Review: 99 Restaurante

It’s taken Chilean chef Kurt Schmidt three years to reopen his casual fine-dining 99 Restaurant, but a bespoke new space and finely tuned menu means it’s been worth the wait. Tucked away in buzzy gastro-hub CV Galería in upscale Vitacura, the spot offers a calming analog experience that fuses open-fire cooking, flickering candlelight, and a vinyl soundtrack. With 12 guests dining in tandem, the chef and his two-strong team prep in the open kitchen before Schmidt shares details about the nine courses. The menu expresses Chile’s diverse and lengthy terroir: On this occasion, the spotlight was on a single Chilean region, Huasco, and its bounty of ocean-caught and mountain-gathered ingredients such as loco (abalone), mussels, papaya, and kid goat—wrapped in vine leaves—all sourced from small producers and artfully paired with local vintages.