New Worlder's Best New Restaurants in Latin America 2022
Rethinking restaurants in the region in a changed world.
I haven’t done these kinds of lists in a while, with the pandemic limiting my travel and all for several years. I wasn’t sure if I would do one again, as there are enough lists of restaurants already. However, I met a chef recently who told me how the inclusion on New Worlder’s Best New Restaurants list years ago was the one thing that kept their restaurant from shuttering. Restaurants, especially ones that are taking risks in their sourcing and doing the honorable task of treating their staff fairly, need all the help and encouragement they can as the world continues to sort itself out. So, here we go again.
There are big changes happening with restaurants across Latin America. Some of these places really stretch the idea of what defines a restaurant. I realize that, but I feel it is important to add them. They are all places where you can go and eat and you make a monetary transaction for that meal, so in that sense they are restaurants. In some cases, formal menus and sometimes walls are not included. Several sell masa by the kilo, such as El Xolo in El Salvador and El Comalote in Guatemala. One, Ranchería Guayamral, is in a communal kitchen in a remote indigenous community. One, DeMo Franklin in Chile, is in flea market that opens only on the weekends. Many are restaurants that existed in previous incarnations, but they stepped back and reevaluated their business model and their lives, and changed them completely. They made them smaller, like Lasai in Rio de Janeiro, or moved into the countryside, like Al Mercat Dota in Costa Rica or El Baqueano in Argentina. There’s Mexican food in Brazil with Metzi, and Thai food in Baan Peru with Baan, though both restaurants manage to still be based in and driven by local ingredients. Traditional recipes and regional cuisines are explore at restaurants like Phayawi in Bolivia. Yet, all have a place in the fabric of Latin American gastronomy and that’s what I want to highlight. These are my picks for the best restaurants to have opened in Latin America over the last two years:
El Baqueano – Salta, Argentina
After 13 years as one of the most innovative restaurants in Buenos Aires, El Baqueano moved to Salta in the far north of Argentina where some of the most interesting wines in South America are being produced. Perched high on cerro San Bernardo with sweeping vista of the valley below, chef Fernando Rivarola and sommelier Gabriela Lafuente now have immediate access to the small producers and foragers that seemed so distant from the capital. restoelbaqueano.com.
Phayawi – La Paz, Bolivia
Named after the Aymara word for kitchen, Phayawi, Valentina Arteaga’s is nothing less than traditional Bolivian food using the best ingredients and a nice setting with Bolivian wines and spirits. It sounds like an obvious recipe for success, but you would be surprised at how difficult restaurants like this are to find in the country. Instagram.
Ancestral – La Paz, Bolivia
The unofficial Gustu start up incubator continues chugging along in La Paz with this restaurant from former head chef Mauricio López, who also worked in European kitchens like Noma and Azurmendi. Alongside his partner Sebastián Giménez, the pair offer five and eight course tasting menus with dishes like grilled heart of palm and yakitori glazed pacú ribs. Despite being grill centric and considered a parrilla, vegetables, river fish and alternative proteins steal the show. Instagram.
Biatüwi – Manaus, Brazil
Unbelievably, Biatüwi, which opened in late 2020, is one of the few indigenous run restaurants in Manaus, not to mention the entire Amazon Basin. Started by Clarinda Ramos and her anthropologist husband João Paulo Barreto, the restaurant is an homage to indigenous recipes and cooking techniques. Set in a minimalist townhouse, the restaurant utilizes ingredients such as Maniwara ants, a fermented yuca sauce called tucupi and the Baniwa chile blend jiquitaia. biatuwi-casa-de-comida-indigena-manaus.negocio.site.
Metzi – São Paulo, Brazil
A Mexican restaurant in São Paulo seems like the start to a bad joke, but like Kol in London, Brazilian chef Luana Sabino and Mexican Eduardo Nava Ortiz – who met at Cosme in New York – have found a way to make it work. Using almost entirely Brazilian ingredients, you’ll encounter Amazonian ingredients like tucupí and jambu on the same plate with white mole and cauliflower. metzi.com.br.
Lasai - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
When the pandemic happened, not long after Rafa Costa e Silva became a father, he started to reevaluate how he structured his life. The chance to step away briefly allowed him to close Lasai as it was before, a 40-seat fine dining restaurant, and reopen it in a small setting with just 10 seats where he just opens the pantry of Brazilian ingredients and cooks what’s there as if friends are coming to his house. lasai.com.br.
Al Mercat Dota – Copey, Costa Rica
When José González opened Al Mercat in San Jose in 2014 he helped changed the trajectory of Costa Rican restaurants. The son of farmers, he spoke about a “país comestible,” and edible country where anything and everything grows. He closed the urban setting of the restaurant early in the pandemic, but has since returned in the highlands of Costa Rica, at an ecolodge in Dota. He now has direct access to a farm on the property and wild ingredients to forage in every direction. Instagram.
