9 Best Restaurants + Best Street Food in Medellin, Colombia [2024]

This post shares some of the best restaurants in Medellin – read on for details!

Visiting the vibrant country of Colombia means immersing yourself in the unique and delicious cuisine of the country. There is a huge variety of traditional Colombian foods to try, new dishes and preparation techniques, and even new produce you’ve possibly never seen before.

Medellin is no exception to this, with many restaurants serving delicious, interesting, and traditional foods, as well as a variety of international restaurants.

We ate extremely well in Medellin and I want to share some of our favorite spots with you!

Best Restaurants in Medellin that We Visited

The following are the restaurants we enjoyed eating at in Medellin, across several different neighborhoods in the city!

Cochon Grill

This little barbecue restaurant is tucked away on a somewhat quieter, pretty street in the El Poblado neighborhood of Medellin. They’re known for their delicious meats and ribs! We went with the nachos when we were there, which were also fantastic.

This is one of the best restaurants in Medellin for really good barbecued meats!

Address: Calle 10A #37-25, Medellín, El Poblado

El Rancherito

El Rancherito is a local restaurant with a warm, homey, and inviting atmosphere. It serves a variety of very traditional Colombian foods at reasonable prices. I got the mondongo soup here and Matthew got the bandeja paisa here, and both were very good! The menu was full of other Colombian specialties.

Address: Calle 18, Avenue Las Palmas, #N35-50

Casa Quintana Restaurante (Laureles)

This restaurant actually serves mostly Italian cusine, though they do serve traditional Colombian fare on Sundays. We really enjoyed the comfy atmosphere here, with the couches to sit at on the nice patio. The food we got was delicious!

Address: Transversal 39B, Cq. 1 #14, Medellín

Tepvy (Sabores de Venezuela)

This Venezuelan restaurant was a fun, slightly different cuisine style than the other Colombian food we had tried. Like Colombia, Venezuela seems to love their arepas, although these arepas were fried and stuffed with different fillings. I really loved our food at this this restaurant!

Address: Carrera 73 C3-5, Medellín

Plaza Minorista

The Plaza Minorista is a large produce market in a covered warehouse outside of La Candelaria. It sold a mix of wholesale and direct to consumers, and was full of hustle and bustle as people wove their way through the stalls, searching out the best produce.

Okay, okay this is definitely not a restaurant, but it is a whole experience and a great way to try a variety of unique, local, and tropical fruit, such as mangosteen, lychee, sapote, guanabana, and naranjilla, and more!

We saw some really interesting things here! Of course, there was a huge variety of tropical fruit that you just don’t see in the US, but there were also beautiful displays full of vegetables, or interesting products being sold, like banana leaves.

Address: Calle 55 #57-80, Medellín

Presto (La Candelaria)

This is a Colombian fastfood burger chain. While hamburgers definitely are not a “traditional” Colombian food by any means, we really like trying burgers in countries around the world, as each country does them a little bit differently!

For example, in Colombia, we noticed that ketchup was not a common condiment, they do more mayo sauce with mix-ins – like lime. There were also several ingredients or layer options that were definitely different than what is offered in the US (e.g. you could get a plantain or pineapple layer).

Plus, the food was all excellent and a good price.

Address: Carrera 47 #52-86

Three Restaurants in Medellin Recommended to Us by Locals:

These were restaurants in Medellin highly recommended to us by locals, but that we ran out of time to try. I’m including them here, though, because everyone loves a local recommendation!

Elcielo

Elcielo is an upscale, fine dining restaurant that specializes in a 21 course tasting menu. It’s designed to be an experience in its own right (albeit with a hefty price tag attached!)

Reservations are necessary and you should make them at least a week in advance, as spots do fill up.

Address: Calle 7D #43c36, Medellín, El Poblado

Carmen

Another fine dining, gastronomic experience in Medellin is Carmen, a restaurant that blends traditional Colombian cuisine and modern techniques. Plan to make reservations in advance for Carmen as well.

Carmen also offers a 7 course tasting menu, as well as a variety of other dishes off the menu. Plan to make reservations in advance.

Address: Carrera 36 # 10A-27 El Poblado

Sancho Paisa Las Palmas

This local favorite restaurant in El Poblado is known for their traditional and delicious traditional Colombian fare, and has a large variety of dishes to try.

Address: Kilometro 16 Via Las Palmas

Best Street Food to Eat in Medellin

Medellin has an amazing street food/street snack scene. There is literally a stand on every corner, and often several along the block as well. Truly, I have never visited a city with so many carts selling fresh fruit, snacks, and hot cooked food just about everywhere we looked.

While there are so many great options, in our opinion, these are some of the best street foods to try in Medellin:

Fresh Fruit

Fresh cut fruit is widely available throughout the city – you can buy a cup for about 2000 COP (50 cents USD). The most common fruits you’ll encounter are pineapple, mamoncilla (Spanish limes), plums, mango, and mango biche (sour mango).

Freshly Fried Lime Chips

Colombians love lime-flavored snacks! These carts selling freshly fried chips with lime were a favorite.

Churro Con Arequipe

One of my favorite desserts in Colombia! This churro con arequpe is essentially a donut filled with dulce de leche. It is soft but not overly sweet. You can find these usually at little bakeries that are open to the street.

Empanadas and Pastels

Colombia has a strong empanada and pastel game, and I am here for it! I generally prefer pastels, as they tend to have thinner, crispier crusts. You can find these on street carts or walk up bakeries all over the city.

Conveniently for us, there was a little takeaway shop right across the street from our hotel that sold some really fantastic pastels.

👉For a longer and more comprehensive list of must eat Colombian cuisine, check out my other post: 34 Traditional Colombian Foods To Try in Colombia

Best Restaurants and Street Food in Medellin: Final Thoughts

I would for sure prioritize eating at at least one really traditional Colombian restaurant in Medellin. After that, my favorite restaurant was probably Tepvy, the Venezuelan restaurant! And of course, I love eating my way through the street food of a city, and I highly recommend you do the same as well!

Happy eating!

9 Best Restaurants + Best Street Food in Medellin, Colombia [2024]