La Tabula, Bogotá. Ravely reviewed by Anthony Bourdain and seemingly adorable, I made a reservation here for our first night in Bogotá before we even left! Side note – the reservation was easily made by email and probably not necessary for two people.
La Tabula is a nice restaurant in a fabulous building, but take a cab. The restaurant is located down a very small, dark street. In fact, the street was a little scary on our first night! In any case, once you arrive the restaurant is absolutely adorable! The main dining area is very open, with a painting of a large red table anchoring the room (la Tabula…), and a “garden” along the back wall. In warm weather, a portion of the roof can be redacted.
The menu has a decent number of options and the waiters suggest that you order “family-style,” meaning that you share plates with those around you… Plates are LARGE and needless to say, they did not approve Dan and my ordering…(way too much!). Definitely try to go here with a few friends.
In any case, for starters we enjoyed the restaurants’ complimentary bread and the pig trotters, or pork feet. Both were delicious, and the pig trotters were a very large serving! The pig trotters were served with yellow mustard. Very good if you can get over the fact that they actually look like pig feat. You can make out the hooves below.
For mains, I ordered the lasanga, per a number of recommendations. The lasagna was HUGE and really delicious, although it was not the best lasagna that i have ever had (that honor would go to pesto lasagna in the Cinque Terre!), but it was right up there!
For Dan’s main, he ordered the beef osso bucco – – one of la Tabula’s most famous dishes. Like my lasagna, the dish was HUGE, but very, very well prepared. The meat could really be cut with a spoon! And the bone marrow in the bone was plentiful and amazing with the bread!
Although we were totally stuffed after dinner, I could not resist a Colombian cheesecake with a tropical fruit topping – cheesecake con fruta da temporada ! Probably my favorite part of the entire meal. Colombian cheesecake is different from the standard cheesecake in the U.S. and definitely worth trying for dessert lovers! Although I am still not sure what a temporada is…. Also, great plates!
In terms of prices, the food was very reasonably priced. However, alcohol was quite expensive. At least one of the wait staff spoke English, so she helped us order.
STEAL OUR TRIP
La Tabula: Cll 29 bis # 5 – 90, Bogotá, Colombia. Open everyday 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Thursday – Saturday also from 7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. I made a reservation through this email address: sinsemilla.sa@gmail.com. Attire is slightly dressier than casual for dinner (for what that’s worth).