La Fogata

La Fogata is part restaurant, part portal to Colombia. You might step in from a street in Elephant and Castle, but suddenly you’re salsa dancing in Santiago de Cali and visiting the Rosario Islands’ otherworldly beaches. Yes, those are just the tourist board-style images plastered over one side of the narrow, small restaurant. But it’s convincingly immersive when paired with shouts of Spanish coming from the kitchen, the sound of regulars chatting away over big plates of bandeja paisa, and the hiss of plantain being fried. Clearly this spot is popular with those nostalgic for a taste of home, and anyone with a love of big portions of meat—smoky Colombian sausage, grilled beef, salty pork belly. They’re served with slabs of cornbread, jammy plantain, and disks of arepa that demand to be dragged through oozing egg yolks. The Colombian food is hearty stuff, but the biggest appeal is undoubtedly the laid-back, family feel, and transportive atmosphere.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch