Andre Carne de Res

Let me say, this place has been built up by Chepe from day one of my trip planning. He raves about this Restaurant/Night Club on the outskirts of Bogota in the town of Chia.

This is credited to be the #1 nightlife spot in the entire city of Bogota. Here's why: the venue can hold about 4,000 people with Bogotanos showing up as early as six or seven to begin eating and drinking up until 3am in the morning. Andres de Res is an event and the owner has thought of everything. Huge, well organized parking lot, check. Hammocks for drunk people, check. Doctors for drunk people, check. Soup station for drunk people, check. The entire place is glowing with red and green lights, inside and out. As you walk in you are presented with fresh strawberries and a shot of tequila. The tequila shot is ingenious. They carve out most the lime pulp leaving just enough and rim one side with salt. You take the tequila shot straight from the little lime bowl. Perfect.

Next we make our way to a large wooden table with benches. It's only eight but the restaurant is brimming with people some already finished eating and some already inebriated. First things first, must order what Chepe's girlfriend calls a "fish bowl" size cocktail. I order a mojito and am very pleased with my fish bowl. Chepe, his girlfriend Natallia, Chepe's brother Sebastion and his girlfriend Catalina all insist on ordering traditional menu items so I can try everything. All of them are so friendly and go out of their way to point out interesting menu items and various other cultural tidbits for my education. That night I tried Arrepa de queso (grilled corn bread with melted cheese) and grilled plaintain with cheese. My main course was a sizzling plate of beef loin (grilled in a cloth) accompanied by chimichurri and various salsas.

After dinner we took turns on the dance floor moving to a variety of latin music (salsa, reggeton and many more). The Colombians are all familiar with these latin style dances and my friends were enthousiastic about teaching me the fundamentals of each type of dance. The rumba continued on into the early hours of the morning and we all made it home without a nap in the hammocks or care from the drunk doctor.