Bogota Blogger

Another restaurant in Zona G, where I live, that I have to call my favorite is on Calle 70 just above the Quinta. This is slightly up into the residential part of the neighborhood, on a block that’s off the beaten track just a bit. If I have to judge my favorite restaurants by which I patronize the most, this one really IS my favorite. It’s fun, funky, has good food, and most importantly is about 30 paces from the front door of my building–literally right around the corner. It’s called La Hamburgueseria.

Hamburgueseria is a hamburger joint, of course, but an upscale one. They have three other locations in Bogota that I know of–one is by the bullring, one is in Usaquen (lots of funky restaurants that have a few locations in town have one in Zona G and one in Usaquen), and they just recently opened on in Parque 93. That last maneuver actually caused them to drop a notch in my estimation, because Parque 93 is sort of the uber-trendy. I have a friend who is friends with the owners of the chain, and he says even they admit that opening a restaurant in Parque 93 is sort of selling out, because the other locations are all in neighborhoods that are actually more neighborhood-y and a have distinct personalities. But, I guess the opportunity to have a restaurant in a location that almost guarantees being packed from opening till closing every night was too much to resist. And, I guess the people who hang out in Parque 93 deserve to be exposed to a little bit of a funkier culture. After all, how much TGIFridays and El Coral Gourmet can you take?

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Another great restaurant in Zona G, near my apartment, is Armadillo. It’s on Carrera 5 at Calle 70A, and is also located in an old brick mansion. They’ve also preserved some of the inside, including a fireplace and a really grand old wooden winding staircase.

The decor is very warm, inviting, there are antique painted cabinets and chests around the room that the waiters use to keep silver and supplies in, a huge two-story wine rack behind the bar, and a loft-type second floor.  Wood everywhere. And little twinkly lights in the ceiling that feel like stars and add to the warm feeling that begins with the firelplace.

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On Carrera 5 between Calle 70 and 70A is Tienda de Cafe (and there is another one in Usaquen, I hear), which has probably the funkiest decor of all the restaurants I go to in Bogota. (I don’t count Andres Carne de Res, since it’s in Chia–but even if I did, the Tienda would be competetion.) 

The walls (and ceilings) are painted, every inch, with fantastic (meaning having to do with fantasy) murals, and doors, floors, windows, stairs, just about every surface is covered with SOMETHING interesting. There are all kinds of eccentric-looking objects on mantelpieces, bars, tables, any surfaces available. One of the guys I work with who’s an artist is a friend of the owner and has had something to do with the decor, though he didn’t paint the murals.

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From my experience, Bogota has more bakeries per linear foot than anywhere else I have ever been. Bread (pan) is everywhere. Within two blocks of my house there are four bakeries, and if I want more, I can go two more blocks. And, when I go into one of these late in the day, they’re out of almost everything, so obviously they’re selling all the stuff they can bake. I guess everybody eats fresh bread every day, just about.

I usually go to AutoPan, which is a little chain bakery, because it’s on the next block from me. They make these really buttery little rolls with chocolate chips in them, and if I buy six, I eat six. I try not to buy more than six.

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There’s a chain of three French restaurants called Bagatelle, which for almost a year I used to eat at often on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The food’s great (though not cheap), the ambience is perfect for a breakfast or brunch–all have patios, lots of plants and lots of French cafe cachet.

But about six months ago I found out some pretty unpleasant things about employee relations, and now I make a point of not going there and of telling others the same. It turns out that the owner, through the manager, is pretty much a slavedriver. I heard stories through a friend, but they were just rumors. While walking his dog one day my friend passed the Rosales Bagatelle and saw a waiter on a cigarette break–he asked him about it, but the guy didn’t really want to talk.

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Parque 93 is an actual park, a square block, in north Bogota that is surrounded on all four sides and for a few blocks around by upscale restaurants and bars and clubs. It’s actually bordered by Calles 93A and 93B and Carreras 11A and 13. 

The scene here is upscale and trendy, and is a real mixture of bars and restaurants, so there’s an eating crowd and a drinking and dancing crowd sharing the same space. The park is usually pretty lively, and is the second most popular place to find gringos and embassy folk, next to the Zona Rosa.

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On Calle 69A in the Zona G, and half a block from my house, is a little French bistro called Michel. It’s become a hangout for me and a few friends almost every Saturday and Sunday morning, and maybe one or two nights during the week as well.

This restaurant has everything to make it a really regular place. It’s charming, the food is always excellent, has a great menu, the staff are incredibly friendly and accomodating, and the prices are better than reasonable. Last week when I was there with three friends and I put the tab on my US credit card, when I got the bill it had converted to under $30 USD. I’ve heard that there is at least one other Michel in the city, but haven’t been there.

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Juan Valdez is the fictional guy wearing a poncho and with a coffee bag slung over his shoulder who has represented the Colombian Coffee Federation for something like 50 years.  But the Juan Valdez I am talking about here is the chain of coffee shops that are springing up all over the city.

These are the Colombian version of Starbucks, of course, but better.  The desserts are better, the architecture is always ultra-contemporary, and the coffee is just the best.  And you can get a reasonably sized cup of coffee, or cappucino, or whatever for the equivalent of about $.80.  (This is just one of many things that are served in reasonable portions in Colombia for reasonable prices, rather than in super-sized versions like we are used to in the US).

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In any good tourism guidebook, and even in the bad ones, you will find out for sure about the upscale restaurant scene in the Zona Rosa, and probably also about Parque 93. Both of them can be fun places, have some fairly cool restaurants (Zona Rosa more than Parque 93), and fill up most nights, especially weekends, with rich Colombians and gringos out on the town. Both of them are also pretty big party scenes.

But the Zona G is the place where true restaurant connoisseurs go. It’s a zone of restaurants centered around the block of Calle 69A from Septima to Quinta, and thereabouts for two or three blocks in?any direction.

Almost every one of the restaurants is located in an old house or mansion (some mansions house two to four restaurants). Apparently when this trend first started in the neighborhood, most of the restaurants were French, and there are still probably at least 6 or 7 of those, but there are all sorts of other cuisines now too.

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