Last night Greg and I were very excited about dinner. He’s traveling with me in Colombia, where I am on business. We’ve made a side trip to Cartagena, and he took the time to research the best restaurants and pick  out one that he was confident we would love—Carmen’s, in the gorgeous Hotel Ananda. Click on any photo to see it larger and view the full description, or to view a slideshow.

Inside the Hotel Ananda

Inside the Hotel Ananda

Inside the Hotel Ananda

Inside the Hotel Ananda

Inside Carmen’s restaurant

Inside Carmen’s restaurant

The meal so did not disappoint! We paid for a 7-course tasting menu with wine (about US$80 per person now with the low valuation of the Colombian peso), and received TEN courses and SEVEN wines.

1. Free welcome course: Shrimp in eggshell with squid ink and lobster reduction, micro-greens.

2. Free course 2: Mushroom stuffed with house-smoked salmon, spiced tortilla with pork.

3. Course 1: Corbina a la plancha with black olives and beet-root sauce and derramán seeds from Japan. Served with Chilean daub blanc.

4. Course 2: Crab Duo: pan-seared crab cake with panko-breaded crispy crab claws, served over three sauces: coconut vadouvan, plantain and wasabi mayo, and Peruvian sweet potato and mandarin orange purée. To-die-for mandarin sauce over the top. Served with a Chilean Rosé.

5. Course 3: Pato: Duck breast confit and house-made magret chorizo croquets, over a pureé of Andean potato and native Colombian blackberry sauce, duck and black truffle jus. Served with a Chilean Chardonnay.

6. Course 4: Red Snapper: Pan seared Caribbean snapper crusted with fermented pineapple and cachaça (Brazilian sugar cane spirit), served in a coconut yellow curry sauce with lychee chimichurri on top. Colombian coastal yams and black tempura bananas. Served with an Italian Verdicchio.

7. Course 5: Black Fish: Corbina sautéed in black olive oil, suero costeño, and served with ricotta- and mango-stuffed raviolis with sweet chile and ginger romesco, and two mango sauces: fresh and preserved, with jicama on top. Again with Chardonnay.

8. Course 6: Pork Two Ways: Chicharrón of pork belly cooked 12 hours and a 2-hour milk-braised pork tenderloin glazed in tamarind and palm sugar, served over sweet potato reduction and spiced pork gravy, with garlicky green beans and carrot straws. Served with a Chilean merlot. Large for the last item; would have been better smaller or sliced up.

a. Chocolate Turrón: Colombian chocolate, chocolate soil, coconut and lime sorbet, served with foam of Amazonian copoazú (Amazonian super fruit). b. Corozos and Cream: Chilled corozo (seed or nut of the oil palm) soup, ice milk, angelfood cake sealed with pulverized sugar, lychee purée and spearmint.

c. Tropical: Brazil nut crumble, açai and lychee caviar, mandarin orange and lemon grass sorbet, and arazá (Amazonian guava) foam. Served with a Roman Muscat.

10. Free dessert: Hand-rolled chocolate bonbon with macadamia nut and a slice of rum-caramelized pineapple.

The restaurant is based in Medellín and owned by Diego Angel, a former video game entrepreneur. Executive Chefs and proprietors Carmen Angel and Rob Pevitts are graduates of the Cordon Bleu San Francisco. The chef here in Cartagena, Jaime Galindo, is an incredible talent! He does not have a culinary arts degree but, rather, has learned on-the-job and through sheer raw talent or the don de cocinar. Having worked with chefs with degrees from the top cooking schools in the world, Greg was very impressed by the passion and talent that Jaime demonstrated.

Chef Jaime Galindo – Job well done!

His brother Yonatan is the sous-chef. Not one course was less than spectacular, and we only felt one wine pairing was less than ideal: the rosé with the crab. The wine was just so acidic and overwhelmed the flavor of the food.

Kudos, Jaime and staff!!! The kitchen is small, and open to the diners. Everyone working there was nose down and focused on making every plate perfect. The restaurant serves not only the tasting menu that we had but a full a la carte menu and creative cocktails as well. In addition, front-of-the-house service was impeccable thanks to our terrific waiter, Juan Carlos, who took special care to ensure his Spanish-language explanations of the food and wine made sense to Greg and me.