Narcobollo

Bogotá


Here the sunny Caribbean coast comes to the cold mountains in the tasty form of fried deditos de queso (cheese fingers; COP$1900), bollos wrapped in plantain leaves (hand-sized maize balls mixed with cheese, yuca, or corn; COP$1900 to COP$2800) and mondongo (not for the faint-hearted), a soup made from beef stomach and intestines (COP$14,000).

Wash it down with exotic fruit juices such as zapote, guanabana or mango. Narcobollo derives its name from a grossly miscalculated drug raid in Cartagena in 1989, where soldiers, expecting to find a drug lab, barged in on a room and fridge full of bollos. The mistake led to the success of the small family-run business, which now has stores in Barranquilla and Miami.