Poblado
Restaurante Malevo – Our Comuna 13 tour started and ended at the Poblado metro station, so we decided to stay in this neighborhood for dinner. Empanadas sounded good, so we grabbed a table outside and ordered two each. Ham and cheese for Eric, and then morcilla and cheese and sausage and cheese for me. They came out fried (rather than baked) with a garlicky chimichuri sauce we both liked. Eric got a strawberry lemonade, which was fresh and fantastic, and I spotted a porter on the menu so I ordered that. It wasn’t too busy at 6:30pm, but definitely bustling when we left around 8pm.
Cambria – We scoped out this charming spot on our previous walk around the Manila neighborhood and decided to come back later in the trip via Uber. Thankfully it was easy to make reservations through Whatsapp! At this point in the trip we noticed that restaurants don’t normally do wine pours, so I opted for a ‘split’ – a single serving of a cabernet sauvignon (the malbecs were both out) to go with my 4 cheese ravioli with pesto sauce. Eric got the Chicken ‘autumn style’ with peanuts, apricots, cheese and spices (star anise was a surprise, plus the fried shallots in the greens was a nice touch) and a ‘spring notes’ non alcoholic cocktail (strawberry, tangerine, pineapple – muy grande!). Service was friendly and the ambiance was lovely.
ZIRUMA TIKI BAR – The Vinyl Bar we wanted to go to was crowded AND only took cash. It was late in the trip, so I didn’t have enough bills left for two drinks. Instead, we pivoted to this tiki bar located on the rooftop of a hostel. It wasn’t a very obvious entrance, but a man gave us wristbands and pointed us to the elevator in the back of an empty restaurant, so we gave it a go. Eric chose the “Jungle Bird” cocktail and I got a traditional Old Fashioned. Both were great and Eric especially loved his tiki glass. We even enjoyed the music playlist, with Eric adding several new songs to his Spotify list!
Laureles
Pigasus Pig & Burgers – We each got the “Piggy Cheese” burger with half pork and half beef, served with french fries. They were out of margaritas (?!) so Eric got a lemonade instead. I tried to get a dark beer again but they were out of most options, so I went with the Roja version of the Club Colombia brand. The burgers were good and we enjoyed sitting outside on the second level overlooking trees.
Arboro – we stopped in here just for cocktails. I wasn’t sure what to get, so I landed on a pisco sour and was very disappointed. My drink was dry and generally flavorless. Eric had an espresso martini which was loads better – rich with a strong coffee flavor. The outdoor space and vibe was nice at least.
Otro Bagel – We got takeaway here twice, once at the begging on the trip, and then the morning we left. Eric got a BEC sesame bagel (a little doughy but decent) with egg, cheese and candied bacon (yum). I had an Everything (completo!) bagel with roasted red pepper schmear – very tasty.
Pizza Garage – A short walk from our apartment, we ordered takeaway (para llevar!) for the Superbowl. Very reasonable at 40k ($11) for a 40cm pie, and we had the leftovers for lunch the following day.
Voraz – Located on the second floor above La Causa, with an entrance tucked around the corner from the main street. The whole restaurant is outdoors with lots of greenery along the border. They were out of several drink options listed on the menu (most juices and any dark beer), so I ended up with the Roja Colombia beer again and Eric got a passion fruit mocktail. The food order went smoother: I had the grilled ceviche appetizer which was plenty of food and Eric got the Chuleton de Cerdo, a grilled pork chop that had wonderful char grilled flavor, plus a Caesar salad side. Sadly, we had no room for dessert… Everything was very tasty, we would return.
Cafe Zeppelin – I made a reservation via Whatsapp and on arrival we managed to snag the last outdoor table instead of the reserved indoor option. The patio was surrounded by palms and there was a dog lounging in the main walkway that servers just stepped over. We decided to split a carafe of the house rosado (very drinkable), and Eric ordered the salchicha curry (currywurst, nice medium spice, really good) with fries and I had the “Philli Cheese” sandwich (very tender beef and I took home half).
Honorable Mention
Our favorite grocery store on the trip was Supermú San Joaquín. Fresh passion fruits and good choices for yogurt and granola. We also visited the Éxito on Carrera 70 which was larger but more expensive.