The best restaurants Colombia

A neat place, with vegetal wall, fountain, sofas... A calm and bohemian atmosphere, very relaxing, to please your palate and your soul. This café-restaurant offers first of all a good coffee from the owners' organic finca, but also tea, beers, juices and fresh international cuisine (Thai, Middle Eastern, Colombian), with well-presented dishes, mostly gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian. It's trendy and therefore a bit expensive, but the quality is there and the setting offers a pleasant break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Nice little French-speaking address on Getsemaní. Gilles and Carolina offer a warm welcome in their colorful bistro, for a French cuisine with Colombian touches, or the opposite. Home cooking with quality local products bought every day at the market. The menu is not very long, but appetizing and changes regularly according to the fresh products. A good choice of breakfasts too. The prices are reasonable. Carolina also offers Colombian cooking workshops which are very successful.

Delicate cuisine, including delicious seafood risottos. This restaurant is run by a staff straight out of the most renowned hotel school in the country. The cuisine is infused with foreign influences, especially Japanese. Chef Diego Camacho's goal is to abolish all fats: try the Shanghai chicken cooked in its mandarin juice. Excellent value for money and an unbelievable setting on the terrace, at the foot of the church.

An excellent restaurant of contemporary Colombian cuisine, which brings up to date the gastronomic wealth of the different regions of Colombia, especially the Pacific and the Amazon. The idea is to show the biological, cultural and culinary diversity of the country, with quality ingredients, mostly organic, supplied by isolated rural communities, with recipes rediscovered or invented by the chef Eduardo Martínez, an agronomist by training. Mini-Evil? For a lesser evil to our Mother Earth.

Altos de Yerbabuena welcomed its customers for a long time in its small restaurant located on the road of the archaeological park. Change of scenery in 2022, direction the hostel Masaya, under the superb maloka of the inn, at the edge of the Magdalena canyon. The cuisine remains the same, healthy and tasty, with fresh and organic ingredients, and recipes from the region or from much further away. The dishes are well presented and good value for money. A good supply of wine and excellent coffee. Highly recommended, both for the setting and the food.

One of the finest gastronomic experiences in the country. Rafael Buitrago's masterful cuisine pays sublime homage to Santander's traditions. Together with his team, the Chef works with local produce and sublimates it through technique. In the kitchen, a symphony, in the plate, poetry where risk-taking is great but hyper-mastered. Here, goat's cheese is confit and roasted, hazelnut butter is scented with sage and walnuts or with ant, and beet is smoked. For dessert, a moving tribute to the Chef's grandmother. It's worthy of a Michelin star.

A nice change from traditional local cuisine. It was set up by Chantal Guerin, a friendly Swiss-born chef who has lived in Popayán for some twenty years. The welcome is warm and the service excellent. Chantal makes her own soups, sauces and pastas, using only the freshest ingredients grown by Cauca farmers. On the menu, pasta, lasagne, pizzas, rare meats (at last!), and everything is good! There's even fondue if you fancy.

The restaurant is located in an old convent, with a patio dressed with plants and palm trees. A varied menu, a good cuisine: robalo with lemon, camarones Olano, and the star dish:the Temptation of Zeus, composed of lobster, squid with white wine and cognac but also shrimp and crab with a sauce of passion fruit, octopus with garlic and coconut rice! Didier, passionate about jazz, will feed your ears as well as your taste buds during concerts of a very high level. To crown it all, the son Simón, lyric singer, comes to perform on occasion.

In a very oceanic blue and white decor, this restaurant opened in 2001 is the paradise of ceviches, but also serves delicious fajitas, vegetarian salads and sandwiches. The staff were friendly and helpful.

In front of the old side door of the cathedral (the "false door") is a tiny restaurant that is said to be the oldest in Colombia. The family that runs the establishment since its origin (1816) has kept the authentic recipes of the ancestors. It is famous for its tamal, to be enjoyed with hot chocolate, or its almojábana of yellow corn and fresh cheese, to be accompanied by an agua de panela. For a sweet treat, try the Marquesa de Guanábana.The place is small and inconvenient, but it's the heart of the Santafereña tradition!

