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We got a good taste for Colombian food during our week-long stay in Cartagena.
Our favourite, perhaps, was all the beautifully ripe, perfectly fresh fruit! Vendors pushing wooden carts on wheels made the rounds and would pass by the front door of our airbnb. We would flag them down and buy deliciously sweet fruit; even though they probably charged us tourist prices, they were still cheaper and tastier than what we would get in Toronto! The avocados were especially amazing. These giant fruits had pits the size of the little Hass avocados we get in Canada, and the flesh was juicy and tender.
We also got to try arroz con coco, or coconut rice. This staple side is full of flavour with a hint of sweetness. I really need to try to replicate it at home! The above photo shows our beachside lunch at Playa Blanca, where we had coconut rice, a whole fried fish, fried plantains, and a bit of cabbage salad with maracuja/passionfruit dressing.
Our airbnb was just a short walk from the Plaza de la Trinidad, which came alive at night. Food vendors set up around the perimeter of the square, and the above burger grill was one of the busiest. Ryan and I hovered for what felt like ages trying to buy burgers. There didn’t seem to be any official line, so we kept bugging the vendor to make sure he didn’t forget our order. You can see the burger assembly line on the right side of the cart. The burgers were filled with a patty, fried plantains, cheese, ham, delicious sauces, fried onion, and chopped lettuce. I was amazed they could fit so much into just one burger, but once I could take a giant bite, the flavours were divine.
The Old Town part of Cartagena caters to tourists, so there is no shortage of restaurants. The above is what I think was an Argentinian restaurant with a facade that was beautiful at night.
Colombia of course also grows chocolate. While we were waiting for a table at a restaurant one night, we explored the nearby ChocoMuseo, the Chocolate Museum. I bought some delicious cocoa butter hand, er, butter. It is hard in the jar but when I scrape some out, it melts in my hands and is very moisturizing and smells amazing. Ryan bought several bars of coconut, passionfruit, and pineapple-flavoured chocolate.
For lunch one hot, sunny day, we had ceviche. Ceviche is a kind of salad made with seafood, in this case, we had raw tuna. The restaurant was a tiny thing attached to a guesthouse in Getsemani, but the food was delicious and a good price. Of course, the ceviche was served with avocado, lime juice, and fried plantain.
One evening we got a table at La Mulata. We had tried to get dinner here on Christmas Eve, but it was closed. So we returned a few days later for dinner and got a table after a short wait.
Several guidebooks and websites have written about La Mulata, so it was no surprise for the restaurant to be full of tourists.
The eclectic decor was really friendly and laid back.
After seeing it on the menu in other restaurants, I ordered myself a coconut lemonade. It was a refreshingly delicious non-alcoholic drink, creamy from coconut milk but tart and tangy from the lemon juice.
Once again, coconut rice accompanied almost all of the dishes. Despite the several seafood choices on the menu, everything was very affordable.
It was impossible to not get another snack at Plaza de la Trinidad. Above is the street meat cart that sold freshly grilled kebabs with meat, sausages, potatoes, and corn.
One of our favourite eateries was the Colombian chain Crepes & Waffles. Obviously they specialize in crepes and waffles, but the menu has a dizzying assortment of fillings and flavours, both sweet and savoury. Their ice creams are also a hit.
There are a couple locations in the Old Town, one that has a limited menu and one with the full menu. There is also at least one location in Bocagrande. Tomiko and Donatello ended up going to a Crepes & Waffles about four times over the course of our stay!
Food is our favourite way to familiarize ourselves with different countries and cultures. We loved staying in an airbnb where we had kitchen access so we could take advantage of the beautiful fresh fruit. Surprisingly, though, there wasn’t a great variety of vegetables. We visited grocery stores both large and small, and the vegetable options weren’t that numerous or beautiful. Our homemade breakfasts normally consisted of toasted bread, eggs, avocado, and whatever fruit we had purchased. Since there were nine of us, we ended up buying (and eating) a lot of eggs. We bought flats of eggs instead of measly dozens. All the fruits we had were excellent, although I think my favourite was the maracuja, or passionfruit. However, the plums, pineapple, pomelo, mangoes, and blackberries were also deliciously sweet and juicy.
I think by the end of our trip, everyone was in love with Colombian food.
Check out some of Donatello’s recipes here:
Oh I would love to go to Columbia just for the fruit. Although chevice is amazing too!
It’s so interesting how food varies between countries. I recently moved to Costa Rica, and while the fresh fruit is also great, the avocados are WAY too expensive. We can never afford to buy them!
That’s so interesting! Are they the big ones or the little black Hass avocados?
The food looks great – are there any recipes?
Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!
So fun to try unusual foods! The fruit looks amazing. The fish with the head on, not so much!! lol! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann