Bogota Blogger

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.

The good part about Zona G is it’s strictly restaurants–no club scene at all. So it’s never streets filled with wandering people, because folks going out to eat head to their spot and then sit for a couple hours. Maybe they’ll hit one of the other restaurants for dessert or coffee, but there’s not a lot of roaming around, yelling, honking of horns, etc.

There are too many great place in this zone to talk about in one blog, and I will describe some of my favorites later. But as of now, here’s a little list of places to consider:

Harry’s (on Calle 70)–large and busy always, the food is dependable and the portions are really really big, so you feel like you are getting your money’s worth.

Michel–French bistro in the middle of the block on 69A, it’s got always excellent food at always reasonable prices and great, just fantastic, service. It’s a really great place for breakfast, brunch, lunch on weekends and for coffee and dessert after dinner. Also good for dinner itself if you want a place that’s more casual and not a two to three hour ordeal.

Criterion–also in the middle of the block on 69A; really cool minimalist decor, in a 60’s style?contemporary building. This is a French place, very upscale, with some very interesting entrees.

La Cigalle–at the intersection of 69A with Quinta.  French, and one of the most dependable restaurants in the city, I think.  Everything is great all the time, including the service. Ambience just about can’t be beat–contemporary but not pseudo, open kitchen, relaxing and stimulating at the same time. Definitely worth going to and going back to.

Hamburgueseria–on Calle 70 just above the Quinta. This is a hamburger place, so it’s fun, fast, lively. The decor is cartoonish looking drawings and sculptures and original 1960’s rock posters.  It’s bright and spacious, but draws a crowd. And how expensive can a hamburger be?????  Great malteadas, also.

Armadillo–on the Quinta about 71 or 72–very cozy and warm, yet spacious–lots of wood and a roaring fire, grand staircase. Food is consistently good and interesting–try the salad that has fried beets as an ingredient.

8 and 1/2–Occo y mezzo (Italian)–on 74 between Septima and Quinta…decent prices and good Italian, with some interesting twists (cinammon in the lasagna, for example).

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 1:18 am and is filed under Neighborhoods, Restaurants/Cafes/Bars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.