One of the essential dishes in Barranquilla is Sancocho de Guandú (Guandú stew with salted meat). Guandú is a legume similar to beans, widely consumed in the Atlantic region. It is typically cooked with ñame, yuca, ripe plantain, and a flavorful seasoning with cumin and sweet chili. This famous soup is served with salted meat, coconut rice, fried plantains, and bollo. Several local elderly women keep the tradition alive by preparing it in the most authentic way, including Mrs. Josefina Cassinai, whose courtyard is a great place to enjoy this and other delicious dishes.

In the Atlántico region, lunch often consists of a soup or sancocho, and these dishes can vary significantly from one another. It’s common to serve them in totumas (rustic bowls made from dried totumo fruit), which are called totumazos.

Try the sopa de mondongo (tripe soup), or the delicious mote de queso (a soup made with yam and salty cheese, seasoned with onion and garlic—perfect for vegetarians!). Other popular stews include fish soups such as bocachico sancocho or sábalo sancocho with coconut milk, trifásico (salted meat and beef ribs), chicken sancocho (creole chicken stew), or salty pork and zaragoza beans sancocho. Each of these stews is cooked with vitualla (a mix of yam, yuca, green and ripe plantains), and finished with a garnish of cilantro, onion, chili, or a flavorful guiso. You can find these delicious stews at Totumazo Original or Totumazo y Verbena in Barranquilla.

One of the most popular dishes in Barranquilla, both among locals and tourists, is arroz de lisa. The lisa is a small river fish, and its meat is used to flavor rice cooked with cumin and vegetables, including sweet peppers. It’s typically served with bollo limpio and patacones. Narcobollo serves it with the best ingredients, making it exceptionally flavorful.

Another treat is Pastel de Arroz, which consists of rice seasoned with achiote and cumin, along with pork, chicken, and a vegetable stew, all wrapped in a bijao leaf. It is traditionally cooked over firewood, which gives it an exceptional flavor. When you visit artisan Gloria Martínez in San Juan de Tocagua (Luruaco), be sure to order this dish.

Puerto Colombia offers a variety of fish dishes, with some of the best options found at the Centro Gastronómico Internacional, El Viejo Muelle restaurant, and the Mercado Sazón Atlántico, where visitors can enjoy a range of specialties and food festivals. The most common dish here is fried fish, with options like mojarra, sierra, lebranche, and pargo rojo, served with boiled yuca and patacones. Another classic is salpicón de pescado, made with dried fish, a tasty stir-fry made with onion, tomato, sweet pepper, and achiote, and served with bollo and patacones, or with rice and black-eyed peas.

Fried snacks like carimañolas (yuca fritters filled with ground meat or cheese), sweet or anise arepas (sweet corn arepas flavored with cheese, sugar and anise), kibbes (a Lebanese dish made with bulgur and ground meat), arepa de huevo (a fried corn arepa filled with a whole egg, traditionally from the town of Luruaco), and dedito de Olaya (cheese fingers) are a must-try. Dulcerna offers a wonderful selection of vacuum-sealed chicharrones (crispy pork), cheese fingers, and picada curramba, a mixed platter with kibbes, cheese fingers, and empanadas.

Butifarras are also a local favorite, especially those from Soledad. These small sausages are famous throughout the Caribbean coast for the blend of spices used to season the meat. They are usually served on their own or with bollo limpio, which you can find at Narcobollo. Speaking of bollos, these are another essential dish in the region. They are sweet and savory cornmeal wraps made with ingredients like yuca, plantains, and millo, and some are flavored with coconut and anise (like the bollo angelito). They are wrapped in corn husks or plantain leaves.

The Arabic influence is evident in the Arab dish, which combines several preparations, allowing you to explore different flavors, such as almond rice with onion, roasted eggplant babaganoush, hummus made with chickpeas and tahini, vine leaves stuffed with meat and rice, and tabbouleh. You can find this at various Lebanese-influenced restaurants in Barranquilla, including Árabe Gourmet, M Restaurante Árabe, and Árabe Internacional.

The winning drinks are the fresh fruit juices. Try corozo, zapote, or níspero juice with milk, or patillazo (crushed watermelon juice), guarapo (sugarcane juice with lime), agua o chicha de maíz (corn-based drink), and corn and pineapple peel chicha. These are some of the most popular beverages in the region, perfect for refreshing yourself on hot days. You can find them at the restaurants we mentioned earlier.

For a unique treat, try chocolate balls, made by toasting cariaco corn and grinding it with cacao almonds and spicy pepper. They can be dissolved in either cow’s milk or coconut milk, making for a delightful hot drink.

Among the traditional sweets, you’ll find mango, guandú, and zaragoza beans sweets, often eaten with casabe (crispy cassava bread). Alegrías de millo (balls made from puffed millet, sugarcane syrup, and coconut) are commonly found throughout Barranquilla and in towns along the route. Carisecas, sweet arepas made from ground corn, are grilled over plantain leaves and complemented with coconut milk, salty cheese, sugar, butter, and aniseed.

Finally, don’t miss visiting Heladería Americana and enjoying a traditional frozo malt, a type of milkshake that has delighted Barranquilleros and visitors for over 80 years.

In Barranquilla, other notable restaurants are revitalizing traditional cuisines by using native Caribbean ingredients combined with modern techniques. These include:

• Restaurante Palo de Mango
• Manuel Restaurante
• La Troja Restaurante Bar
• La Cueva, which also celebrates the life of writer Gabriel García Márquez and the Barranquilla Group.