Club Colombia

Club Colombia restaurant is located in a nice two-storeys Colombian villa next to Bogota’s T Zone. It is a very beautiful place, with a charming place covered by ivy and the green of the trees helping one to forget it is in the middle of the city. The rooms are scantily lighted, with large spaces, fireplaces and a nice atmosphere overall. You can also sit outside in one of the areas reserved for so, or chill out afterwards and take a late drink in the bar next to the entrance of the restaurant

In Club Colombia (a place that actually caught my attention because it shares its name with a local bear) we can taste good traditional Colombian food, like ajiaco (a great and rich soup), chicharrones (fried pork skin), empanadas, parrilladas (a barbecue of different meats) and several types of Caribbean and Cartagena’s rices (usually involving coconut and sea food). This restaurant also has great fish (which, though uncommon in this city, is still incredible if you think you are at 2600m high and so far from the ocean) so that is also a great alternative. And, beware of deserts – you can even ask for an icecream that includes popcorns on the side and that becomes really dangerous for anyone pretending to do a diet…

Club Colombia is a nice and a bit posh restaurant – not too much, but don’t expect a laid back atmosphere. It is still a good option for a nice dinner in Bogotá!

Where: Bogotá – Colombia

Address: Avenida 82 No. 9-11, Bogota

Phone: (57-1) 249 5681

Expensive: Around €20

Garbo's Gazebo

The “Swedish girls” (as it is known) is a small restaurant in Cascais – actually, it is so small, it basically seems a big kiosk like the ones you may find around. It has a very nice space outside, on one of those cliffs where one like to linger for hours in a warm summer night, with fresh drinks and good company, overlooking the way the coast unfolds over the sea or the small fishermen boat down on the sea (or, during the day, after a relaxed bike tour, enjoying lunch with the Atlantic blue as company).

And what’s for eating? Let’s start by… starters, at the very beginning with a weird spread and its butter, that is absolutely divine and precedes any type of order. It doesn’t fit any of the traditional pates or spreads, but is really good! Then, you should really ask some starters, from ruccola to salmon with Swedish hovmâster or skagen toasts – go for something exotic, please, ruccola salad you can eat everywhere.

The menu presents a variety of dish, some “swedisher” than others (I think picanha, Bolognese or fish moqueca aren’t scandinavian cuisine…), but usually, I would recommend two families of dishes. Salads are excellent here, whether mozzarella with pesto, bluecheese or greek ones (or then… that great invention that is the “House Salad” and is nothing more than a mix of all the others). The other great option is… pizzas! And now you are asking why to order pizzas in a swedish restaurant – and the answer is… because they are “damn good”! Actually, they usually are delicious, very simple, thin and crunchy. And they have another small detail – they all have names related to Sweden! Being childstories characters, historic rulers, football or tennis players, furniture stores, models, they all relate to Sweden – a great detail!

And to wrap it up – deserts! I really would hint you to try the applecrumble with vanilla sauce, the kanelbullar or (if you are a chocolate addict as I am) a chocolate fudge.

Enjoy, this very simple but tasteful and laid back restaurant!

Where: Cascais - Portugal

Address: Casa da Guia – EN 247 – Guia

Expensive: Usually around €15

Yabani

São Paulo is definitively one of the food capitals of the world. The variety and richness of its restaurants is gathering global fame – and, let me tell you, that is entirely deserved!

One of the jewels of this vibrant city is actually Japanese food. São Paulo has the largest Japanese community living outside of Japan, and that explains why sushi here is so extraordinarily good – even more as Paulistas (the true name for a São Paulo inhabitant) were able to combine the delicacy of traditional sushi with the vibrancy and freshness of the tropics!

Yabani is one of those restaurants. It is located in the new business centre of the town, in Vila Olímpia, quite close to Itaim-Bibi. It is a long restaurant, combining Japanese and modern decoration, in the kind of light that you’ld expect in a good disco – dark and intimate. It has a long bar that goes the length of the restaurant and a small second floor, where you can sit and eat on the floor (if you don’t like that, just stay in the first one).

Start with some gyosas or miso soup, before having a look at the sushi, sashimi and tempura menus. They are all quite delicious, mixing the freshness of the fish and the juicy flavour of tropical fruits, but, if you follow my advice, you would also want to taste the “hot sushi” – I think it is great, and it is my number one choice whenever I go there! Actually, you may want to ask for a medley of sushi and sashimi that includes some hot pieces – just try to not abuse on the quantity (and that will be quite difficult)! Oh – and by the way! This goes well with Asahi or saké. You may also want to go for one of the various combinations of saké and fruity caipirinha, and you will probably like it! Go for it!

For dessert… Well I am a sweet teeth, so, I would go for a “petit-gateaux” with icecream (this hot chocolate fudge and icecream combination is delicious in this place) or a traditionally Japanese bean-icecream that is actually quite fresh.

So, let me tell you – this is definitively a place to go if you are in São Paulo and like sushi. And it is an almost perfect setting to go have dinner with a sushi fan you want to impress before going out and riding São Paulo night!

Where: São Paulo - Brazil

Address: Rua Professor Atílio Inocenti, 53 - Vila Olímpia

Phone: (11) 3078 – 7773

Website: http://www.yabany.com.br/

Expensive: Between 40 and 60 euros – it all depends on you sushi hunger

Andrés DC

Welcome to one of the hippest restaurants in Bogotá! Andrés is an experience in itself, a place I highly recommend you to go, if you are this city.

Andrés is located next to “Zona T”, one of the places to go in Bogotá to have fun – and usually regarded as extremely safe, if that is a concern of yours. It is a several story building, with the restaurant developing in each of the floors. Each of them is dedicated to a specific… place – meaning you will start by “Hell” in the first floor, move up to “Purgatory” and climb to “Heaven” – and though you shouldn’t expect to see angels around, let me tell you there is plenty of entertainment going on, with hired performers doing their shows in the middle of the tables… or on top of them! That could mean a group of Lloyd Weber like cats roaming the rooms or a party of fake big moustaches throwing a party to each of the tables! And this happens in a heavily decorated environment, that will make you feel in the middle of a burlesque movie set!

And now you could think “Yeah! But food must be crappy!”… and you are so wrong! Specialty of the house is anything related to meat – beef, pork, you name it! The name of the game is “compartir”, sharing that is – just ask for food for your table and not for each of the persons seating in there! Start by some mixed “tapas” plates including fried pork skin (yes, it is both a delicacy in Portugal and Colombia), several types of sausages, “arepas” (kind of a bread like type of corn dumpling), cheese,… And then ask for some of the several types of meat dishes, that you will happily share across. At the end there are desserts – but my weak stomach couldn’t take it…

But then you can digest all of the food you have taken in (and actually, part of the alcohol too) by dancing after your meal – yes, Andrés is a all in one! It is a restaurant, but then it is also a bar and a disco, and let me tell you, you can have lots of fun by dancing with the Colombians on top of the tables you (or someone else) just dined in!

Where: Bogotá – Colombia

Address: Calle 82, 12-21, Zona Rosa, Bogotá

Phone: (57-1) 863 78 80

Website: http://www.andrescarnederes.com/

Expensive: Well… yes! But it is a great place!