Colombian cuisine has flourished and is taking the county by storm.Colombian cuisine is not normally associated with the food culture of this nation. Words like typical or traditional come to mind, but cuisine - not exactly. All that is changing rapidly. The trend is nationwide, particularly in Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Cartagena but also elsewhere and is very exciting. BogotaBogota has an abundance of good restaurants but the highest concentration is most likely in Usaquen, where you can be fairly guaranteed to find excellent food by walking and choosing somewhere by how it looks. That said, 80 Sillas is one of my favorites, serving excellent Peruvian ceviche among other tasty seafood dishes.MedellinAround Medellin, QUEAREPARAENAMORARTE comes to mind. Sometimes misunderstood to be modern Colombian, this is rather, highly traditional, so much so that is becomes unique. Their dishes are an example of what's going on in the country as a whole. People enjoy their chicharon, arepas, sancocho and frijoles, but this place does things a little differently and with a lighter touch, paying particular attention to the quality of the ingredients.
Another example is the recently opened Carmen, next to the Parque Lleras in Medellin. Their food is delicious if but a little pricey. Imagine the catch of the day from the Pacific coast at Bahia Solano (seafood) with fried green tomato, pear sauce, arugula and gooseberry. Or pork cheeks with cornbread puree, braised swiss chard and apples. Delicious. They are essentially taking the typical Colombian ingredients of pork, in this case some of the best of animal and combining them with flavorful and lighter sauces and sides. El Herbario in Medellin began the trend some years ago but recently these new additions are cropping up quickly and making the selection extremely exciting. The city has really changed in many ways.
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