Almendrar

Almendrar began when chocolatier Paola Devoto came across an old marzipan recipe while traveling through southern Chile and decided to build a business around it. From her kitchen at Decher 999, on the corner with Los Alpes in Puerto Varas, she turns that base into alfajores, volcán-shaped treats and bombitas — small filled spheres in flavors like toffee and cream — pairing the marzipan with chocolate coating and quality nuts rather than fillers. Devoto describes her motivation in terms of bringing people together around the table over something good to eat and a real conversation, and the shop's growth reads as an extension of that idea: what started as one recipe has expanded into a broader line of chocolates, desserts and cakes as customers asked for more. Orders are taken online and by phone, with the kitchen dispatching nationwide every Monday so product reaches customers across Chile within the week rather than sitting as a purely local specialty. It's a small, named-owner operation — Devoto's name and story front the business rather than a house brand — built outward from a single found recipe into a full confectionery line still centered on marzipan and good nuts.