Patrick
Feeling lazy or have an empty fridge? Or maybe your hotel doesn’t offer breakfast – and if they do, maybe it’s the universal continental breakfast consisting of the whitest and driest bread, margarine, factory-made jam with less than 5% real fruit and instant coffee? Pathetic and not exactly breakfast for champions.
Luckily, in Cali there are quite a few restaurants to get your morning munchies satisfied. I’m not talking about bakeries, but places where you can get a fresh orange juice, hot chocolate, scrambled eggs or an omelette to go along with your almojábana or pandebono.
Below are my personal favorites in no particular order. Please note that these places don’t make the best bread in town. If you’re looking for quality bread, check out my article about the best bakeries in Cali.
Kuty
Has 4 locations in town and has been in operation since 1975. They are very popular and sometimes it can be hard to even find an empty table. Their almojábanas are in my opinion the best in town. Egg-dishes here come in a wild variety of options – try something different like the huevos a la flamenca or huevos cocote.
Avenida 6 # 27N-03 is in my opinion their best location. Service is fast and prices are low.
Paola
Has two locations, both on Calle 5 intersecting with Carrera 24 and Carrera 57, respectively. Both get packed with young and old people, early morning and late in the afternoon. Like Kuty’s they also serve a variety of eggs and have great juices. Prices are very fair and service is fast.
Karen’s Pizza
You might be wondering why a pizzaria would make it to this list? The name is kind of deceiving, because they sell so much more than just pizza. Karen’s Pizza makes really high-quality products and their breakfast is no exception. It’s probably the best in town.
Eggs, like tortilla española and fritata are the specialty, and every plate is served with home-made bread, butter, honey and jam. They also make fruit platters, french toast with sirup and a bunch of ofter sinful pleasures. Coffee here is the best of any on the list and juices are freshly made to order.
While Karen’s Pizza have locations all over town, it’s only the restaurants in Barrio La Flora, San Fernando and Ciudad Jardín that offer breakfast, the latter two being my favorites.
Crepes & Waffles
Although not an option for your every day breakfast, Crepes & Waffles make a great excuse for a Sunday morning excursion. Eggs, breakfast crepes and waffles make up the menu. Great juices, coffee, spearmint or coconut lemonade available to quench your thirst.
Unfortunately they only open Sunday morning 9AM for brunch and, according to their website, only at their location in Ciudad Jardín, on Carrera 101 # 13-10.
Photo credits: Pexels.com – free stock photos.
crepes brunch is pretty good. i have had realy good breakfast with an assortment of fresh breads and fresh tangerine juice at panaderia el molino behind crepes and waffles a block a way from cali river. Ventolini has some interesting breakfast items. Another great one is inside the galleria alameda, there is a lady inside the fruit and vegetable section on the side of calle 8, who makes fresh arepas with cheese on a charcoal grill every morning .It is a market place ambience surrounded by biodiverse abundance of tropical fruits and vegetables. If you need to change the scenery for something say more corporate, their are a couple of hotels that have great breakfast buffets at the hotel intercontinental and the marriot. hope the alternatives are useful as well. take care
Awesome Michael! Thanks for sharing! 🙂 El Molino in Santa Teresita is one of my favorite breadshops, but I didn’t know that they opened early enough for breakfast.
Cafe Valparaiso is defiantly the best brunch/lunch restaurant in cali by a long way. I lived in cali for over a year and experience different places to eat. Cafe Valparaiso offers a very european styled food with a little colombian essence.