The change
If you asked us nine years ago what we were, we'd say specialty coffee shop. That was it. You came in the morning, ordered a flat white with an avo toast, and if you came back in the afternoon you did the same. That was the plan, and it worked.
But the city changed, you changed, and so did we. People don't walk into a café just to have breakfast anymore — they come in to work for three hours, hold a meeting, meet someone after work, grab an Aperol before a show at Movistar Arena. So we asked ourselves: why do we have to send you home at 1 PM if you still feel like staying?
So we redesigned the whole menu. SĀNTAL today opens at 8 and closes at 22 — yes, 10 PM — and what we serve changes with the hour. It's six places in one. Here's the rundown, by time of day.
8 AM · Breakfast
You arrive early and the place is warming up. The display case already has the fresh-baked medialunas, the cinnamon roll glazed with pumpkin-seed caramel, the carrot cake with mascarpone frosting, the banana split bread with banana cream and dulce de leche.
If you sit down, the morning menu hits hard:
- Avo Toast — On sourdough with avocado, poached egg, cherry tomatoes, tomato dip and kale chips. Swap the poached egg for scrambled, or add bacon.
- Scrambled Eggs — With bacon, chives and sourdough toast.
- Oat Pancakes — Peanut butter, almonds and seasonal fruit.
- Greek Yogurt — Homemade granola, seasonal fruit and honey.
- Parmesan Scones — Served with grated tomato dip and chive cream cheese. The savory scone that breaks the mold of the lifelong sweet one.
- Chipá Sandwich — With smoked tenderloin and danbo cheese. The house signature.
- Cheese & Ham Toast / Mini — The classics, for the quick stop-in.
To drink: the SĀNTAL Cappuccino is the most-ordered recipe — double shot, cocoa powder, cinnamon and creamy steamed milk. Lighter? Flat white or cortado. Juices: fresh orange, lemonade with mint-ginger syrup, pomelade with pink grapefruit and ginger, and watermelon lemonade with lime, ginger and mint.
Take-away
If you can't stay, come in anyway. The bar is built so you walk in without taking your coat off, order, and leave in under three minutes. Coffee in a cup, a medialuna in a bag, a scone for the 10 AM meeting. And if you got hooked on the bean, take home a quarter-kilo of Café Puerto Blest — our Nicaraguan, sun-dried, light roast — ground to order.
Midday · Brunch + ALMORZÁ
Brunch stays on the menu all day until 22. If you drop in at 2 PM craving Oat Pancakes or an Avo Toast with no clock, no problem.
We also added something new for those who live or work nearby: ALMORZÁ.
Monday to Friday, 12 to 3 PM: a fixed-price lunch combo with a main from the ALL DAY section, water still or sparkling, coffee or cortado, and the dessert of the day. Full lunch, in an hour. (Holidays excluded.)
The mains, also available à la carte:
- Chicken Wrap — Lettuce, parmesan, aioli and kale chips.
- Chicken Curry — With rice, mild coconut curry sauce, lime, ginger, cilantro, peanuts and sourdough bread.
- Quinoa Salad — Avocado, cherry tomatoes, beans, corn, pickles, peanuts, greens and tomato.
- Caesar Salad — Chicken, bacon, parmesan, lettuce and croutons.
- Oyster Mushroom Sandwich — Roasted peppers, caramelized onion, arugula, parmesan and aioli.
- Milanesa Sandwich — Grain-mustard aioli, lettuce, tomato, red onion and kale chips.
- Lentil Stew — Lentils, roast beef, squash, potato, scallions and herbs.
- Mushroom Risotto — Cremini, portobello, parmesan and herb pesto.
- Leek Tart — Mixed greens, pesto and pumpkin seeds.
- Soups — Today: (a) onion with gratin cheese and sourdough toast, (b) butternut squash with cream cheese and toasted seeds.
The plan is simple: eat well, don't feel heavy, and head back to work at 1 without burning the afternoon.
Afternoon · Tea time and signature coffees
Around 4 PM the place shifts. The light drops, the tables ask for a blanket, someone comes in for the first chai of the day. It's the quietest moment — for first dates, long books, meetings that run an hour longer than planned.
The whole coffee menu opens up and the signature coffees appear:
- Magic — Double espresso with creamy milk.
- Mocaccino — For the chocolate lovers.
- Caramel Flat — Flat white with caramel.
- Espresso Tonic — Espresso over tonic and ice. The perfect non-cocktail to kick off the afternoon.
- Cold Brew — 18-hour cold extraction. The summer favorite.
Plant-based milk? Almond or oat. Need a kick? Add an extra shot.
For tea drinkers, four loose-leaf infusions (not bagged):
- SĀNTAL — Hibiscus, apple, rosehip and cinnamon.
- Black — Single-harvest selection.
- Chamomile — Chamomile, ginkgo biloba, rose petals and honey.
- Chai — Black tea and masala spices.
To go with it: any pastry. The Chocolate & Peanut Cake (semisweet chocolate, peanut-date base), the NY Style Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie, Chocotorta, cookies (oat-blueberry, vanilla filled with chocolate and dulce de leche, or coconut-lime-white-chocolate), the walnut sablée alfajor with dulce de leche, or the orange loaf with seasonal fruit and lemon glaze.
Night · Tapas & Drinks (2-for-1 Happy Hour)
From 7 PM the menu changes. And before it does, something matters: 2-for-1 Happy Hour every day from 4 to 8 PM across the whole Wine & Drinks section. So you walk in at 6, order an Aperol, get two. Then you stay for dinner.
The drinks:
- Aperol Spritz
- Gin Tonic
- Vermouth
- Fernet
- Stella Artois beer
- Glass of wine
And the signature wine cellar, with three Paso a Paso labels: Tinto, Criolla Rosé and Criolla Blanco.
For nibbles, the tapas menu is built for sharing — nothing single-plate, everything in the middle:
- 3 Beef Empanadas with spicy grated tomato dip.
- Bruschetta — Tomato sauce, pesto, parmesan and sourdough toast.
- Hummus — With paprika, olive oil and toasted pita.
- Braised Beef Tacos — In crispy tortillas, with cilantro, lime and red onion.
And the midday heavyweights stay on: the Oyster Mushroom Sandwich, Milanesa Sandwich, Mushroom Risotto, Chicken Curry, Lentil Stew and Chicken Wrap.
And on Fridays in Colegiales, the night has its own plan: Vinyl Fridays, the listening bar with Canal22, from 7 to 11 PM. Vinyl on hi-fi, full sides without skips, tapas for the long table and, again, 2-for-1 Happy Hour until 8. No cover, no DJ blasting, no list. You walk in, order, listen.
Why we built it this way
The idea is simple: so you don't have to leave. So the same place you walk into in the morning with your laptop serves you for midday lunch, for the 5 PM coffee, for the 7 PM Aperol and for the late dinner with tapas and wine.
It works because the recipes are honest, because we source the coffee at origin, because the kitchen learned to move between avocado and risotto without losing identity, and because from the beginning we chose not to rush anyone. No reservations. Pet-friendly. Fast WiFi. Outlets at every table. Stay as long as you want.
Three locations:
- Colegiales — Conde 1200 · Mon–Sun 8–22
- Belgrano — O'Higgins 1502 · Mon–Sun 8–20
- Chacarita — Loyola 1599 · Tue–Sun 8–22