Restaurants in Southwest Colombia
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A
Restaurante Vegetariano Salud Vibrante
Your best bet for a cheap veggie meal in Cali. Staff makes its own soy milk and wholemeal bread. Also sells good veggie empanadas.
reviewed
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B
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Cali Viejo
Set in the lush grounds of the Bosque Municipal, the city park adjoining the zoo, Cali Viejo shows off Cali’s Pacific roots. Seafood is the star here – try the cazuela de mariscos (seafood stew, COP$41,000) or lobster (COP$58,000) – but it also does a great sancocho (COP$20,000). Wash it down with a champú or lulada, or a shot of the homemade aguardiente. The dining room has no walls, letting a breeze blow through. If you’re coming here from the zoo, take a taxi or flag down a passing bus; the area is a bit isolated and, hence, a bit sketchy.
reviewed
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C
Platillos Voladores
The food at Platillos Voladores (literally 'flying saucers') is out of this world, combining spicy, sweet, sour and savory in novel ways. A mecca for the city's foodies, the chef takes fusion to new heights, borrowing inspiration from Asian, European and indigenous Colombian cuisines. The decor, too, is both colorful and eclectic.
There's also a small store on the premises that sells bottled versions of the restaurant's complex sauces and chutneys, many of which feature exotic produce from the surrounding Cauca valley.
reviewed
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Restaurante Café-Artesanal
A couple of doors down Erithryna Glauci Will is Restaurante Café-Artesanal where you can get good budget meals. It also sells hand-crocheted necklaces and earrings, and chicha de caña (fermented sugarcane juice), a tasty beverage. Look for the orange flowering vine that creeps around the verandah, or ask around town for the cafe run by the two dwarfs. Locals will point you in the right direction.
reviewed
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D
Paladar
It looks like a cafeteria, but wait till you see what it serves – homemade lasagna, casseroles of every sort, even the occasional stewed rabbit. The dessert selection is divine – cakes, pies, mousses; it makes us drool just thinking about it. The pastel Paladar (the house specialty, a multilayered chocolate and mocha cake) is orgasmic, and if you like lemon meringue pie, get in before noon – it goes quickly.
reviewed
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Asadero de Cuyes Pinzon
Pastusos get dressed up to eat at this place about 1.5km from the center of town. There’s only one thing on the menu: asado de cuy (grilled guinea pig). You’ll be given plastic gloves so you can rip the grilled rodents apart and share them. One cuy is big enough for two. Pasto is the only place in Colombia where cuy is mainstream and popular.
reviewed
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E
Baharoque
This new San Antonio restaurant serves a great set meal for COP$6000. Sample amazing salads garnished with tropical fruit, plus good steaks and chicken for you carnivores. Sundays see old-fashioned Cali dishes served, such as arroz atollado, a kind of risotto, and of course sancocho and ajiaco, both types of Colombian stew.
reviewed
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LA 14 Supermarket
The best cheap eats in town are in the LA 14 supermarket. It has half-a-dozen small eateries, including its own bakery, which does excellent meat pies (pastel de carne), pizza by the slice, buñuelos (deep-fried doughy balls of curd cheese and flour), pan de bono (bagel-shaped bun with a tart flavor), etc.
reviewed
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Kaiserhaus
This German restaurant prepares its own authentic sausage and sauerkraut. The breezy 2nd-floor balcony is a great spot for a bratwurst and imported German beer. Also does picadas (COP$37,000 to COP$67,000) – mounds of toothpickable sliced sausage, enough for four to six. The pretzels (COP$500) with mustard make a great snack.
reviewed
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F
Barra de Mayolo
This Spanish tapas bar has some of the best food in Granada. Tapas selection includes fried calamari, Spanish ham and chorizo, as well as sample platters big enough for groups to share. Try the paella (COP$26,500 to COP$35,000), or whole suckling pig (COP$210,000), prepared specially if you give advance notice.
reviewed
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Los Quingos de Belén
This is the place to come for typical regional specialties, including bandeja paísa (platter of sausage, beans, egg, rice and arepa) and, on the weekends, sancocho and ajiaco. There’s salsa on the stereo, a breezy outdoor dining area to relax on, and cocktails and pizza.
reviewed
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Salón Guadalquivir
This cozy cafe serves classic pastuso treats, including quimbilito (a sweet pastry of raisin, vanilla and sweet corn) and tamales de añejo (the Pasto version of tamales). The walls are lined with posters from the annual Carnaval de Blancos y Negros.
reviewed
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G
El Solar
The waiters can be forgiven for being pretentious; the food really is that good. On the menu you’ll find top quality Italian food – risottos, pastas, seafood and steak. Also worth trying is the authentic Peruvian ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime) and lobster (COP$45,000).
reviewed
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La Merced
This big bustling cafeteria is hugely popular, and does everything from hamburgers to lobster. It offers an everchanging roster of daily specials (COP$12,500 to COP$14,000). The streetside bakery sells the obligatory strawberries ’n’ cream, plus pizzas from COP$15,000.
reviewed
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San Antonio Pizza
At the top of the park on your left as you walk uphill, it serves pizza by the slice (COP$4400 to COP$6600) and also delivers. The menu boasts a vegetarian pizza, and other creative variations, including pesto pizza and fruit pizza with pineapple, peach and cherry.
reviewed
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Caffeto
This fancy-schmancy bakery does gourmet sandwiches, omelettes and salads served on unusual crockery. The cakes are stupendous, and it does enormous ice-cream sundaes and serves real espresso coffee. Enough to satisfy even the most jaded traveler’s inner yuppie.
reviewed
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La Cave
This French restaurant has French food and service to match (that is, the food is good, the service can be a little snooty). It does awesome sandwiches, such as chicken cordon bleu or pork with raisins, and also serves pasta, steak and savory crepes.
reviewed
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La Pizzarra
Cartoons with pizza punchlines adorn the walls of this top-notch pizza parlor. Located just outside the colonial center, the low prices represent great value. Try gourmet options such as chicken, olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Delivery is an extra COP$1000.
reviewed
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Donde Richard
This grill restaurant on the road to the Parque Archaeológico does the best food in town. The asado huilense, the local specialty of slow-cooked, marinated pork, is not to be missed. A great spot for lunch on the way back from the park.
reviewed
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Crêpes y Waffles
What’s Cali without an afternoon sitting on the outdoor patio at Crêpes with a monster ice-cream sundae and some friends? It does excellent salads, and the salad bar is good value. Also serves sweet and savory crepes and, wait for it, waffles.
reviewed
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Erithryna Glauci Will
Erithryna Glauci Will is a bar opposite Residencias Ricabet. The second-floor deck has great views, and if there are five or more of you, you can do a barbecue. The tienda downstairs sells snacks and drinks.
reviewed
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El Quijote
On the highway outside of town is the best restaurant in Popayán. Quijote does great grilled meat, fantastic salads and has live guitar music on the weekend. The huge outdoor patio faces a small park. Well worth the short taxi ride.
reviewed
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H
Av 8N Corridor
The are plenty of places in Cali to get a solid meal of beans, rice and grilled meats for US$2 to US$4. If you have cash to spare, there are some excellent restaurants in the city's gourmet ghetto along the Av 8N Corridor.
reviewed
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Chipichape
The best cheap eats in town are in the Chipichape shopping mall. The restaurants offer sincere attempts at Chinese and Mexican food, as well as more upscale choices such as grill restaurant Leños y Carbon.
reviewed
