Leo Cocina y Cava – back to the origins

Leonor Espinosa is a well-known chef in Colombia who has spent a great deal of her life learning about Colombia’s culinary heritage, traveling around the country acquiring knowledge on various products, dishes and styles of preparation not to mention a deep respect for local products and producers. In her kitchen she consciously integrates them to create a cutting edge menu which is ground breaking with quite peculiar ingredients and tastes even for the locals.

Leonor forms a mother/daughter team with her daughter Laura Hernández-Espinosa who is the sommelier. The restaurant is located in downtown Bogotá and inspires a laid back elegant feel with its high ceilings, organic materials and reams of natural light flowing in. We found the restaurant ideal for both business and pleasure.

We had the Classic Tasting Menu

It starts off with the appetizers which come in a very original setting which appears to be stray strands owned by the very own Medusa.

Mussel, purslane, coconut and aji from the Amazon

Fish wrap, snail and titoté rice

Andres Carne de Res – eat and “rumbear”

“Rumbear” in Colombia means to party and in all of Colombia the ultimate place get down and funky is Andres Carne de Res. But there is more to Andrés than meets the eye. Andrés started off as a small country road stop grill spot back in 1982 in Chia, a town close to Bogotá, but the food was good and the music was even better and it slowly started prospering and adding on to the already existing building until Andrés became what we see today. The business has expanded and there is also Bogotá Andres DC, La Plaza de Andrés and Andrés Express but if you go to Colombia I recommend going to the original one, to the place where it all started. As it is now an institution in itself in Colombia, a touristic attraction much like Monserrate or the Salt Cathedral. Don’t get the wrong impression though, Andrés Carne de Res isn’t for tourists, it is for the locals who constantly go there. So to go to Bogotá and not visit Andrés, well that is to miss out on a much loved placed.