Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mostly good beef accompanied by rice and yucca or plantain. Most restaurants open Monday
to Saturday for lunch and dinner, though on Sundays many only serve lunch. On Friday and
Saturday nights, many stay open late and turn into bars. Cafés are generally the best bet for
breakfast. With a few exceptions, the places listed here are in the
city centre
, though many
popular restaurants are further afield on the
Segundo Anillo
ring road (Av Cristóbal de Men-
doza) between calles Alemania and Beni, 1.5km to the north: particularly popular are the
massive, open-air places serving huge plates of barbecued meat at weekends. European-style
bars and restaurants are strung along
Calle Monseñor Rivero
, about seven blocks directly
north of the plaza. As elsewhere in Bolivia, the
markets
are the best bets for cheap eats.
MERCADO LOS POZOS
In the northeast corner of the city centre, the
Mercado Los Pozos
, is arguably the best
food market in Bolivia, with row upon row of stalls serving inexpensive and delicious local
dishes like
locro de gallina
(chicken stew) and
sopa de maní
(peanut soup), while others
sell an astonishing variety of tropical fruit juices and excellent
empanadas
and
salteñas
.
There's also a whole subsection of Chinese foodstalls where you can get a tasty meal for
less than Bs15. You might also like to spend a few hours at the
Mercado La Ramada
,
Avenida Grigota and Calle Sutos, where pretty much everything you can think of is on sale
across a sprawling mass of stalls.
Mercado Nuevo
is smaller but has the same hectic mar-
ket bustle and is a conveniently short walk from the central plaza.
CITY CENTRE
Alexander
Junín.
This domestic coffee chain does a good impression of its more famous
international counterparts, serving fine coffee (brewed from Bolivian-grown beans), break-
fasts, snacks, cakes, pastries and a few light meals. Free wi-fi. There is another branch on the
corner of Santa Fe and Monseñor Rivero. Coffee Bs8-30, breakfasts Bs27-36.
Cuerpomente
Aroma 64.
Busy vegetarian restaurant offering a varied self-service buffet
priced by weight (good value at around Bs15-20/kg) as well as soups, juices and
empanadas
.
The food is tasty and wholesome, though the overzealous healthy-living mantras posted on
the wall are a bit off-putting.
La Esquina del Pescado
Florida and Sara.
Excellent, inexpensive and very popular fish res-
taurant in a shabby little corner building, serving big portions of delicious freshwater fish like
surubí
,
sabalo
and piranha fried, grilled or baked. There's tasty ceviche (Bs20-25), and the
fish soup with yucca on the side (Bs10-12) is a meal in itself.
Grissini
Corner Ñuflo de Chavéz and Cobija.
Welcoming Italian restaurant in a quiet neigh-
bourhood with a few outdoor tables on a small patio and an a/c dining room. The pizzas
