke space of approximately 42 square metres within CV Galería. It accommodates only 12 guests for each dining experience, with the kitchen team preparing the menu in an open kitchen as diners move through the courses together.

Candlelight, timber, open-fire cooking and music played on vinyl create what feels like an intentionally analogue experience. It is atmospheric without becoming theatrical and sophisticated without losing the warmth that distinguished the original restaurant.

The limited seating also changes the relationship between the kitchen and the diner. Rather than disappearing behind a conventional pass, Schmidt and his small team are part of the evening, introducing ingredients, explaining the provenance of dishes and guiding guests through the particular Chilean territory being explored.

Kurt Schmidt and the Evolution of Modern Chilean Cuisine

Kurt Schmidt opened 99 in 2015 and quickly established himself as one of the leading figures in Santiago’s contemporary food scene. Before launching the restaurant, he gained experience at internationally recognised kitchens including Noma in Copenhagen, Azurmendi in Spain and Boragó in Santiago.

The original restaurant became known as a leader of Chile’s bistronomy movement, combining serious technique and exceptional ingredients with a more relaxed and accessible atmosphere than conventional fine dining.

99 appeared repeatedly in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, reaching No.31 in the 2021 ranking. Its cooking was recognised for extracting powerful flavours from Chilean ingredients while presenting them with precision and imagination.

It is important to correct one point from the original review: Schmidt did work at Noma, but available accounts do not support the claim that he completed a three-year internship there. His wider international experience, combined with his work at Boragó, helped shape his commitment to local sourcing and his belief that contemporary Chilean cuisine should begin with the land, sea and people surrounding it.

A Tasting Menu Built Around Chile’s Valleys

The modern 99 is no longer simply serving a collection of beautifully composed Chilean dishes. Its menu now explores the country geographically, concentrating on one Chilean valley at a time.

Schmidt and his team travel to the chosen area, meeting farmers, fishermen, gatherers, artisans and small-scale producers. Their ingredients, traditions and personal stories are then translated into a tasting menu served in Santiago.

Previous editions have examined the Huasco and Aconcagua valleys. The current menu focuses on the Maule Valley, travelling through its inland drylands, coastline and agricultural countryside over 10 courses.

The restaurant describes the experience as a conversation between the land and the people who inhabit it. This approach gives each menu a stronger narrative than a conventional seasonal degustation. Diners are not simply tasting ingredients from Maule; they are being introduced to its climatic conditions, traditional preparations, agricultural history and communities.

Current dishes highlighted by the restaurant include lamb tongue cooked for 24 hours with País grape arrope, Chilean hazelnuts and smoked cacho de cabra chilli. Another part of the experience examines the food traditions of the Cauquenes market through ember-baked breads, ancestral legumes, smoked chilli and artisanal chuchoca. The menu concludes with regional cheeses and sweets, including cellar-aged Chanco cheese, a dulce de leche chilenito with sea salt and caramelised pear empanada.

As of August 2026, the official website lists the 10-course tasting menu at CLP99,000. A non-alcoholic pairing experience is listed at CLP125,000 and the alcoholic pairing experience at CLP150,000. Prices should be checked when reserving, as the menu changes with each regional chapter.

Memories of the Original Restaurant

During my original visit, every dish felt more like a small work of art than a conventional restaurant course. The quality of the produce was among the finest I encountered in Santiago, while the service was polished without becoming overly formal.

One of the most memorable dishes was a playful seafood “burger” in which even the bun was created from seafood rather than bread. Another centred entirely on onion, transforming a familiar ingredient into something unexpectedly sweet, sour and complex.

A dish of sea bass with three vegetables demonstrated how restraint can be more impressive than excess. The vegetables almost melted in the mouth, while the fish remained the focus of the plate.

Dessert was equally accomplished. A raspberry, meringue and tart composition looked like a contemporary art piece but still delivered the flavour, acidity and pleasure that beautiful presentation can sometimes overlook.

Those exact creations should not be expected on the current menu. The restaurant changes its dishes as it moves between Chilean regions, and the new format is more closely connected to the ingredients and traditions of each selected valley. Yet the original qualities remain visible: technical confidence, imagination, exceptional produce and an ability to make familiar ingredients feel entirely new.

Chilean Wine Remains Central

Wine was one of the defining pleasures of my first experience at 99. Many of the Chilean selections were organic, biodynamic or produced with minimal intervention, and each was carefully matched with the food.

That philosophy continues in the reopened restaurant. Its pairings place strong emphasis on small Chilean producers, low-intervention wines and labels connected to the region being explored. The purpose is not simply to pour prestigious bottles but to demonstrate how Chile’s wine, agriculture and food traditions interact.

This is particularly relevant in a country whose international culinary identity has often been overshadowed by the global recognition of its wines. Restaurants such as 99 are helping connect those two stories, showing that Chile’s diverse geography can produce both compelling wines and sophisticated contemporary cuisine.

The Verdict

99 Restaurante is not merely still operating; it has been carefully reconsidered and reborn.

The new restaurant is smaller, more immersive and more ambitious in its exploration of Chilean identity. Its 12-seat setting, open kitchen and single tasting experience allow Schmidt and his team to control every detail, while the rotating valley concept prevents the restaurant from becoming static.

The food I tasted at the original 99 remains an important memory of Santiago’s emergence as a serious gastronomic destination. The present-day restaurant builds on that foundation while looking more deeply into Chile’s producers, landscapes and regional traditions.

Rather than attempting to recreate its former success, Kurt Schmidt has given 99 a more focused purpose. It is now not only a place to experience accomplished cooking, but also a highly personal journey through Chile.

For travellers interested in understanding the country through its food and wine, 99 Restaurante remains one of the most compelling reservations in Santiago.

The food is a degustation menu, and each dish is more like a work of art. The quality of the produce is the best you will find in Santiago. The service is excellent and many of the Chilean wines are either organic or biodynamic and carefully matched with each dish.

99 Restaurante  opened three years ago and is the passion project of Kurt Schmidt, a 35 year old Chilean who already has a three year internship at world renowned Noma to his name.

He brought everything he learnt there back to his native Santiago, and is passionately driving the food and service to be one of the best in the world. South America and Peru in particular has a global reputation for producing food on a whole new level – and now Santiago is following suit.

The wines in this part of the world have always been lauded, but the food across the board is on the way up.

Each dish is a deconstructed version of something you’ve eaten before, from seafood “burgers” where even the bun is made from seafood not bread to picked onion, where everything in the dish is constructed from an onion but tastes like a sweet and sour version of heaven.

Then there’s  seabass and 3 vegetables where the vegetables melt in your mouth and the whole dish is a taste sensation, to a raspberry and meringue  tart that looks like an art piece.

Schmidt spends his time scouring the country for the best quality produce and brings it to his restaurant to deliver it to his audience. He uses organic produce whenever he can, and everything is local. At least seventy percent of the food being served is organic.

The restaurant currently operates at Alonso de Córdova 4355, Vitacura, with dinner services listed from Wednesday to Saturday. Reservations are available through its official website

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