La Paz Bites

"It’s the best restaurant in the world," each one of the three Bolivias inviting me to a dinner at La Tranquera said. Later, while looking intently at the dishes, I discovered neither of them ever left La Paz and their initial statement got a better perspective.

Location
La Tranquera belongs to the Camino Real Apart Hotel and is located near downtown, a few blocks south of the UMSA University’s landmark building.

The Interior
Decorated in a modern style, the restaurant provides a comfortable and attractive space; the soft light and unobtrusive furniture are an unusual sight in South America.

The Name
The name is a Bolivian slang for a huge meal; accordingly, the dishes were big. However, the name is not appropriate for such a fancy establishment.

The Diners
Due to its pricing approach, the restaurant caters mainly for rich Bolivians and foreigners; thus the place was unusually quiet for La Paz. Unfortunately, smoking was allowed everywhere and left me with smelly clothes.

Prices
Main dishes oscillated between five and ten dollars, and included a salads and desserts bar; dishes without the bar cost around three dollars. In local terms this is one of the most expensive restaurants in Bolivia.

Drinks
As commented in another entry, while eating with Bolivians I insist on fruit juices for everybody. Here the choices were limited to the commonest fruits; all the striking tropical fruits available in Bolivia were missing. The pineapple juice was served with ice and with no added sugar – a miracle.

Salad Bar
The bar offered a decent choice of vegetables and a few simple salads. Real olive oil and Modena’s vinegar were the best surprise in the whole evening.

Pejerrey a la Basca
Kingfish in Basque style was my choice; the Mediterranean list of ingredients was irresistible for me. The fish was fresh and of excellent quality; however, Bolivians are conservative folks that consider fierce chilies as the only acceptable spice. The result was that the promised olive oil was replaced by tasteless vegetable one and the garlic was cooked until it lost every single molecule of taste. The attractively presented dish turned out to be a disappointment.

Pollo al Ciruelo
I was intrigued by the plum chicken, since Bolivians tend to overuse sugar. The dish had a superb look, but it contained enough sugar to preserve a whole decade of Bolivian plums’ harvest. "This is California-style," my host added mysteriously.

Hamburger
One of the hosts inexplicably visited an upmarket establishment and ordered a greasy hamburger; I refused to taste it.

Trout
The trout was introduced to the Titicaca Lake a few years ago and became an instantaneous hit. The unknown orange meat may have contributed since it resembles the colors used for the traditional awayo cloth. Prepared without oil and served in a neat hot plate the dish was excellent.

Desserts
These were placed at an extension of the salad bar. The choice was very limited; the cakes and pastries were too sweet.

Open from the early morning, Dumbo is a good place for a nourishing breakfast in La Paz; judging by the servings’ sizes, Jumbo would be a better name.

Location

Reaching Dumbo at the 16 de Julio Avenue is easy. Despite officially changing names several times, El Prado is the common name for the wide avenue dividing La Paz; it can be reached just by walking from anywhere downward to the now covered Choqueyapu River. Dumbo is one block upwards the central "Plaza del Estudiante," and is part of a small chain of restaurants with branches in Bolivia’s main cities.

Setup

Fitting the name, Dumbo’s colorful entrance resembles an oversized kindergarten. Inside, the huge internal space is divided into two floors; the upper one has an attractive solarium that allows in a lot of wonderful light, creating thus a replica of a typical Bolivian Carnival.

Menu

The too colorful menu includes a huge section of main dishes for lunch and dinner; for around five dollars each, they transform Dumbo into one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

The main dishes include typical Bolivian meals and variations of international hits, anything from nachos covered with unfitting Mennonite cheese to surubi fish from the Amazonian Basin.

Over time I tried most of the menu; however, the breakfast is by far the most distinctive meal offered, thus I chose it for this entry.

The Morning Coffee

Already familiar with certain local customs, I asked the waitress during my first breakfast there, which kind of coffee they serve.

"Destilado" was her answer, which referred to a coffee prepared out of a tired concentrate. Tea seemed to be too unsubstantial for breakfast. Seeing my reluctance to both, the waitress offered hot chocolate. Being Bolivia a chocolate producer, the idea was tempting.

