"A gastronomic journey through the ethnobotany of the cultures that populate the various Colombian biomes" is the experience both Leonora Espinosa and Laura Hernández aim to offer diners, mother and daughter united for gastronomic research and solidarity in their land.
The Restaurant
It's not every day you come across a mother and daughter so close, in life and work. It's beautiful to see the intent in the eyes of Leonor Espinosa and Laura Hernández, the two women to whom much of today's restored and spread gastronomic culture in Colombia is owed. And you couldn't wish for a warmer welcome than theirs as soon as you arrive in Bogotá, on that journey just begun in Colombian soil that would then take me for days on end to discover its different facets through the changing souls enclosed in its so diverse territories.
Bogotá is located at an altitude of 2640 meters, mornings and evenings are decidedly cool despite the strong sun, reach the Chapinero neighborhood where Leo reopened her restaurant in a brand new space in June 2021, take off your extra jackets and make yourself comfortable, there's so much to learn and taste.
On the ground floor, immediately after entering, La Sala de Leo offers a tour of biocultural richness through a narrative and research menu, on the upper floor instead we find La Sala de Laura, where the young sommelier bases her drink proposal on fermented, macerated, and distilled beverages made from local botanical ingredients and in-house production, alongside a more flexible menu.
In both rooms, various menus are proposed by chef Leonor Espinosa that denote a work of research, observation, and experimentation revealing a profound Colombia. The difference lies in the atmosphere: downstairs you sit among large round tables facing the kitchen in a single spacious area, on the second floor stands out the bar where the liquid culture takes center stage in the form of cutting-edge cocktails named "Territorio".
But who are these two Colombian heroines?
Leonor Espinosa is a self-taught chef and artist (she studied Plastic Arts at the School of Fine Arts in Cartagena de Indias), becoming one of Colombia's most important personalities through her hard and consistent work, not only celebrating and promoting Colombian local products and flavors but also highlighting the value of the country's biodiversity and the social aspects of gastronomy.
In 2005 she opened the restaurant bearing her name where she blends tradition and modernity. Named the world's best female chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2022, and Latin America's best chef in 2017, today her restaurant ranks 43rd in the same list. But these are just a few of the numerous awards received, surely what she cares most about is her Funleo Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to social welfare in rural ethnic communities that led her to win the Basque Culinary World Prize in 2017.
Her daughter Laura has the same enthusiasm and above all the same deep and noble look. From 2009 to 2020 she directed the foundation and today she is its president, she is a professional sommelier with a master's degree in development studies and another in business administration to distinguish her, the search for answers and actions aimed at developing a food culture that enhances the potential of the natural and cultural heritage of her beloved Colombia. Well, with the proper introductions made, opt to experience both experiences on the same day to fully immerse yourself in the "Espinosa thought".
The Cuisine
During lunch at LEO you will realize how the proposal aims to reclaim local ingredients and traditions of Colombia, and how each dish becomes part of a broader gastronomic narrative based on sustainability, offering an experience focused on the various ecosystems of the country and exploring how new species can be used for gastronomic purposes.
In about two hours, the sensory experience will unfold in 8 or 12 courses along Colombia, ideal for those who appreciate fine dining made of research and experimentation, all with a cohesive and highly competent team. The thoughtful chef's love for anthropology, contemporary art, and culture is evident both in her cuisine and in the room where you will find the huge painting by Nohemí Pérez (an important artist rooted in the territory who intends to defend it with her works) in which you will find yourselves.
A QR code will be provided to delve into the huge story behind each of the dishes. "Lemon ant, chuchuwaza. Caiman, fishing palm fruit, casabe. Macambo, large-headed ant. Suckermouth catfish and yapurá", for example: an immersion in the sanctuary of biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest, through a frozen mousse of ants with the characteristic lemon flavor infused in fermented chuchuwaza liqueur (a tree with medicinal properties used for healing and aphrodisiac purposes).
Alongside it, the creamy meat of the caiman tail from the farms of the Middle Magdalena region, always consumed by indigenous populations, with crispy yucca and the pulp of chontaduro, a fleshy and yellow fruit of the palm. Together but in different bites, a variety of Amazonian autochthonous cocoa, the macambo, the large-headed roasted ant which is part of the culinary traditions of the indigenous populations of the Amazon with its cocoa-like flavor because it feeds on it. And finally, a clarified preparation made with the meat of a fish with a prehistoric appearance from the catfish family, called "cucha", seasoned with the seeds of the yapura tree left to ferment on the riverbank for two weeks, cooked and crushed until obtaining a paste. And this is only one of the appetizers.
Then there's the "Arawana, sour cassava, cacay, katara, huito". The arawana is a type of freshwater fish native to South America. This preparation, inspired by the lush rainforest, consists of fish fillets marinated in katara (a spicy seasoning similar to soy sauce, derived from the transformation of yucca extract) on cocoa vegetable milk. "Covered with a granita based on fermented yucca starch with huito, a native species whose fruit is edible and from which an ink for tattoos on the body is obtained in magical-religious ceremonies", explains the chef.
And still, the "Stingray, trupillo, capulín de monte", a dish inspired by the Caribbean biome, including three of its ecosystems: the sea, the forest, and the desert. It features a pasta reminiscent of rice, obtained from the cartilage juices of the stingray from the warm waters of Tayrona, and from capulín de monte, a typical fruit with a hint of black pepper. "Served with chive ash and a creamy sauce based on trupillo leaves, a tree traditionally used by indigenous populations of the Guajira Desert for medicinal purposes", explains chef Leo. The harmony of acidity and salinity is accentuated by an algae known as "insalatella" (batis maritima), also called beach purslane.
And finally, a dessert composed of a peach palm heart flan with flakes of dehydrated mojojoy transformed into a paste with an intense flavor of truffle chocolate (the larva of the coleopterous beetle that grows in some palms like this one). In this case, they are fake and in the form of marshmallows, reproducing the same flavor.
The experience in this restaurant is not only of anthropological and ethical value but also has the ability to entertain, quite a lot, even newcomers to modern cuisine, as well as enchant and intrigue those who know what lies behind such technical research. If you manage to do it, you can move upstairs and let yourself be guided in the beverage proposal created by sommelier Laura Hernández Espinosa where, again, ingredients from different Colombian ecosystems are distilled in five variants (you will see the small stills) and then used in the innovative proposal of cutting-edge cocktails.
Here too, the research is extensive and Laura dedicates herself with admiration to the other spirits made by artisans from indigenous communities such as Contra, a medicinal drink of the Zenúes, and the typical yet unknown Viche from the Afro-Pacific region. You will have to try the fermented drinks based on mead, coca leaves, jagua, borojó, naidí, corozo, guava, and gulupa. All these are inspirations for a unique and creative mixology, linked to the Colombian territory. And of course, there are also the dishes, different from the restaurant, but always inspired by the flavors of multicultural Colombia where, however, the bar is the epicenter, along with music and decor that mark a different style, the style of the young Laura.
Finally, let them tell you all about Funleo, the foundation that for more than a decade has worked closely with international cooperation agencies, government organizations, and NGOs to enhance the gastronomic traditions and biological and intangible heritage of Colombia. Promotion of a food culture that enhances the potential of traditional cuisine, biodiversity, and national identities. It's hard not to fall in love with this place and its women Leo and Laura, queen and princess of Colombia.
Contacts
Restaurante Leo
Address: Cl. 65 Bis #4-23, Bogotá, Colombia
Phone: +57 317 6616866
