Aima (restaurant)
Aima is a restaurant in Punta Arenas, the capital of Chile's Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica Region. It opened in July 2025 in a heritage house in the city centre, and its cooking is built around live fire and produce from Patagonia. The name comes from the Yaghan language, in which it means "good".
In November 2025 the restaurant, together with the tour operator Solo Expediciones, served a dinner aboard a catamaran sailing the Strait of Magellan, billed as the first fine-dining service held on that route; the event was covered by Chilean national media.
History
The project was developed over roughly two years and was presented by its backers as a response to growing tourism in Patagonia, with the aim of broadening the city's restaurant offering. The building on Errázuriz street had previously housed a nightclub and was renovated with its timber and central bar retained; the interior design was carried out by Estudio Well.
After a soft-opening period the restaurant opened to the public in July 2025, with Alberto Pérez as head chef. Fabrizio Aciares later took over the role. Aima marked its first year of operation in July 2026.
Cuisine
The kitchen is organised around live-fire cooking, using a wood-fired grill and a Josper charcoal oven. The menu changes with the season and draws on regional produce including southern king crab, sea urchin, oysters from Chiloé, Magallanes lamb, southern hake, guanaco and hare. Among its formats are the so-called bagualitos, small bites served in a glass that combine seafood and meat.
Strait of Magellan dinner
On 21 November 2025, Aima and the tour operator Solo Expediciones held an eight-course dinner for fifty guests aboard the catamaran Magallanes 500 while sailing the Strait of Magellan, passing Fuerte Bulnes and nearby protected areas. The menu, prepared by a team led by Aciares, included king crab, guanaco, hare and Juan Fernández lobster. The event was presented as the first fine-dining dinner served under way on that route and was reported by El Mostrador and El Dínamo.
Other activities
From 20 to 31 May 2026 the restaurant ran the first edition of the Fiesta de la Papa Magallánica, a menu devoted to potato varieties grown in the region and sourced from growers in the commune of San Gregorio and rural areas around Punta Arenas. It has also hosted collaborative dinners with visiting cooks, including the Argentine chef Federico Ziegler in April 2026.
Reception
Writing for the Chilean food site Viaje al Sabor in January 2026, critic Carlos Reyes gave the restaurant an unfavourable review: he praised the room and its design but found the live-fire cooking poorly executed, citing overcooked fish, meat and vegetables, and faulted the wine service.
A March 2026 review in the food publication Wherelunch placed Aima among establishments moving away from traditional Patagonian cooking—dominated by lamb and king crab—towards more elaborate preparations, and praised its wine list given the city's distance from Chile's distribution centres.
The trade magazine Chef&Hotel covered the restaurant in December 2025 in the context of the developing food scene in Punta Arenas.