Mareal – Pichilemu, Chile
A seafood restaurant in Pichilemu, a surf town on the coast of Chile southwest of Santiago in the O'Higgins Region, Mareal has operated for several years inside the home of chef and forager Gustavo Moreno, but recently it found a permanent, more formal home just steps from the ocean. There’s a set menu of comfort foods, plus specials that changes daily based on whatever local fishermen bring in and whatever wild plants, mushrooms and seaweeds are gathered. They’re passionate about wine and there’s a list of low intervention wines from local winemakers. Instagram.
DeMo Franklin – Santiago, Chile
Inside Persa Victor Manuel, an old warehouse that is part of the sprawling weekend flea market in Barrio Franklin, Pedro Chavarria, who once cooked at Boragó, creates beautiful food inspired by seasonal Chilean produce, served alongside natural wines and original cocktails. Open just 2 days a week from 10am to 4pm, and with just 7 tables, it’s one of the more creative set ups I’ve seen anywhere, but it works wonders. Instagram.
Pulpería Santa Elvira – Santiago, Chile
In the working-class neighborhood of Matta Sur, a widely thought of no man’s land south of Providencia, Pulpería Santa Elvira might be my favorite new restaurant in Santiago and the one that had the biggest impact on me on my latest trip. It’s not fancy. It’s the opposite of fancy really. It’s homey. Literally. Like in a grandmother’s home with decorative wallpaper and creaky wood floors that stretch through a maze of intimate dining rooms. Javier Avilés, who spent years living in Argentina, returned home to open this restaurant and then the pandemic happened. He used the time to forage and stock his pantry with ferments, which now line the walls of the restaurant. Ingredients like loyos, nalca or sweetbreads are prepared with time and care, and without posturing. pulperiasantaelvira.cl.
Restaurant XO – Medellin, Colombia
During the pandemic, after working together for a dozen years and opening multiple successful restaurants in Medellin and Cartagena – something unheard of in a Latin American restaurant group – Carmen Angel, Rob Pevitts, Mateo Ríos and Sebastián Marín decided to open a fine dining restaurant. Seating just 15, mostly at the counter, for four nights a week, the restaurant is an exploration of native Colombian ingredients, especially from the western side of the country that has not gotten nearly enough love. xomedellin.co.
Oda – Bogotá, Colombia
After he spent years working in Lima, Santiago, Bangkok and Copenhagen, the talented chef of Oda Jeferson García was offered the gig with the help of El Chato’s Álvaro Clavijo, who set up the restaurant and saw it as a place he would be able to grow. The setting, set with a virtual golf gallery on a high floor of a modern building in the far north of Bogotá, might sound odd, but once there it’s a rather fitting place to elegantly showcase Colombian ingredients, especially those from the paramo, the high-altitude wetlands that Colombia is full of, including a short distance from Bogotá. Instagram.
La Sala de Laura– Bogotá, Colombia
When Basque World Culinary Prize winner Leonor Espinosa’s flagship restaurant moved into a dramatic new space less than a year ago, it added a second restaurant up a flight of stairs from the dining room. La Sala de Laura, from the mind of her daughter Laura Hernández, makes just as much of an impact as Leo. The years of research and development that Hernández has put into distillations and fermentations based in Colombia’s different biomes and ecosystems make it one of Latin America’s premier cocktail programs, though the food, which includes 7 and 10 course tasting menus, as well as an a la carte offering, is like a playful variation of Leo with many of the same exhilarating ingredients. restauranteleo.com.
Humo Negro – Bogotá, Colombia
Former El Chato chef Jaime Torregrosa, who worked abroad in restaurants like Sweden’s Fäviken and Japan’s Ca Sento, opened this freewheeling concept in mid-2021. The menu offers a mix of creative shared plates that explore Colombian biodiversity through international techniques and influences. Expect dishes like clams from Guajira and paiche loin with tucupi and camu camu. He calls it a Colombian Izakaya, and I think that’s a good word for it. It’s playful and edgy but doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a perfect representation of Bogotá today. humonegrobog.com.
Rancheria Guaymaral – La Guajira, Colombia
While Wayúu cook Zaida Cotes opening her kitchen at Ranchería Guaymaral in the remote Caribbean peninsula of La Guajira near the border with Venezuela is not new, the process for visiting her has become more formalized with tour agencies assisting. The food her and her family create – traditional recipes that include all parts of a goat from the innards to the milk, arepas from purple corn, cactus fruits and ground seeds of a plant that tastes like coffee – is as sophisticated and delicious as anything you will find on the 50 Best list. Instagram.
Foresta – Quito, Ecuador
The chef Rodrigo Pacheco has been doing wonderful work developing his kitchen at the biodiversity hotspot Bocavaldivia on Ecuador’s coast, but because of the remoteness few have had the opportunity to try his food. With Foresta in Quito, he has the opportunity to share his message of Ecuador’s rich flora and fauna to a much wider audience. forestarestaurante.com.
