Fuente Alemana (Santiago, Chile)

Avda Pedro de Valdivia 210, Local, Providencia, Santiago, Región Metropolitana, Chile, T: 2-2232-6076

Within an hour of landing in Chile my friend C. took me to Fuente Alemana, a Santiago institution. While the city is full of these of 'German'-type diners, Fuente Alemana is, according to my friend, the best one in town. Inside it looks like a working class diner even if most of the clientele is clearly middle class. It is packed, but they move fast. They serve mostly sandwiches. 

We each order a "Lomito Italiano", which is a huge sandwich with Lomito Italiano" tasty thin marinated pork meat, with abundant avocado (green), mayo (white), and tomato (red). (Hence: Italiano). To the huge disappointment of my friend, I find the sandwich between underwhelming and gross. Although I am Dutch, and therefore love mayonnaise, this is absolutely excessive (leaving aside that the mayo tastes gross). In fact, none of the ingredients has really much taste and the consistency of it all is spongy.

VERDICT: 75/100
While I believe that Fuente Alemana does the Italiano sandwich better than anyone else in Santiago, this doesn't take away from the fact that these sandwiches are not particularly tasty.