Never stopping my learning, that day I realized I should have asked an additional question: "What kind of milk do you use for the chocolate?"

"Extra-fat" was the answer I discovered after giving a quick look at the semi-solid emulsion served in a large pot.

A decent cappuccino added almost a dollar to the bill, but transformed the breakfast into a pleasant experience.

The Breakfast

Dumbo’s menu includes three main set breakfasts, from the Continental one for less than two dollars, up to the Criollo one which costs almost three and includes a small steak and two eggs. The last caused me an epiphany; the local tendency to overweight was explained at once.

I settled for the third one, the American Breakfast, which was offered for two dollars and a quarter. It included lime, orange or grapefruit juice, ham or bacon with two eggs, a large basket of toasts and small buns, butter and jam, tea or coffee with optional milk and a small fruits salad.

The limejuice was superb, the breadbasket was more than enough to fuel a short marathon afterwards and all the other ingredients were fresh, tasty and well prepared.

At just above six dollars per person – not including drinks - The buffet lunch at the five stars Plaza Hotel is the most expensive set meal in La Paz.

Location

The Plaza Hotel is on the town’s main avenue – popularly known as El Prado. The Uma Restaurant is at the reception’s backside, offering just a street’s dull look through an opaque glass, instead of the gorgeous mountains’ views available from the hotel’s top floors.

Name

In the Aymara language, Uma means "water."

Setup

A central oval table holds most of the food, allowing a quick survey of the offered dishes. Many five stars hotels opt for a sterile approach and create artificial environments detached from their culture and city. However, the Plaza chose the opposite option; the dishes served were a replica of the ones at local markets. I liked the idea and took a seat; a very polite waitress approached me and asked regarding the drinks; a pineapple juice added $1.25 to the meal cost.

Entrees

South Americans are usually weak with salads and the situation here proved the rule. A few chopped vegetables, cheeses and cold meats were the only entrees available; the spicing section included a rich variety of oils, vinegars and chilies.

Soup

The Chairo soup is typical of the Andean High Plateau; it is a thick broth of wheat and meat. It was of excellent quality and I felt sorry for having a very small bowl of it, but otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to continue my arduous research.

Main Dishes

For some strange reason, the metallic trays containing the main dishes were loaded with static electricity and after the first shocking touch I opted for using the napkin tied to their top while inspecting the contents. For a main dish there were three options: sajta (chicken and tunta – a white, dehydrated type of potato), saice (minced meat), and fine slices of trout. I opted for the trout which; the fish was superb, tender and marinated in a delicate mix of lemon and spices. Side dishes included cooked carrots, broccoli and baked potatoes.

Another interesting option was barbequed meat which was prepared at one of the corners. South Americans ignore terms like "rare," "medium," and "well-done," while dealing with meat. Instead they use a single term al-punto, which in a free translation means "whatever the cook likes." The meat cuts were a bit erratic in their final shape, but tasty nonetheless; the chef was delighted with the high flames he created from time to time.

Dessert

A separate table held the desserts; the only natural option was a fruit salad, next to it were pies, cakes and other sweets. An innocent looking chocolate cake turned to be filled with fresh cream and pineapples, and was excellent. The American style coffee and its refills were included in the price.

Location

Café Berlin occupies a central location in downtown La Paz, near the San Francisco Plaza, the Murillo Plaza and other main attractions; it is thus the ideal place for a break while visiting downtown La Paz.

Colonial Interior

The café is located within a restored colonial building with beautiful high ceilings, which impart a sense of luxury. The effect is enhanced by the warm browns of the tastefully decorated interior. Around the walls are comfortable coaches, while the central area offers less comfortable chairs. The Al Manar restaurant is separated from the café, though the dishes are prepared at a shared kitchen.

Price

As expected from such a place, it is more expensive than similar institutions around, but moderately so; the coffee served here is well worth its price. Moreover, with a simple espresso costing less than a dollar who can complain?

Food

Café Berlin owners passed through Berlin in their way from Turkey to Bolivia. Thus, despite the name and the European style coffee, the main dishes belong in their vast majority to the Middle East. The main dishes cost around three dollars each while specialty coffees reach two American dollars.

