El Chato

El Chato is a contemporary Colombian bistro in the Chapinero Alto district of Bogotá. Chef Álvaro Clavijo founded it and leads the kitchen.

Clavijo was born and raised in Colombia, but he found his calling in Paris, where he started out washing dishes. He went on to cook at Per Se, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon and Noma, then came home and put his own savings into El Chato, which opened in 2017. That path shows in the way the kitchen pairs foreign technique with Colombian produce.

From the start, Clavijo has bought from small producers, and the menu changes with what they harvest. Heart of palm is served with rambutan, coconut and seaweed. Beef tartare comes with tendon, yacon, a native root, and a garum made from mushrooms, while sea snail is paired with a chicharron of golden berry and more seaweed. Each plate sets a tropical fruit or a native root beside a technique learned abroad, so the familiar and the foreign meet in a single bite. A root such as yacon gets the same attention as the beef beside it.

The bar works in the same spirit: the Sour Uchuvas mixes gin, egg white and orange peel with physalis, the small golden fruit known in Colombia as uchuva. Latin America's 50 Best named El Chato the best restaurant in Latin America and in Colombia in 2025, and it has also appeared on the World's 50 Best list. The relaxed format of a bistro keeps the meal informal, while the menu reads as a survey of the country's farms and coasts.