[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter months of renovations, Bogotá’s JW Marriott hotel launched last month their latest food venture in the city, The Market.
Open 24 hours a day, the idea migrated from the chain’s Central American hotels — and one in Cali — where the “design-it-yourself” idea was met by clients with appreciation. Hence, the slogan “The Artist is You.”
The idea is simple: you take a table in the main dining room in view of an open kitchen where cooks are chopping and grilling away.
The kitchen team is seriously industrious, checking on burgers on the stove, searing salmon in cast iron pans and wrapping (you guessed it) wraps. Thin crust pizzas emerge from a stone oven make their way to a table. The venue is buzzing and the service attentive.
Being a 24-hour operation, The Market is ideal for getting a bite to eat in a city where many restaurants shut their doors at 10 p.m. But if you’ve been to a concert, or want to accompany your late evening martini with a ceviche, the food possibilities seem endless.
A comprehensive menu allows guests to choose carefully created options such as a fish or meat carpaccio and the many pasta dishes available. But the fun is in inventiveness. The “eat what you like, when you like.”
Then of course, you have the attention to detail and the freshest ingredients you would expect from a world-class five-star hotel.
A “comfort food” philosophy governs The Market. It’s not meant to be slow, spicy, nor heavy on the sauces. It’s about the foods we all love: an Angus burger with choice of cheese or rib-eye steak with fries.
If you are a vegan, The Market is a perfect dining option. A salad bar is complete with steamed vegetables, grains and vinaigrettes. The fruit juice stand is stacked with glass jars of frothy tropical juices.
If you in for coffee and desert, the house cheesecake is as good as it gets, this side of Brooklyn.
One might think that dining-out in a five-star hotel restaurant is an expensive option. But taking a look at the The Market’s menu again, the prices are somewhat under par for what you would pay in many of the city’s very-standard high-enders.
So, next time that rock concert ends late after one too many encores, head to The Market, and become the food artist you always thought you would become.
JW Marriott
Calle 71 No. 8-00
