Patrick
I’m a carnivore! I love my steaks, sausages, hams, roasts, fish, shrimps, chicken, lamb… you name it, I’ll eat it. So it wasn’t without a certain amount of scepticism, when my girlfriend begged me to go to Frutos del Sol in El Peñon. I must have made more jokes about vegetarians than anybody I know, and for that reason alone, I’ve never been much of a frequent diner at vegetarian restaurants. I have always told my kid brother that he would end up looking like Gollum, from the Lord of The Rings trilogy, if he ever became a vegetarian. As you see.. my image had a lot at risk. What if someone I knew spotted me in that restaurant, and snapchat’ed a picture to my brother of me devouring a quinoa burger? I would be forever in the negative on the big brother “macho account”.
I must say that I my prejudices were proven completely wrong. The food was really delicious and I’ve been many times since.
They have a daily menu, that comes with a soup, main course and a cold beverage. Their soups are REALLY good. Ask them for the little box with spices (la cajita con especias), and the owner will come out with a small box full of different spices and spicy it up, according to your tastebuds and tolerance. Main courses are usually a “steak” of lentils, beans or quinoa, served with a salad and dark wholegrain rice. The beverage is a home-made unsweetened ice tea from Jamaica flower or iced green tea. Sounds a little hippie-ish, but I found it to be very refreshing. There is a selection of craft beers and juices as well. For some reason my favorite Colombian beverage, the “limonade de coco”, do not live up to my expectations here, but everything else is really good.
If I’m not wrong, the daily menu cost around $11.000 pesos or US$5. There is also a a-la-carte menu, and although I usually go for the daily menu, I must say that their veggie burgers are awesome! For those with a sweet tooth, they have a great selection of pies and cakes for dessert, my favorite being a mascarpone cheesecake, on a crusty chocolate bottom, topped with a grape reduction.. If that sounds delicious to you, then you better come early, because it sells out every day!
A final note. Most Colombians have a two-hour lunchbreak from noon to 2pm., and lunch is considered the big meal of the day. I call it “la bomba Colombiana”, because the traditional Colombian lunch leaves me so full, that I just feel like going to sleep afterwards. When eating at Frutos del Sol you feel great when you leave. Full, but without that feeling that you need to take a siesta. I highly recommend it.
Frutos del Sol • Carrera 3a oeste # 3-20 in El Peñon – Cali, Colombia
They open from noon to 8:00pm. If going for lunch, then go early – they fill up fast. Buen provecho!
Reservations: 377 0920 & 313 732 9262
