Where to eat CHILE 🇨🇱 Fribourg: Punto Sud

Punto Sud

Boulevard de Pérolles 30, Fribourg

What we ordered: For two persons: to start, we split one Chilean salad as well as one meat empanada and one cheese empanada. For the entrée, we had one Barros Luco sandwich and one churrasco completo sandwich. To drink, we ordered a glass of wine and three pisco sours as well as a small bottle of sparkling water.

Cost: 100.50 CHF / €104 / $116

With not more than a dozen tables, this cozy spot down the street from the main train station in Fribourg is a little dream escape, the sort of oasis every decent neighborhood in Switzerland wishes it had. Immigrants, they add life, flavors and culture to a place that those accustomed to how things are might not see until they can through another’s eyes.

With brightly colored decor and extremely friendly service, this quiet spot on the main shopping street feels like a locals’ favorite. The options on the menu are both Mexican and Chilean and all the ingredients are inherently fresh. On the week night we visited, more than half the tables were taken and regulars were popping in for take out orders.

To begin, we ordered an ensalada chilena which consisted of thin tomato slices topped with thin wedges of purple onions and a bit of parsley, salt and oil. To accompany it, we opted for two empanadas to share, one meat and one cheese.

With crumbly ground beef and egg, the meat empanada was baked and came in a trapezoid-shape. It was the succulent punch one expects from the flavor grenades of South American empanadas. By contrast, the cheese empanada was fried and more of an exaggerated tear drop shape. It felt more like carnival food than the meat empanada, not because it wasn’t delicious – oh, it was – but because the gratification levels were instant, like a fast food craving immediately satiated.

For the entrees, we opted for classic Chilean sandwiches, the Barros Luco, named for the country’s president from 1905-1915, and the completo. The Barros Luco was like a pared down Philly cheese steak, with less meat and cheese but more impact from the umami and less grease. Served on a rugby-shaped white roll, the Barros Luco needed little more than a bit of meat and a bit of cheese to be totally satisfying.

By contrast, the completo, as its name would insinuate, was loaded up with everything from mayonnaise to guacamole, “American sauce,” white wine sauerkraut, in addition to the basics of meat and cheese in the Barros Luco. One bite and it was oozing at the seams and created a stain on the shirt that needed tending to. Both the Barros Luco and completo came with standard fries just to remind us this is the Americas.

As for the drinks we ordered, the white Chilean wine on offer disappointed. They were kind to offer a second glass of a different kind on the house but that was best transformed into a spritzer with our sparkling water. The traditional pisco sours by contrast more than performed their duties.

Few blended cocktails from the Americas are as delicious and cautious with the sugar, relying instead on other ingredients to do the heavy lifting. But the sugar at the bottom as you finish a pisco sour is there as if to insert a note of caution before ordering another one that these too can be dangerous.

For two people, our bill was just over 100 francs. Given the quantity and quality of food and drink, service as well as the location, we would come back when in Fribourg and have no trouble recommending the spot to those in search of a simple, singular retreat to Latin America.

¡Buen provecho!

How to get to Chile from Switzerland:

From Zürich, Swiss Air operates flights to São Paolo where you can transfer on with Latam to Santiago. Iberia additionally offers routes through Madrid with onward flights to Santiago on Iberia or Latam. These are the fastest options at just under 18 hours. Air France also offers an option through Paris that takes around 19 hours.

Similar options are available through Geneva, though due to routing options and geography, Air France presents the fastest route at just over 17 hours.

How many Chileans are in Switzerland: More than 3,000

Distance between Bern and Santiago: 11,845 km

Distance from Punto Sud to Santiago: 11,818 km

Learn how to make Chile's national dish, empanadas, and about its origins.

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