IMAGES: GETTY; ALEJANDRO OSSES
EAT
Bogotá is surrounded by Andean peaks
Right: Crème brûlée with chontaduro, served at Mini-Mal
A TASTE OF Bogotá
MINI -MAL Supporting artisan producers from around Colombia, this Chapinero Alto restaurant acts as a showroom for ingredients such as corn from Zenú producers in northern Montes de María, trout from fishermen on Laguna de la Cocha, in the west, and Amazonian tucupi (fermented yuca). Dishes from around COP35 (£7).
mini-mal.org
the food is bright and flavourful, like the belly meat of the Amazonian fish arapaima glazed with tucupi (fermented yuca extract), with citrusy camu camu berry on a thin arepa (a corn cake). Everything is in small portions and designed to share, and with a list of cocktails that are potent with mezcal and sake it all goes down with beguiling ease. The following night, a little further north
in Zona G, a food enclave within Bogotá’s affluent Chapinero neighbourhood, I stop for a pre-dinner drink and snacks at Leo, one of the best fine-dining experiences in Colombia, as evidenced by its steady climb up The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. As a door opens, I can see into the austere dining room. But that will have to wait (I have a reservation for later in the week). Instead, I head upstairs. When Leo’s chef-owner Leonor Espinosa
decided to relocate her restaurant during the pandemic, she didn’t want the bar to be just a small area in the corner — it needed to be somewhere for her sommelier daughter Laura to flex her muscles, so she created an entirely new venue. Up two sets of stairs, with a wine cellar in between, La Sala de Laura is a totally different scene from the venue below. When I walk in there’s a jazz singer belting out tunes and bar stools scattered at one end of the dining room. The tasting menu features many of the same 50-plus ingredients used
downstairs, but the big draw is the Territorio, the line of distillates Laura has created based on different Colombian ecosystems. I taste bosque andino (‘Andean forest’), a spirit made from forest honey with bright floral flavours, and piedemonte (named after a Colombian region), distilled from cacao and coca leaves that give it citrusy, earthy notes. I try No. 7, a cocktail made from a spirit distilled from the fruit of the iguaraya cactus, mixed with a coffee-like liquid extracted from the roasted seeds of a leguminous plant called pülantana, along with a fig cordial. It’s complex and strangely wonderful, proving that the slow- growing plants of tropical dry forests have just as much to offer in terms of flavour as those from lush rainforests. Dinner downstairs at Leo proves to be just
as much of a whistlestop tour of Colombian influences, with a menu based on the country’s various ecosystems and inspired by its different peoples, including the Zenú, from the north, and the Wayuu, an Indigenous group from the Guajira Peninsula in the far north. There’s spice-glazed duck with piplongo pepper, plus a dish that’s a collection of different tubers, including yacón and malanga, which grow together in the high Andes. Not only is it all delicious, but it’s also driving understanding of local ecosystems, putting Leo among elite Latin American
REY GUERRERO Colombia’s Pacific-coast cuisine, with its strong Afro-Colombian and Indigenous heritage, is rarely found inland. But for over a decade, chef Rey Guerrero has been championing it in the form of dishes like ceviche with piangua mussels, arroz tumbacatre (rice with shellfish) and the sweet-sour juice of the borojó fruit. Mains from US$36 (£28).
reyguerrero.co
AÇAÍ Andrews Arrieta, the chef at this lunch-only spot, uses ingredients from the Amazon, including ants that taste like lemongrass, plump mojojoy (palm weevil larvae) and a rainbow of Amazonian fruits, with tiny chillies as garnishes. Try a whole tambaqui fish cooked in banana leaves, or grilled palm hearts. Mains around COP50 (£10).
instagram.com/ acairestaurante
PLAZA DE MERCADO LA PERSEVERANCIA This food court showcases produce and cuisine from across Colombia, such as caldo de costilla (beef-rib soup), fried whole bocachico (a freshwater fish) and Boyacá-style tamales. Dishes from COP25 (£5).
instagram.com/ la_perseveranciaplaza
MARCH 2024 55
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