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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ALEJANDRO OSSES/COURTESY OF MESA FRANCA; COURTESY OF EL CIERVO Y EL OSO; COURTESY OF SALVO PATRIA
BEYOND
Nightlife
BOGOTÁ
LOCALLY INSPIRED
DRINKS IN...
Clockwise:
House-made blackberry and
verbena soda at Mesa Franca,
in Chapinero Alto; fried
tofu, pumpkin, avocado, and
native beans simmered in
guarapo at El Ciervo y El Oso;
the kitchen at Salvo Patria.
El Retiro centre. Try El Draque,
an updated mojito made with
rhum agricole and the bark of the
Amazonian chuchuhuasi tree, which
adds a bitter note to temper the
drink’s sweetness.
For a more adventurous sampling
of indigenous Colombian ingredients,
check out El Ciervo y El Oso (fb.com/
el ciervo yeloso) in Quinta Camacho.
Chef Marcela Arango has transformed
a family home from the 1940s into
a liquor laboratory, where she whips
up intriguing potions like the Cola
Blanca—a complex medley of mezcal,
copoazú fruit, and avocado—and
the Red Deer, which marries anisey
aguardiente liqueur, watermelon,
and coffee salt.
Back in Chapinero Alto, a
hedonistic party called Salsa, Vinilo,
y Cochinillo—that’s salsa, vinyl,
and suckling pig—happens every
Thursday at Mesa Franca (fb.com/
mesa francabogota). A DJ cues up
the dance tunes while chef Iván
Candena serves slow-roasted pork with
a purée of sweet plantain and orange,
topped with piquant pickles and
crumbles of costeño cheese. Though the
cocktails change each night, one in
heavy rotation is the Smoke and Fire, a
savoury, flavour-packed concoction of
mezcal and smoked-bell-pepper syrup.
A hidden bonus: The ‘spicy ice,’ which
gives the cocktail an additional kick as
the cube melts. — ALEX SCHECHTER
A
n evening in Bogotá should begin at Salvo Patria
(salvo patria.com), a revamped townhouse in the
Chapinero Alto neighbourhood with spartan,
candlelit interiors reminiscent of a chapel. Regulars swear
by the bracing tequila highball with flavours of green
mango and chilli, but if you’re a beer drinker, order the
house American pale ale, which is infused with roasted
peppers from a nearby farm.
A couple of miles north, brass light fixtures and 20-foot
ceilings lend vintage-y glamour to Segundo (restaurante
segundo.com), a fashionable new hangout near the upscale
In Colombia’s humming, high-energy
capital, a fleet of new restaurant-bar
hybrids are applying the same locavore
approach that drives their cooking
to creating bold cocktails. Raise your
glass to these four standouts.
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