Colombia now has two restaurants on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2026, and they couldn't be more different in setting. Celele, in Cartagena's Getsemani neighbourhood, climbed to No. 31 — up 17 places from last year — while Bogota's El Chato fought its way back into the ranking at No. 46 after slipping to 54th in 2025. The results were announced at a ceremony in Lima on 4 November, the first time a Latin American city has hosted the awards.
The ranking, launched in 2002 by Restaurant magazine, is voted on by an academy of more than 1,100 chefs, restaurateurs, journalists and seasoned diners across 28 regions. This year's top spot went to Spain's Asador Etxebarri, with Thailand's Gaggan, Copenhagen's Alchemist, Mexico City's Quintonil and Hong Kong's Wing rounding out the top five. But for holiday planners, the real story is what Colombia's two entries say about the country as a food destination.
Celele is chef Jaime Rodriguez's love letter to the Colombian Caribbean. Through his research project Caribe Lab, he works with small farmers, fishermen, foragers and artisans to document and revive coastal food traditions that never travelled far beyond their home towns. Expect native fruits, herbs and seafood — coconut, dried shrimp, traditional coastal seasonings — handled with modern technique. The restaurant also took the list's Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2025, so the sourcing credentials are more than marketing.
El Chato, founded in 2017 by Alvaro Clavijo, takes a broader bite of the map. Clavijo cooked at Per Se, Noma, Atera and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon before coming home, and his menus read like a tour of Colombia's ecosystems: Andean tubers, Amazonian fruits, native seeds and fish from small producers nationwide. The restaurant entered the global list in 2022, peaked at No. 25 in 2024, and was named Latin America's best restaurant in the 2025 regional ranking.
For travellers, this is a strong signal. A gastronomy trip to Colombia now has two world-class anchors — one Caribbean, one Andean — and plenty of excellent mid-tier dining between them. Cartagena pairs Celele with a walled colonial old town and Caribbean beaches; Bogota offers El Chato alongside markets, museums and easy day trips to nearby highland towns. Together they make a convincing case for building a Colombian itinerary around the food rather than treating meals as an afterthought.
