During our trip to Colombia, Kevin and I ate at some of the best restaurants in the country including Bogota’s famous restaurant Carne De Res (a freak show/restaurant all wrapped in one). You won’t go hungry in Cartagena – that’s for sure. Some of the best meals can be found here, but the tiny city has a special love affair with street food, particularly all things fried.
Okay, fried food isn’t the healthiest option. And if you’re like me, I try to avoid it as much as possible. I mean, I live in LA after all. But, when in Rome!
Cartagena’s streets, particularly in the walled city, is lined with street vendors. Locals will snack throughout the day and you can always judge the best place by the long lines.
To maximize the street food experience, we signed up for a walking tour through Cartagena Connections. The company’s owner Kristy, a young Aussie, moved to Cartagena just a few years ago without knowing any Spanish. She loved food, and culture and personally put together this tour from sampling snacks across Cartagena. Today, the company has grown to offer several other tours, including a late-night ghost tour that we also took.
Onto the food — here is just a sampling of what you will not want to miss when you visit Cartagena.
Patacones
Popular in the Caribbean, these are plantains that are peeled, sliced length-wise and fried not once, but twice (or maybe even more!). They’re lightly salted, and taste like sweet french fries.
Frying up those plantains… frying once, twice… how many times?!
Fried plantains
Kevin enjoys his plantain topped with cheese – because why not add cheese to a fried plantain?
Arepas with cheese
Hands down, the best thing we ate in Colombia. You’ll see vendors all over in Cartagena. They offer a white corn and a yellow corn version. We had both, though I preferred the white corn version (which was less sweet and with sharp cheese inside). I hunted down this stand and came back again (and again)!
This is my favorite thing I ate in Cartagena. This window is located next to Firos Pizza (which you can locate on Google Maps)
After the walking tour, I came back for another one. I couldn’t get enough of these!
Fritos
No, not like those cheap bagged chips. This is a fried arepa with egg.
Fritos – the street food version
Carimañola
Yum, never had this before. Similar to an empanada and fried once again! This is a Colombian cuisine meat-pie in a torpedo-shaped yuca fritter, stuffed with cheese, seasoned ground meat or shredded chicken.
Carimañola (on the left), a torpedo-like empanada ready to be fried
Chicharrón
Hopefully, you’re not on Weight Watchers because this would be off the charts. Chicharrón, or fried pork belly, is a typical Colombian dish from the mountainous region of Colombia. It’s one of the main ingredients in a dish called Bandeja Paisa (aka “People’s Plate), a popular breakfast dish all over Medellin… Also known as a “heart attack on a plate” with fried pork, chorizo, chicharron, steak, egg, fries, beans and rice.
Chicharrón, aka a heart attack on a plate with some yuca on the side
Buñuelo
Dunkin’ Donuts call these munchins (or donut holes). A buñuelo is a fried dough ball, popular across Latin America and especially in Cartagena. It’s made with yuca flour here giving a sweet and savory taste at the same time. These beat Dunkin’ hands down, no contest!
Bunuelo, aka donut holes
Coconut water
We’ve all had coconut water, but you need to order these plastic tubes of it. Bite a hole into the bag — it’s like shotgunning a healthy drink (and won’t stain!).
Coconut water in a bag
Vendor pours the coconut water into the bag – just use your teeth to rip open a hole to drink
Bocadillo con queso (Guava paste with cheese)
Our guide said these are also called “matrimonial” – uniting the cheese and guava in one. This is a really quick street food stop. A square of chalky, salty cheese with a sticky sweet guava paste on top. Colombia is one of the largest producers of Guava in the world, so it’s not surprising people love this snack. It wasn’t my favorite, but saw several people stop by to grab some while we were there.
Vendor slices up the salty cheese for the bocadillo
Bocadillo
Are you hungry? I am! Cartagena Connections is an easy way to take it all in and you can pay in cash after the tour. It’s just $30 per person and includes all the foods at about 8 stops. Plus, you get a lot of history along the way. Bring comfortable walking shoes as this tour was about 3 hours on your feet. Hey, at least you get to burn off all those calories! How often can you feel no guilt after all that fried goodness?
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