After a heavy night out on the town on Saturday, my girlfriend and I often work off our respective hangovers with a stroll through Usaquen on a Sunday, complete with a nice coffee and lunch. We’ve written about a visit to Usaquen on the Colombia Travel Blog before. It’s a beautiful little village within a city that plays host to a great market as well as some of the best restaurants in Bogotá.
This Sunday we stumbled upon a new restaurant, called Beirut. Beirut specialises in Lebanese cuisine, and is pretty unique in Colombia not just for this fact, but for the quality of the food on offer. To be sure, many restaurants offer Middle Eastern/Arabic cuisine, but rarely is it offered quite so fresh and with such attention to detail.
The place confirmed a feeling I’ve had for a while: that if Colombia offered a greater variety of international cuisine, thanks to the array of natural ingredients available, it could become one of the best places to eat in the world. Give it time…
On top of everything, the service was excellent, with the restaurant’s manager ensuring all customers felt valued and specifically attended to.
My girlfriend and I ordered a shawarma, a stuffed aubergine in a tomato-based sauce and a shish kebab. Everything was excellent, cooked to perfection and our bill rolled in at under $50,000 (admittedly without drinks). So Beirut isn’t exactly the cheapest restaurant in Bogotá, but for the service and quality of food it’s completely worth it.
Beirut is found on Calle 117 No. 6 – 30. The restaurant itself is beautiful decorated and boasts a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Oh, and I should add that I love spicey food, and their spicey sauce was actually hot, something of a rareity in Bogotá.
So if you fancy a change, why not swap your arepas with cheese for pita bread with hummus? You won’t regret it.
Paul
