What to eat in Medellín

The bandeja paisa, and how to survive it

Beans, rice, ground beef, pork crackling, sausage, blood sausage, a fried egg, fried plantain, an arepa and avocado. On one plate. It is not a tourist exaggeration — people genuinely eat this, just not every day. Real advice: order one between two, or ask for a bandeja pequeña, which most restaurants have and none advertise.

What people eat when it is not a bandeja

The menú del día is the most useful institution in the country: soup, a main, fresh juice and sometimes dessert, usually for the equivalent of three to five dollars in a neighbourhood place. Mondongo, chicken sancocho and beans are the weekend classics. And the arepa: here it is thin, unsalted and works as a side rather than a dish. The arepa de choclo — sweet corn, with soft cheese — is the one you eat on its own.

Sweet things, snacks and drinks

Mazamorra is corn cooked in milk, served cold with unrefined cane sugar, and it is as paisa as things get. Buñuelos and natilla belong to December but you will find them all year. To drink: fruit juices made with water or milk, coffee everywhere — Medellín only started drinking its own good coffee recently, since the decent stuff used to be exported — and aguardiente antioqueño if the night turns serious.

The fruit you will not recognise

Lulo, guanábana, mangosteen, granadilla, zapote, borojó, cape gooseberry, tree tomato. Any market will let you taste them. Granadilla looks like an egg full of seeds and is one of the best things here. Lulo juice is the flavour most travellers end up hunting for once they are home.

Where to eat, depending on what you want

Provenza and El Poblado concentrate the chef-driven places and the high prices; Laureles and Envigado offer the same quality at half the cost with more locals around; downtown is the land of the set lunch and the restaurants that have been there forever. The produce markets — La Minorista, the one in Envigado — are the cheapest good food in the city and work much better with someone explaining what you are looking at.

Frequently asked questions