Prudencia — BITE

Isaac Dienstag

If you ever find yourself 8,000 ft above sea level in Bogotá, Colombia, I recommend you don’t leave before you get lunch at Prudencia. Despite its status as one of the city’s best restaurants, it chooses to forgo dinner service and only serve lunch. Prudencia is housed in a former pre-school, and pays homage to its environment by maintaining a playful and bright atmosphere. Lined with vibrant murals and tucked beneath a large glass ceiling, the main dining room is bathed in natural light, giving it an airy warmth and easygoing charm it likely wouldn’t maintain during dinner. This environment extends to the waitstaff as well, who were cheerful and relaxed throughout the meal, and didn't take themselves too seriously. Before you eat, you’re informed that with each course comes a few choices of beverage. For most courses, you can choose between two alcoholic options or one non-alcoholic option. The cost remains the same regardless of your choice, offering flexibility for those who might not want four drinks at 1:30 PM. As a college student, however, it goes against my code of conduct to decline a free drink —or four —-when offered.

The first thing you read when you pick up the menu- “¡Menu Made by Human Souls Channelling God!” I appreciate that they’re confident, if not a little braggadocious. A statement like that sets the bar high—there’s no room for mediocrity after such a claim. It’s the kind of declaration that makes you think, “This is either going to be incredible or a total letdown.”

Our first bite was wood-roasted asparagus with shiitake conserva and a vegan tomato aioli. There was so much flavor packed into this tiny little bite of asparagus, it was almost criminal, especially considering how hungry we were. The tomato puree was packed full of sweetness and umami which contrasted nicely against the woody flavor of the asparagus. Consider it a trailer for things to come.

Next came (no exaggeration) the most beautiful bread and butter I’ve ever seen. This bread is meant to accompany your entire meal, but I wouldn’t blame you if you ate the entire loaf before the next course arrived. This stuff was fire. Freshly cooked, charred and soft at the same time. I would buy a ticket back to Colombia just for this bread.

Before I enjoyed the next dish, we were instructed to move through their garden to be served in an open air courtyard. The first “outdoor” dish I tasted was the cavatelli, served on a carrot sauce with a celery and fennel emulsion and parmesan cheese shavings. The plating here was extraordinary. Beautifully messy, the vegetal flavors shone in this dish, as you’d expect. Still, while it wasn't necessarily a miss, this dish didn’t quite pack the same punch as some of the others— especially when compared to the next dish. The staff brought out chicken and okra served over a parsnip, ginger, and saffron purée. The chicken is first smoked with chocolate and then gently grilled over an outdoor fire, resulting in a beautifully tender piece that absorbs a subtle cocoa flavor, complemented by a textbook Maillard crisp. The okra was also charred, infused with vinegar and pepper, and paired with the sauce just as well as the chicken. The purée felt earthy, with a nice tang coming from the aromatics. The dish captured a rustic, grounded, and gritty depth with its flavors that I really appreciated and enjoyed.

For the main course, we returned to the dining room. From the available options, my family and I selected one lamb ragù and three cooked meats. The three meats all had similar preparation, each was smokey, tender, some had an exterior crunch, others focused more on that braising meltyness. While each was great, the porchetta was my favorite of the three. The lamb ragu was my favorite overall though: hearty, packed with flavor, and perfect for a chilly day at high elevation.

To round out the main meal, I enjoyed a couple post-main snacks. First, a palate-cleansing salad featuring beetroot, harissa, passionfruit, and goat cheese—a light, refreshing interlude after the mains. Next came a wood-roasted pear with blue cheese. The pear was great, but truthfully I struggle to enjoy super blue cheeses. Which finally brings us to the dessert. I was so full at this point that I couldn’t imagine anything would be that appealing to me until the staff brought out a sweet potato cheesecake with bourbon caramel drizzle. All the flavors worked together with the creamy, familiar comfort of cheesecake. Despite being stuffed, I couldn’t stop eating—it was just that good.

Prudencia takes you on a journey of flavor, technique, and warmth. Some restaurants work hard to make their food taste good, and it shows. Others have an effortless swagger, a kind of innate confidence in what they do—and Prudencia is firmly in the latter category. Every dish feels intentional, carefully crafted without ever seeming overworked or fussy. It’s the kind of place that makes you want to come back every few months just to see what they’re cooking up. Who knows if I’ll ever get the chance to return, but if you’re ever in Bogotá you’d be foolish to miss this place.