The city is emerging as a must-visit culinary destination for gourmands and globetrotters, thanks to a dynamic dining scene, exciting street food culture and talented chefs who are making their mark on the local landscape
The Colombian capital is undergoing an exciting culinary movement fueled by a sense of national pride and access to produce in parts of the country previously inaccessible—thanks to the peace treaty signed in 2016 between the government and far-left military group FARC.
This has ended a multi-generation, 50-plus-year conflict which had substantially destabilised the country. Previously, restaurants had to import ingredients from overseas, but chefs today are rediscovering and exploring their own extraordinary range of produce, many which are unique to Bogota.
Colombian cuisine has become front and center in a growing number of fine-dining restaurants (previously, European cuisine was the norm) and a whole cadre of young chefs are returning home after having lived overseas during the more dangerous periods of the conflict. There’s a reason why the World’s 50 Best Restaurants held their Latin American edition here in 2017 and 2018.
And let’s not forget Colombia’s incredible street food. From light and fluffy cheese breads (buñuelo, pan de bono, almojábana, pan de yuca) to the hearty roasted pig, lechona, it’s a city where you won’t run out of things to eat and explore.
1. Leo
If you could have only one meal in Bogota, it has to be at Leo. Run by mother-and-daughter Leonor Espinosa (Latin America’s Best Female Chef 2017) and Laura Hernandez-Espinosa, the restaurant, which was named the best restaurant in Colombia in 2018 by the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, presents Colombia’s extraordinary bounty in the form of a 15-course tasting menu, with ingredients you’ve most likely never heard of (coquindo and ponche, anyone? That’s a yellow acidic fruit from the Amazon, and wild rodent meat, by the way) spanning from rain forests to the deserts all over the country.
Their beverage pairing is one of the more socially conscious on the market today. Sommelier Laura works closely with small producers from all over the country who ferment their own drinks like guava wine, quinoa beer, coca wine from fermented coca leaves, once again shining the spotlight on both local ingredients and ancestral recipes of communities.
Leo | Calle 27B #6-75, Pasaje Mompox, Centro Internacional, Bogota, Colombia | +571 2838659 (landline), +51 3153961975 (mobile) | reservas@restauranteleo.com
(Related: Running A World Class Restaurant Grew Too Demanding, Says Asia’s Top Female Chef)