Hummus

Hummus is the flag dish of the Middle Eastern Cuisine and the acid test for any restaurant serving it. Café Berlin huge error was claiming it was prepared with olive oil – as it should – while the dish served was obviously prepared with tasteless vegetable oil. The olive oil taste is unmistakable and an integral part of a good hummus.

Falafel

The falafel (fried chickpeas balls) served was relatively good and was accompanied by a bit of hummus and a side salad. As with the previous dish, the problem was the lack of olive oil, which gives the distinctive taste to the dish. The side salad had little resemblance to a Middle Eastern one; the lack of pickles and good olives was notorious.

Pita

The pita bread served with both dishes was not fresh, sacrilegiously microwave-heated and given in insufficient quantity as compared to the dishes sizes.

Cakes

The cakes served as desserts are richly covered by cream and local fruits pieces. The various ones I tried where always fresh and tasty.

Drinks

Coffee

Berlin offers the best coffee - carefully prepared on perfectly attuned machines - in La Paz, and most probably this statement could be extended in a radius of a few hundred kilometers and still hold true.

Bar

At the inner part of the establishment is a small bar well equipped with alcoholic drinks; as explained in another entry, I do not recommend drinking alcohol next or with a Bolivian.

Juices

Jugs filled with local fruits’ juices are available; I recommend trying the exotic tumbo and maracuya ones; both are sweet and non-acidic.

Health Issues

Altitude

A word of warning: coffee is a diuretic, as altitude is (one of the body mechanisms to cope with the lack of oxygen is to reduce the amount of water in the blood, thus rising the red cells concentration), thus it is recommended to limit the cups of coffee per day as well as to accompany them with water or a juice while acclimatizing to the elevation of La Paz.

Smoke

While the lungs are still trying to discover the secret of breathing without an atmosphere, the worst thing that can happen is visiting a coffee shop in which smoking is neither banned nor restricted. More often than not, that’s the case in South America and Berlin is not an exception.

The Andean Plateau Cuisine is exciting in an historical aspect; every dish contains layers spanning centuries. The original Aymara or Quechua dishes didn’t give up to the Spanish conquest and all the original ingredients are still there, but to them were added many ingredients brought from foreign lands – especially rice.

Carolina

T’imp’u (the "t" and the "p" are strongly aspirated) is a popular dish on the Altiplano and is offered almost everywhere, but I am fond of a small and not very central place which serves an excellent version.

There is no name at the place’s entrance; when I asked for it, the surprised owner told me "Carolina." I think that Carolina is her first name but for practical purposes I will refer to the place with it.

Despite the ambiguity, the place isn’t hard to find; Asin Street is in front of the entrance to the Central Cemetery and Carolina is on it, just after the bridge.

T’imp’u

Traditionally, like in other places around the world, the Andean food is named after the fashion it was cooked; thus several similar dishes can share the same name.

T’imp’u refers to meat prepared in boiling water; the main variations include lamb and beef. The lamb meat here is considered better and is slightly more expensive than the beef; a lamb t’imp’u costs roughly a dime over a dollar, while the beef just about eighty cents.

On Dish Design

Before the arrival of foreign foods, the meat was served with potatoes, chuño, tunta and aguado. Chuño is a spicy, black and dehydrated potato; tunta is an almost tasteless, white and dehydrated potato. Aguado is a tasty sauce prepared with a local, not spicy, yellow chilli and onions.

This is the traditional part of the dish. However, nowadays, white rice is served as the base of the dish, while the chuño and the tunta are added only for decorative purposes. The dish is tasty, though usually amazing amounts of rice are added. I find hard to consume so many carbohydrates, but most locals work in extreme physical conditions and need the extra energy.

For those interested in the spicy version, a small bowl of llajua (pronounced ya-hoo-a) is placed on the tables; however, be careful, with it, a small amount should be tasted on rice before spoiling the whole dish.

On Chuño and Tunta Engineering

Roughly two hundred types of potatoes grow on the Andean Plateau; many of them are disappearing from the big cities kitchens due to their rarity, but the chuño and tunta are still main ingredients of many dishes.

