Every great city has great hidden fast food places! Bogotá is not an exception. This article will introduce you to all the delicious fast food Bogotá has to offer and will make you want to try them all!
Food is not only about good restaurants and traditional dishes; it’s also about how it makes us feel. We live for all those greasy, cheesy, full-of-sauce dishes, and in Bogotá, we know how to make fast food, believe me! Let me take you through some of my favorites:
Mazorca desgranada o mazorcada
You know that us latinos love corn, and yes, one of the most traditional fast foods in Bogotá is, of course, made with corn. This plate is originally from the Colombian coast, but we love it here in Bogotá too.
This amazing dish is made with shredded corn with little potato chips, costeño cheese (a salty piece of heaven), some protein, which can be meat, chicken, pork, or a combination of all of them, sauces, especially tartar, and sometimes lettuce, so you can say it’s healthy! (Not really.) It’s not a dish you can call healthy, but it’s the perfect definition of fast food, and it’s the dish you want to eat on a Sunday afternoon before starting your diet on Monday, at dawn after a good party and a few good drinks, or any time you have a craving for this perfect combination. You can see how this amazing dish looks like in the main picture of this article, good right?
You can eat this dish at many places in Bogotá, and in almost all of them, you can also order it at home. I recommend Harvey, Bimbi, J&R, and Donde Pele. The best part? It is cheap: you can taste this dish for between $15,000 and $20,000 Colombian pesos ($4.70 – $6.30 USD).
Salchipapa
Here we have our own version of fish and chips, but without the fish and with hot dog! It is called salchipapa, which literally means sausage and potatoes, and the dish is, clearly, pieces of fried hot dog with french fries served with a lot of sauces. This dish is a heavenly, crunchy meal perfect for an afternoon with friends, a lazy sunday evening, or even served at parties and birthdays.
Like the mazorcada, this dish has many variations. You can eat it in its simplest form, that is, sausage and potatoes, which is perfect, but you can also find it with different sauces like ketchup, rosada (ketchup and mayonnaise) , mustard, or tartar. In some places, they also serve it with different proteins such as pork, beef, chicken, or sausage, and sometimes it is served not with french fries, but with other potato varieties like “papa criolla”.
You can try this delicacy for a very low price, from $5,000 to $15,000 Colombian pesos ($1.60 to $4.70 USD), depending on the different varieties and where you go. I recommend you try the ones from La Marimonda Del Mono, a place in Chapinero that is to die for.
Hotdogs and burgers
I know hotdogs and burgers are the default fast food dishes, and it can be difficult to top your favorite ones from your city, but in Bogotá, we also take these two to another level. We sometimes put the unimaginable on them and it works! For example, our hot dogs can come with potato chips, cheese, lettuce or cabbage, tomato, onion, pickles, a lot of sauces, and even fruit! Pineapple to be specific. Hot dogs are our go-to food after party, so we need this kind of power in them. You will find hot dog carts on the corners of the typical party locations. Or you can try the hot dogs in MR Bross or Perros JR; they are normally open till pretty late.
We also know how to make special burgers with different cheeses, plantain, jam, avocado, chips, and a lot of ingredients that will blow
Other hamburger places you can visit are Home, Gordo, Sierra Nevada, and Chefs burger. You can find these burgers for between $15,000 and $30,000 Colombian pesos ($4.70 – $9.50 USD).
This food is waiting for you
The ones I told you about are my favorites, but there are other options you don’t want to miss either, like our particular way of eating pizza. You can find places that will sell you pizza by the slice with different toppings, like plums with bacon, chicken, and mushrooms, or Hawaiian pizza (pineapple and ham). You could also try our filled arepas with all kinds of fillings, such as “carne desmechada,” cheeses, avocado, eggs, sauces, etc.
So remember, when you come to Bogotá, you should save a meal between all the typical foods that you have to try, and treat yourself to something different from our fast food! You can go to the places I told you, or you can visit one of the many food truck places around the city, so you can try them all at once! You can find food trucks in Zona Rosa near Atlantis, or on Calle 73 at Carrera 9.
What are you waiting for? Doesn’t it sound amazing? I bet you are already hungry! Come try our not healthy, but full-of-flavor, melt-in-your-mouth, amazing fast food; you will not regret it!
How is fast food in your country? Is it similar? What would you like to try? Tell us your impressions! And check out more on our website to see everything you need to know for your trip to this great city. Be ready to leave with a few extra
