16 Best Restaurants in Colombia

We've compiled the best of the best in Colombia - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.

Cafe del Mural

$ Fodor's Choice

A draw for serious coffee lovers, this tiny, charmingly rustic and colorfully cluttered café is the perfect place to delve into the wide world of Colombian coffee. Owner, roaster, and barista David is passionate and knowledgeable and with no pretense or frills. He offers an impressive array of modern methods of preparation—from Chemex, Aeropress, and cold brew to traditionally (and impeccably) prepared espresso—but also a mad genius edge by offering coffee from machines from as far abroad as Germany or Vietnam. The café also offers a wide variety of cold coffee, fruit drinks, and creamy caffeinated cocktails. Go when you have some time to sample beans from various regions around the country, or just sit at the wooden beam bench outside and watch a Getsemaní afternoon pass by. However, it's only open from 3 pm to 8 pm.

Café Jesus Martín

$ Fodor's Choice

Just off the plaza, this tiny, family-run café serves its own brews as well as those sourced from 10 local farms. Take the time to chat to the fantastic baristas at the counter, and don't miss the pastries. It also offers the area's best coffee tour.

Café Pergamino

$ Fodor's Choice

The owner of Medellín's beloved purveyor of high-end speciality coffee prides himself on his thorough investigation of and involvement with his suppliers from plant to cup. Let Pergamino's friendly and knowledgeable baristas talk you through the beans on the daily specials list and the best method of preparation. While you wait for your brew, let yourself be tempted by the selection of baked treats before choosing a cozy spot to linger over your choices. The street-side patio is perfect for people-watching.

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Empanadas Obelisco

$ Fodor's Choice

Although you can dine inside, try to snag one of the tables across the street on the bank of the Río Cali. Here, a tiny restaurant serves up the best empanadas in the city, some say, in the entire country. Get your empanadas with a lulada, a classic caleño drink made of crushed lulo fruit.

Gelatería Tramonti

$ | Centro Fodor's Choice

There are few things more welcoming in the tropical Cartagena humidity than cold, creamy gelato, and this tiny corner offers the best in town, outshining the competition with quality ingredients, creative flavors, and friendly service. Owners Davis and Mateo have not only succeeded in bringing the true taste and texture of Italian gelato from their homeland, but they also offer a range of flavors based on local fruit, including lulo and guanabana, that surprise and delight.

Mora Castilla

$ Fodor's Choice

Popayán is famous for its local delicacies, and you'll find the best of them here, like the salpicón poayense (a drink of crushed ice and fresh blackberries) or empanadas de pipián (fried empanadas with a potato filling served with a spicy peanut sauce). Portions are small, so try a bit of everything.

Sybarita Caffe

$ Fodor's Choice

An offshoot of the burgeoning coffee scene in Bogotá, Sybarita serves a smashing cup of coffee. The baristas are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and have been known to talk customers through the range of modern and traditional preparation methods or the various coffee varieties and the country’s growing regions. Don't skip the desserts, like the house-speciality cheesecake. When you're done, stop by the counter and purchase a bag of your favorite beans.

Amor Perfecto

One of the pioneers in Bogotá's burgeoning coffee-shop movement, Amor Perfecto has continued to source some of the best beans around. With plenty of comfy sofas surrounded by warm brick walls and wood floors, it's a pleasure to hang out here and soak up the coffee-spiced atmosphere. Every brew method is on hand, but don't miss the espresso---it's arguably the best in town.

Azahar Cafe

A shipping container turned coffee shop, this Parque de la 93 café has a small, inviting wooden deck with scattered tables. It's the brainchild of two Americans who, when backpacking through South America some 10 years ago, fell hopelessly in love with Colombian coffee and threw themselves into the market. Now they source and roast some of the best local beans, with plenty of modern brewing methods offered up by knowledgeable and passionate baristas.

Beiyú

A tiny café that is easy to miss on one of Getsemaní's main streets, Beiyú provides a welcome respite from all things fried and heavy (which dominate local cuisine) with a selection of healthy wraps and juices. There is a small but good breakfast menu at bargain prices, but it's the juice and smoothie menu that will bring you back time and again. A huge variety of fruit is available, and more exotic jungle superfruit like acaí and copuacú offer a cool, energizing kick to keep the tropical heat at bay.

Catación Pública

This long, narrow shop, with a coffee lab and roastery in the back, feels equal parts café and coffee school. The walls are lined with tables and decorated with informative posters that show off Colombia's coffee regions and the flavor profiles of their beans. The long counter at the entrance is packed with the available coffees, each in a glass jar, inviting visitors to examine and smell before making a choice. As with all Bogotá's best coffee shops, every modern method imaginable is available to prepare your coffee, and the talented baristas will be sure to recommend the best method for each bean or region.

Crêpes & Waffles Arte-Sano

This unique chain of Latin American–Spanish restaurants serves—surprise!—crepes and waffles, as well as a delicious selection of ice-cream desserts. There are locations all over the city, but this trendy new branch in Zona G has taken the concept to a more refined, healthier level, without losing the guilty-pleasure angle. It's great for breakfasts, when you can get a pumpkin pancake with artisanal granola and Greek yogurt accompanied by a freshly squeezed juice. Later in the day, plunge into the ever-changing range of savory crepes that are stuffed with everything from portobellos and asparagus to chicken curry or beetroot marmalade, goat cheese, and sprouts.

Dulcenía

Set in one of the village's most beautifully restored spaces, this otherwise simple café has an intricately designed roof that's worth checking out as it's the perfect example of traditional Antioquian style. This will become your go-to spot for a well-brewed cup of coffee and something sweet. Detailed murals add an extra touch of color to the space, and efficient service means you'll never wait too long.

El Laboratorio de Café

These guys do coffee right: they send an in-house team to local cooperatives to select the best microlots, which are then ground and roasted daily in accordance with their flavor profile. Every modern brewing method is on hand, and you will be expertly guided to the proper preparation based on the chosen beans. With tables overlooking Plaza Botero, this is a great place to rest and recharge with a pastry and cuppa while exploring the historic center.

Empanadas Argentinas y Algo Mas

Marked by it’s faded green door and small flag, this tiny kiosk brings a slice of Argentina to the streets of Usaquen, complete with a faded Quilmes beer sign on the wall. Great empanadas grace the menu, as well as a few other treats like a sandwich de milanesa (an Argentinean beef schnitzel sandwich) or alfajores de maizena (a layered corn-flour cookie with a dulce de leche filling and coconut sprinkles).

Pasteleria Francesa Restaurant

Under the watchful gaze of the myriad black-and-white photos of Parisian life, the display cases of the village's favorite breakfast spot are heaped with sweet and savory delights like flaky almond croissants, chocolate éclairs, blackberry pasties, and savory quiches---the mustard-and-tomato quiche is a winner. Pair a treat with a cappuccino that comes topped with a mountain of frothed milk. Get in early for breakfast—doors open at 8 am—as the place fills up fast.

Colombia

Colombia

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