Both of them originate on regular white small potatoes and differ only on their dehydratation process. During the Altiplano’s frozen nights, the chuño is left to freeze on the ground surface after being harvested. Following that, it melts down under the morning sun. During the early afternoon it is pressed with bare feet so that the water is filtered out; the result is a black potato of irregular surface. Subsequently the dehydrated potato can be stored for years while keeping its quality. The unhygienic process is of little concern since the potato is boiled up before consumption. It has a very distinctive pungent taste.

The tunta is obtained by putting the potato within a water stream for a fortnight. In this way everything except for the carbohydrate fibers is washed off the original potato. The result is a small, regular shaped, white potato with very little taste. Due to the differences in the process, tunta is much more expensive than the chuño.

The Establishment

Carolina is a clean place and has the advantage of having the kitchen right next to the entrance. The customers can inspect the ingredients and follow the cooking process. The products are fresh from the nearby market, which is one of the main food markets in the city. As always in Bolivia, the sitting space is limited and it is acceptable to take a still free seat in an otherwise occupied table. A greeting and a smile is all that is needed to get the approval.

La Terraza is a European café in an Asian-looking city oddly placed in South America. You can spend hours solving the world’s problems, writing your next book or just having a good cup of coffee there; in fact you can perform those three activities together for the same price while the crowds fight for a standing place on the nearby avenue.

Branches

The main branch of the classiest coffee-shop in La Paz is conveniently located in El Prado; La Terraza has other branches in La Paz, in the Sopocachi and Calacoto neighborhoods; however the one in El Prado is the most attractive and easy to find.

Euro-bricks

The grey and green stylish building was constructed in 1916; it was styled in a nineteenth century European fashion as many of the La Paz buildings constructed in that period.

Despite facing La Paz’ main avenue, its interior rooms are pleasantly silent since the structure was smartly isolated from the street, offering thus a merciful break from the outer noise.

Décor

The branch in El Prado includes four interconnected small rooms, which provides a rather pleasant ambience. The inner one includes a cables television set.

La Terraza’s interior walls are decorated in soft pastel colors and with posters related to coffee’s production and consumption. The rooms are filled up with metallic chairs and tables whose upper side is made of clear glass appropriately covering a layer of coffee beans.

In spite of their beauty, the small tables were designed for holding just a cup of coffee; if it is accompanied by a piece of cake or by one of the meals offered, then simply there is not enough space on the table for everything.

Fire

During Altiplano cold nights, La Terraza is one of the few places in town offering a real fire.

Music

From time to time the background music can be a soft jazz, but unluckily, the staff is capable of suddenly changing it to unsuitable local rhythms without any warning.

Smoke

As all other similar establishments in South America, smoking inside La Terraza is neither forbidden nor limited to specific areas. Actually, it seems the local population cannot swallow a coffee without a cigarette hanging at their mouth corner; leaving the establishment with smelly clothes is inevitable.

Menu

Drinks

The coffees served are good for as long as you stick to the mainstream variations. Their prices begin at seventy-five cents of a dollar for a short espresso, one and a quarter for a double one and can just reach the two dollars line for a double cappuccino.

The several teas available cost around one dollar and include several local varieties called mates.

Meals

La Terraza serves several breakfasts as well as salads and other basic meals for lunch and dinner, always in generous quantities, though the final renderings show signs of a very active imagination and little knowledge of how the originals look.

A local breakfast combo – the cheapest - costs just $1.3, while the Light Breakfast – the most expensive one – reaches $3.5. For example, priced almost as the Light Breakfast is the American one; it includes an espresso or a coffee, orange – or other fruits - juice, ham or bacon, two toasts, butter and ham. A Mexican Combo and a rather basic pizza are also served.

The coffee served with the combos can be doubled just by adding less than fifty cents of a dollar. Croissants can be added by the unit for just above half a dollar.

Cakes

The cheese cake (2$) is surprisingly good though the added fruits are of the canned (peaches) or dry-up (strawberries) varieties despite Bolivia offering an awesome variety of fruits.

