Mondongo's

Mondongo's has been serving comida típica in El Poblado for years — long enough to become one of the most recognisable paisa names in the city. Ask around Medellín for a traditional Antioquian meal and this is a name that keeps coming back.

The house dish is the one on the sign. Mondongo is a slow-cooked tripe soup, and the restaurant is named for it: it is the dish Mondongo's is known for, and the reason a good number of people walk through the door. In practice, though, most tables end up ordering the bandeja paisa instead — the full version, the plate that defines the region's cooking — and Mondongo's serves it whole.

This is a busy, central sit-down restaurant rather than a fine-dining one, and that is rather the point. It suits a visitor who wants a proper traditional Antioquian meal in the middle of El Poblado, without ceremony and without a reservation ritual. If the other side of the city is more convenient, there is a second branch in Laureles.