Munching in Medellin

After three months of living here on the Caribbean coast, I felt it was time to take a break from the relaxed pace and eternal sunshine of Barranquilla and head for the big city. Not quite ready for the cold climate and 8 million strong population of the capital Bogotá, I opted for a 5 day trip to Medellín.

The metrocable of Medellín, stretching into the hills.

Medellín is a city which has seen phenomenal changes in the past 10 years. Once the home and headquarters of the infamous drug baron Pablo Escobar, it has transformed itself from what was at one point the world's most dangerous city into a thoroughly modern, innovative and prosperous metropolis. The teleferic cable cars seen in the picture above are just one example of how the city has made huge changes in order to help its citizens, allowing people from poorer neighbourhoods in the hills to access the city with ease.

All fantastic news, and it gets even better, as this wonderful city is also home to some absolutely cracking comida. The bandeja paisa is arguably Colombia's national dish, and it hails from the region of Antioquia, of which Medellín is the capital. So naturally, on my first day in the city, I set out to sample this famous dish in its hometown.

I wasn't alone, as I had my very own paisa tour-guide, Ana Maria. I met Ana when travelling in Peru, and it was great to be able to catch up again in her home town of Medellín. She took me to a place called Hacienda in the city centre, which was decorated like a traditional Colombian ranch estate.

Being in a restaurant that served nothing but paisa food, and with what was supposedly the best bandeja paisa in the city, my order was a no brainer.

Avocado, fried pork, ground beef, rice, black sausage, chorzio, an arepa, a plantain slice, kidney beans and a fried egg combine to make this almighty dish. A whole lot of food? Absolutely. So tasty you can't really stop eating it? You bet!

Rolling out of lunch, I felt full, but very excited at what other meals Medellín was about to offer up. And turns out, it wasn't all deep fried pork rind either. In fact, quite the opposite. 

Saludpan is a health-lovers paradise. Located in the trendy neighbourhood of Laureles, it serves fresh, healthy dishes, with many raw specialties,gluten-free and vegan meals in the mix too. A far cry from the fried empanadas and cheesy arepas we had been munching on, it was a nice opportunity to nourish our slightly over-partied and under rested bodies.And believe it or not, bandeja paisa was even on the menu here too!

Bandeja paisa....ish?

A vegetarian version of the dish, this featured on the set lunch menu, which also came with a quinoa or vegetable soup and a fresh juice. This veggie version included brown rice, soya beef and sausages, with vegetables instead of kidney beans and no fried egg. My verdict? If you eat meat, I'd stick to the original, but for a veggie this is a great way to sample a slight variation on one of the countries best-loved dishes. And even for a carnivore like myself, it's probably best to keep the consumption of fried pork rind down to just once or twice week.

After all that healthy vegetarian fare, it was back in search of some typical Colombian comida. On a whim, a friend and I decided to head out of the city and into Sabaneta, a smaller town located in the north of the city, a metro and bus ride away from the town centre.

El Pelegrino in Sabaneta

A very humble and local neighbourhood, Sabaneta was a lovely change from the hussle and bussle of the city centre, and the fun yet over-priced and gringo-fied fancier barrios in the south.We headed to El pelegrino for a quick snack, but soon realised it was probably rude not to opt for a bandeja. Not the full out bandeja paisa,we went for what I consider the best parts - meat, meat, and more meat.

Chorizo, morcilla, fried chichurron, boiled salted potato and arepa. Just a light snack...

After this quick bite, which consisted of some of the best blood sausage I've had, some room was left for dessert. Buñuelos are round balls of a simple dough with the addition of costeño cheese, deep fried and sometimes topped with sugar. Freshly cooked, these balls actually weight a ton! Torn apart and dipped into hot chocolate or coffee, these are often eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon snack.

Buñuelos in the making at El Pelegrino

The finished product, with a good old cafe con leche.

Leaving Sabaneta, it was back into Medellin. But not for long, as being the eager tourists we were, we wanted to get the most of our brief time in the city. Our next trip was to Guatapé, a picturesque village 2 hours outside of Medellin. Famous for its Piedra del Peñol which is just outside the town, this enormous rock can be scaled by any tourist who dares. It actually has stone steps, making the ascent far more climber friendly...however there are 571 of them. Get ready for a hike!

It goes without saying that the reward for such a steep climb is a wonderful lunch. We searched around town for any place that smelled good, looked full, and would refuel our worn out selves after our climb.

La Fogata was the place. Translating as 'The bonfire' in English, La Fogota serves up basic, no-frills food at its best, in a scenic location alongside service with a smile. Guatapé is located right next to the river, meaning almost all the restaurants in the town offer up fresh fish. Sat down at La Fogota, I found myself torn between what would inevitably be a wonderful bandeja paisa and some tasty fresh fish. Not to worry, as my ordering anxieties were soothed by the compromise in the form of a bandeja trucha.

