Taste of Colombia in London

Still, by far the strangest Colombia food I’ve eaten is hormigas – the giant toasted bacon-popcorn-tasting ants, but I recently visited three different Colombian restaurants in London and tried different versions of plantains, yuca (cassava) and delicious, huge steaks as well as ox liver, ox tongue and some delicious fresh fruit drinks.

The first restaurant we went to was the loud and lively Latin Corner on Camden Road where I ate a massive steak plate called Sobrebarriga dorada. The tables surrounded a bar where they sell, among the usual choices, Colombia beer. The atmosphere was alive and a few people stood up to salsa near the tables.

Twice we went to La Bodeguita in the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, the area of London where the biggest Colombia population lives followed by Stockwell and Brixton. La Bodeguita had a quieter, more relaxed atmosphere than the Latin Corner – better for conversation – but still with Latin American music and it does turn into a party place later in the evening. Here I tried Carne Asada, another steak dish as well as well as the ox tongue – Lengua a la criolla – which was suprisingly tasty. To drink, I had guanabana juice/smoothie. Yum!

For a friend’s birthday, we had dinner at Leños & Carbón on Rockingham Street, also in Elephant & Castle. A bit of a different atmosphere with a mix English and Latin music. I ate ox liver here and had an excellent fresh lulo juice – which is a sweet tropical fruit that somewhat resembles a kiwi in certain ways, I am told. Lulo juice is amazing, and it’s unfortunate you can’t find the fruit to buy in the markets like you can with some other oddities that Colombians enjoy like mamon.

In all three restaurants, the waiters were incredibly friendly and talkative, joking and laughing with us. The prices were very reasonable. The food and drinks were delicious at all three of them as well.

I’m sure there are some other good Colombian choices hiding in London. I also stopped in Brixton Market the other day to buy buñuelos from a vendor who was also selling cheesy arepas.

If you can recommend any other places in London to find delicious Colombian food, leave a comment.

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The Latin Corner
La Bodegiuta
Leños & Carbón

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Editor’s note – For anyone interested in Colombia, check out my blog from when I lived in a village called Mogotes in the Santander region of Colombia for six months in 2011 – http://www.littlecolombiaobservationist.com (A Colombia version of LLO!) Also, you can see my Flickr photos from my Colombia experience here.