La Terraza has an in-house bakery and serves several typical Bolivian pastries. Cuñapes – tasty pastries prepared out of manioc flour and cheese cost about half a dollar. Turnovers and crepes are available as well.

Tips

Leaving tips in Bolivian restaurants is not accustomed. Once – while eating with a local – I attempted doing so and was heavily reprimanded: "This is not America," she said while picking up the change and handing it back to me.

Bolivians enjoy a wide variety of drinks, reflecting their rich diversity of cultures.

Sultana and Coffee

Sultana was among the first oddities I discovered in Bolivia. It is a drink served at the markets’ coffee stalls and regarded as coffee by the locals despite being brewed with coffee beans husks.

Many years ago, Bolivian coffee producers began exporting and raised the coffee price for the local markets; shortly after the Sultana was born and it became an acceptable drink even at houses. The closest drink reminding its taste is a popular non-coffee prepared of toasted cereals.

The local coffee is usually called "destilado" – referring to the specific filtering process used in its preparation. A concentrate – usually stored in a glass bottle – is used for preparing steaming cups of highly acidic, extra-sweet cups of coffee.

Api and Tojori

Typical of the Altiplano – the Andean High Plateau – api and tojori are drinks prepared with corn cultivated in the surrounding high valleys.

Prepared out of blue corn, the api is purplish while the tojori is yellow and prepared from yellow corn. Sometimes a colorful glass containing both – they do not mix due to their different densities – is served.

The drink is very thick and contains huge amounts of carbohydrates since glucose is added to the corn; it reaches 400 calories per hundred grams.

Api and tojori are served very hot and in the company of fried buns, creating thus the necessary source of calories needed to cope with the freezing winters of the area.

Both drinks originate in the area of Oruro, atop the Altiplano and cannot be found on the Amazonian Basin lowlands.

Chicha

Chicha is a drink prepared out of yellow corn, quite similar to the tojori. However, sometimes it is fermented and served as a cheap alcohol, especially in the high-valleys cities – like Cochabamba.

Batido

The verb "batir" in Spanish means "beat" and its passive form – batido - is used to denote a drink prepared with whipped cream and black beer. It is popular as a morning energy source when it is too hot for drinking api or tojori.

A local acquaintance of mine adds to this calories’ bomb sugar and an uncooked egg; once, he complained to me about feeling dizzy afterwards. I told him about his experiencing a "sugar-rush" but he immediately dismissed the idea; for a Bolivian, sugar can make no wrong.

Mate

Unlike in other parts of South America, in Bolivia the term mate refers to all herbal teas. Usually, the leaves are put directly in the cup, which is covered with a saucer for a few minutes until the drink is ready. The most common mates are toronjil (a kind of mint), manzanilla, anis and coca. A trimate is a mix of three herbs, usually manzanilla, anis and coca; the last is considered on the Andean High Plateau as a universal medicine.

Soft Drinks

Featuring unusual fruity flavors – like coconut, papaya and maracuya – local soft drinks are a must while in Bolivia. Some of them feature strange names as Bady, Dampy and Pity, which add a comic angle to the experience.

Qhisa

Small dehydrated peaches are available everywhere on the Altiplano. They are used for preparing a quite refreshing drink called qhisa; the preparation includes boiling the peaches in water and then cooling them down. The drink is served in tall glasses with a small peach at the bottom; the last is eaten after drinking the liquid.

Linaza and Cebada

Two local cereals are boiled in water and served as soft drinks once they cool down. People usually carry the drink around in small plastic bags during the mornings. Linaza is whitish, while the cebada is brown.

Chocolate and Submarino

Being Bolivia a chocolate producer, I was quite excited about its chocolate in my way there for the first time.

Soon I found that some step of the normal processing is skipped, since most local chocolate has a sandy feeling to it, featuring small grains of sugar and bitter-acid chocolate.

The drink prepared with it is based usually on water – only sometimes diluted milk is used – and thus quite different from the thick European chocolate.

A related drink is the "submarino" – a submarine - in which a small piece of chocolate is submerged within a tall glass of boiling water. This is a popular drink in Argentina as well.