Restaurants in Medellin

If you love arepas and beans, you’re in luck. Food in Medellín is carb-based and filling, and you’re never far from the typical Antioquian bandeja paisa, a smorgasbord of soup, rice, beans, avocado, salad, sausage, plantain, shredded beef, eggs, arepa, and chicharrón (pork rinds). In Centro, and the Envigado neighborhood, you’ll find plenty of small restaurants and holes-in-the-wall offering almuerzos corrientes, or set-price lunches, which will set you back around COP$7,000 to COP$9,000.

As Colombia’s top chefs have returned home from honing their skills at Michelin-star temples stateside and in Europe, a new breed of gastronomic restaurants have invigorated Medellín’s traditional dining scene. Smart bistros and fancy gastro-molecular hotspots are cropping up all over town, sporting innovative menus that fuse fresh local produce with exotic ingredients from the Amazon and Colombia’s Pacific/Caribbean coasts. For all its embrace of global epicurean styles and techniques, Medellín’s haute cuisine still feels firmly rooted in the rich and hearty culinary traditions of Antioquia.

Heading along Avenida Poblado from Centro Commercial Santafé, you’ll find the customary onslaught of international and local chain restaurants: Hard Rock Café, Crepes & Waffles, Sushi Light, all with decor (some with outdoor terraces) befitting of their prime real estate setting. Punctuating Vía de Las Palmas, heading into the hills of Altos de Poblado (around COP$6,000 by taxi from Parque Lleras), posh eateries boast terrific views and international menus (but elevated price tags to match). Many of Poblado’s chic new boutique hotels are also home to fashionable restaurants with creative menus.