In a rustic setting, a small vegetarian restaurant with a room and a few tables. It offers a healthy and tasty cuisine, made with organic food from small Colombian producers. The philosophy of the restaurant, which is also a fair trade grocery store, is to revalue ancestral crops such as quinoa and amaranth. Quinoa is one of the most nutritious Andean grains in the world. As for the amaranth, it was venerated by the Incas who dedicated supernatural powers to its seeds whose nutritional value is exceptional.

As its name indicates, this chain of bars-restaurants with a rock decor is specialized in burgers, including vegetarian ones, but not only: soups, Mexican specialties, salads, arepas... There are many addresses in the city, especially in Usaquén, Chapinero, La Macarena or in Candelaria. The restaurant in the Chicó neighborhood has a small terrace overlooking the Parque de la 93 (difficult to find for lunch during the week). For concerts, check the program on the website.

In a decor overloaded with heterogeneous objects, this very friendly bar-restaurant is the place to be at the end of the week for the inhabitants of Leticia. A classic of the Amazonian cuisine, with well presented dishes. The best " pirarucu a la plancha " of the region is served here. The intrepid will try the farofa de mojojoy ( yuca flour with a big white worm of 3 or 4 cm long, all fried), it is rich in proteins! Good cocktails too, with sometimes live Brazilian music. Friendly and professional service.

The hotels will probably recommend this restaurant, for those who like fish and seafood, even if it is not an incredible cuisine compared to more popular establishments. The setting, however, is very pleasant, with a terrace overlooking the Parque de los Novios, but a little away from the crowd and noise of Carrera 3. Jesús "Chucho" Trujillo started out selling shrimp on the street. Today he owns several restaurants in the country, in Santa Marta, Barranquilla and Bogotá.

A small restaurant that works directly with local producers, peasants and indigenous people, who use traditional methods: honey and quinoa from Boyacá, fish from the Pacific, palm heart from Putumayo, artichokes from Tábio (Cundinamarca), sea salt from La Guajira... The decoration is like a market, colorful and warm, and the Colombian cuisine is generous, with fresh products. At the back of the room, a small store that sells organic products and wine. Another Abasto at Quinta Camacho (Chapinero).

The flavours of La Pampa Argentina in full Caribbean. The meat is of very high quality and well prepared (there are also fish and seafood on the menu). A tango atmosphere and a wide choice of Argentinian and Chilean wines.

A small, unpretentious café-restaurant, offering an original and delicious fusion cuisine with many vegetarian dishes, in a friendly setting and with a warm welcome. A beautiful discovery!

Awarded with the Silver Toque of Colombia, it is unofficially the best restaurant of Popayan. The food is more expensive than elsewhere (while remaining very reasonable when you come with your euros), but also more refined and you can feel an effort in the service. The European opinions are however mixed, except for the delicious beef which is cooked as requested (rare in Colombia), and the ceviche style trout filet. The choice of wine is rather meager. The setting is rather kitsch, with its well-waxed parquet floor and its chandeliers and gilding on the walls.

A traditional restaurant opened more than a quarter of a century ago, very popular with the Carthaginian bourgeoisie. It is chic and authentic. You will dine to Cuban music in a setting that resembles the wooden houses of Louisiana. The prices of the dishes are, of course, high but almost everyone agrees that this is one of the best restaurants in town: the octopus carpaccio and the Indonesian langoustines sautéed with curry, coconut cream and tamarind are great culinary moments! Reservation recommended.

Beautiful colonial house, where you feel like you're dining at the bottom of the ocean. Exotic fusion of ingredients for one of the best seafood restaurants in town. Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends when the Colombian jetset arrives. Juan has other establishments in the plaza that we can all recommend: Mesa Peruana, with Nikkei, Andean and Creole cuisine, and Pizzeria Gourmet with pizzas of course, not bad at all, although not cheap.