Instead of the three meats that normally come in a bandeja paisa, in this dish the meats were replaced by a wonderful barbecued trout. The fish had been marinated in a tomato-paprika sauce and really was delicious, and everything else that came with it was spot on too. Of course, some people opted for the classic bandeja paisa, and I must say it did look good.

Hope you're feeling hungry...

Overall, Medellín was an absolutely great trip. The city itself is fun, modern, and having changed so much in the past 10 years it really is an amazing place to be in. The friendliness of the people and character of the place makes it a great place to visit and definitely left me wanting to return. And the food? Any town that can claim a dish consisting of three different meats as their own gets a thumbs up from me!

Comiendo en Cartagena

A month has now passed since I touched down in Colombia, and one of the real beauties of living here in Barranquilla is its location. An hour or so out of the city you can find small hillside villages, the glitz and glamour of exclusive beachside resorts, world-renowned national parks and some of the best diving to be found on the continent. Last weekend saw me headed to Cartagena. Declared part of the UNESCO World Heritage in 1984, Cartagena is a gorgeous city with beautiful Spanish colonial buildings, a nugget of the Caribbean coast seemingly frozen in time.

A mere two nights was not sufficient time to fully explore the beautiful old city, and I feel sure I will return again many times to fully explore what the city has to offer. My first trip did however offer up something very special - a trip to one of the islands off the main city, the Isla de Rosario. Once we reached the island, of course the question on everybody's lips (perhaps mine the most), was - "What's for lunch?". 

To be brief, this fellow below:

Now some people might think it weird, or cruel to hold a live creature in their hands (or fingertips) just before they proceed to chow down on it. But hear me out. I think with all the convenience of supermarkets today, where you can buy cleanly wrapped, pre-packaged portions of meat and fish, it's easy to lose sight of where the produce initially comes from. So when presented with the opportunity, I took the chance to get cosy with my lunch. An hour later I found my new friend served along with the traditional sides here on la costa, coconut rice and patacones (double fried plantain chips). 

A traditional Colombian costeño lunch was followed by a trip to the less traditional, but no less loved chain restaurant of Crepes and Waffles. Absolutely huge over here, Crepes and Waffles serve...you guessed it. There is a huge variety of savoury crepes to choose from, as well as great salads and filled pittas. After such a huge lunch, I opted for the lighter salad bar option, which permits you the freedom to fill your own plate with delicious and nutritious nibbles such as vegetable quinoa, roasted aubergine, many nuts and seeds, eggs, all the vegetables you can think of. And then obviously there's room for waffles for dessert, which I ate with such enthusiasm I forgot to take a photo (apologies!). But let me reassure you - nutella, hazelnut ice cream and waffles make a damn fine combination.

What is also particularly great about this chain restaurant is their employment ethos, where they hire a solely female workforce, providing work opportunities to single mothers who would have perhaps otherwise struggled to find work. So, you can eat your waffle and feel good about it. Excellent news.

(Read more about their employment ethos here : it's in Spanish, so test your language skills...or use google translate).

Sunday was the last day of our brief trip, and allowed me to retry some of the dishes I briefly mentioned in my last post, starting with a traditional costeño breakfast of arepas con huevos. Perfect for those of us who want a bit of protein with our carb, this is a normal corn arepa, opened and fried with an egg cracked inside. And why not double the dose of that morning protein with some ground beef in there too? Although I'd already tried this coastal speciality, I hadn't had it made by this woman:

Frying her arepas in 35-degree heat on the beach, I felt like she was a woman who knew her stuff. While everyone else seemed to be able to sit in the blazing sun with their breakfast snacks, I waited to get inside to enjoy the blissful fried ball of egg and meat in peace and cool. 

Before we hit the road, we thought it only right to get some lunch on the way home. Lunch in Colombia is a large affair, often consisting of a soup, rice, beans or plantain, and meat - meaning dinner is often a lighter snack rather than another huge meal. Although not what I'm used to, it is more a nutritionally sound form of eating, giving your body time to digest your biggest meal of the day, rather than just snoozing straight after it. And I would need a lot of time to digest what El Pibe was about to provide!

A typical cheap eatery over here, nothing on the menu exceeded COP 20,000 (about £7), and although the owner himself is Argentine, El Pibe serves up nothing but good, hearty Colombian fare.What better place to try what is arguably the dish of the country, Bandeja Pisa? Known to be notoriously large, I felt this dish might defeat me somewhat, so opted for the 'Bandejita Paisa', the supposedly 'half-sized' portion.

Half size? Come off it! Kidney beans, rice, arepa, chorizo, ground beef, plantain, fried pork rind and a fried egg make up this beautiful dish. And yes, I ate it all. A full-size portion though? Give me a few more months practise and then let's see how I go.

Back in Barranquilla, I'm continuing to eat new things daily. Strange animal parts, exotic fruits I've never seen before, a variety of deep fried, delicious snacks...and I've got so much left to try. Who knows what's next?!