El Xolo – San Salvador, El Salvador
I have written about how courageous Gracia Navarro and Alex Herrera are for what they are doing in their native El Salvador, and the existence of El Xolo is proof of that. While they have shown Salvadoran ingredients can fit seamlessly into fine dining with their series of Raíz pop-ups, El Xolo is about building the fundamentals to alter the cuisine at every level. Maíz has formed the base of the Mesoamerican diet for more than a millennia, but land-race varieties and the recipes made with them are rare in the country today. El Xolo is changing that and El Salvador is better for it. elxolomaiz.com.
El Comalote – Antigua, Guatemala
While it started as a tortillería prior to the pandemic, El Comalote moved into a larger space with a formal restaurant in 2021. The restaurant is working to revitalize maíz criollo in southern Guatemala. Working with indigenous farmers to source heirloom varieties of corn in a range of colors and flavors, the restaurant is based around their molino. They sell masa by the kilo and tortillas by the dozen, as well as artisan cheeses, though there’s also a full menu of corn-based recipes such as regional tamales, tacos and horchata de maíz. elcomalote.com.
La Cocina de Humo/Levadura de Olla – Oaxaca, Mexico
Thalia Barrios Garcia’s pride and joy is the cooking of San Mateo Yucutindoô, the village in Oaxaca’s Sierra Sur where she is from. Using many of the village’s ingredients, she has adapted the recipes to two spaces in Oaxaca City. The first, Levadura de Olla, is a casual restaurant serving typical dishes served a la carte. She also has a separate space there in the front to sell tamales in the morning, as well as for ceramic pottery and authentic river stone metates (I bought one!). A few blocks away, Thalia serves a full tasting menu beside a comal, called Cocina de Humo. It’s more free flowing, with her cooking up whatever is seasonal and inspiring her and it is one of the most immersive dining experiences you will have anywhere in Mexico. Instagram.
aTope – Panama City, Panama
Inside a beautiful space lined with hand painted tiles and floor to ceiling windows on the ground floor of the Torre MMG in Costa del Este, this Spanish-leaning tavern is the latest project from Maito’s Mario Castrellón. As you would expect, you’ll find creative food utilizing the best ingredients alongside a lengthy natural wine list and original cocktails. Some highlights: the long list of traditional Spanish tapas; the black rice with chicharrón and shrimp; pulpo a la Gallega; and sancocho. Instagram.
Döbo – Boquete, Panama
It’s not so much what Döbo is as where it is at and what it represents. Mario Castrellón of Maito is one of Latin America’s smartest restaurateurs and Döbo, a lively bar and restaurant serving Panamanian comfort food and cocktails inside the Selina hostel, is clued in on a shift in Panama’s rapidly changing coffee region, the heartland of the varietal Geisha, the world’s most expensive. Döbo signals that Boquete is no longer just a destination for expats and retirees. Instagram.
Cantina del Tigre – Panama City, Panama
Panama restaurant veteran Fulvio Miranda is one of the best cooks I know. This rustic cantina, mostly set around a wood fired grill in covered gravel lot, is already great, but will get even better with a major expansion that will take place with a full bar across the street. For now, you’ll find creative dishes like ceviche de mamón chino, mondongo with shrimp, fried pargo with curry and red rice cooked in seafood broth, plus a short list of craft beer, cocktails and minimal intervention wines. cantinadeltigre.com.
Cusquenisima Picanteria – Cuzco, Peru
Chef and author José Luján Vargas, one of the strongest culinary voices in the region, has created this tribute to the traditional foods of the Cuzco region that pays tribute to local producers and ingredients through dishes like lengua atomado (beef tongue in tomato sauce) and cuy al horno (baked guinea pig). East of the center, this is not a tourist restaurant, but where in the know locals come for a picantería experience that is a step up from the basic. Instagram.
Lady Bee – Lima, Peru
Lima has had a lot of restaurants with great cocktails, but not a lot of cocktail bars with great food. The stylish Miraflores haunt is one where the bar and kitchen flow together rather than two separate entities. Sustainability is a theme throughout and they are keen to showcase origins for their recipes, whether it’s the cecina from the high jungle paired with yuca or the arapa trout roe served with a classic dry martini. ladybee.meitre.com.
Baan – Lima, Peru
At Baan, Francesca Ferreyros, who spent three years working in Thailand at restaurants like Gaggan, explores the flavor connections between that country and Peru. The tropical nature of Amazonian food and the jungles of southeast Asia have surprisingly many similarities in the way that acidity and spices are utilized. Here, cacao meets miso; spring rolls are filled with smoked corn; and scallop tiradito find a touch of curry in the leche de tigre. baan.pe.
Going to Panama for NYE - can’t wait to try some of your recs! PS: if you ever need a correspondent for CDMX let me know. Would be fun to collab
Have you been to Natural? I heard it recently relocated to Lima from San Martin. Amazing list!