6 Best Restaurants in Colombia

There's simply no better place to try local Vallecaucana cuisine than from the hands of talented chef Martha Jaramillo, in this colorful, restored home. Many of her recipes are built on those of her grandparents and are slow cooked with rich, wholesome flavors like the classic arroz atollado (sticky rice with various meats) or the cola endiablado (beer-braised oxtail spiced up with three local chilies). Wash it all down with a lulada.

A bright, relatively modern space set inside a colonial building, the menu at this local hot spot focuses on Mediterranean-Italian cuisine. The house favorite is the Grana Padano pasta a la rueda, where house-made linguine is finished with a vigorous toss in a hollowed Parmesan wheel and your choice of topping is added. The thin-crust pizzas are among the best in town. The staff is attentive, the outdoor patio is great on a sunny day, and they are pet friendly.

Charming and plant filled, this quaint little coffee shop makes a great escape from the rush of the Sunday-market streets. Visit on a quiet day to relax, sip a coffee, and have a go at some of the dangerously tasty cakes. The Spanish hot chocolate is thick enough to stand a spoon up in, and is beastly good.

This upscale bakery and coffee shop offers touches of quaint, country-style decor and friendly service. Particularly popular for a midmorning coffee break or afternoon tea, the temple of pastry, cake, and silken mousse delivers a welcome respite, and you'll likely end up spending more time than you have planned. The pour-over filter coffee is good, and the lemon-coconut drink—a Cartagena classic—may be at it's best.

Drenched in light from the towering glass ceiling, this warm space invites long shared lunches (with plenty of wine) in front of the giant wood-burning oven. The mains, mostly cooked in said oven, are large plates meant to be shared---osso buco, beef shank, ham hock---and are flavorful and tender. But the stars of the show are the starters, equal parts modern and creole, that range from grilled beef tongue with sun-dried-tomato vinaigrette to a tiger-prawn-and-chorizo casserole in a bijao (banana leaf).