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During our two days in Montería, we were able to try a few different restaurants. We were pleasantly surprised with what we found.
Oliva
On our first night in Montería, we walked to Oliva by Produterra, which features a sort of Colombian-Mediterranean fusion. It’s one of the very few restaurants in the city center that’s open at night. We sat down in an empty dining room and were quickly attended to by the waiters.
We started with a garlic octopus dish. For our main courses, I had a steak with mashed plantains and topped with fried onions. Marisol had a seafood stew with coconut rice.
Both of our meals were delicious but we didn’t really care for the starter. Overall, it was a good experience but service could have been much better. The waiters never came back to the table after serving our food. We would have ordered dessert if they had shown a little more interest. Prices were reasonable for the quality of food although a bit high for Colombia.
El Trapiche
We visited El Trapiche, which was only a block from our hotel in the city center, for lunch. It’s a simple place that serves traditional Colombian food. We shared a gigantic fixed price lunch consisting of beef, patacón, beans, pasta, fries, and salad. The food was surprisingly good.
Zona Rosa
The Zona Rosa (entertainment zone) in the northern part of the city consists of two streets, Carrera 7 and the pedestrianized Pasaje del Sol, which run for a few blocks. There you’ll find all sorts of restaurants and bars to choose from. We noticed sushi, traditional Colombian, Greek, Lebanese, fast food, and much more. This is the place to be at night, especially since almost all the restaurants in the city center are closed.
Baalbeck
A great place to eat in the Zona Rosa is Baalbeck. This restaurant is one of the best in Montería and serves deliciously authentic Lebanese cuisine.
We shared raw kibbeh, a fattoush salad, and a sampler plate featuring fried kibbeh, stuffed grape and cabbage leaves, hummus, kofta, and almond rice. For dessert, we had baklava and Arabic coffee.
Everything was fantastic and the service was top notch. Prices were high for Colombian standards but proportionate to the quality of the food. We would happily go back there again.
BBC Cervecería
Also in the Zona Rosa is BBC Cervecería. This Bogotá-based microbrewery features a few different beers on tap and is a great place to hang out or watch a game.
