Álvaro Clavijo shrugs off the all-too-common refrain that to become a chef you must have spent time in your grandmother’s kitchen. “She couldn’t even fry an egg,” he jokes about growing up in a traditional Bogotá family where any mention of becoming a cook was akin to having no job at all. After a year studying architecture at Los Andes University, Álvaro headed to Paris, dabbled in photography, and washed dishes in the underbelly of the culinary capital. He learned exceptional French and, despite his mother’s skepticism that anyone could make a living cooking, enrolled at Barcelona’s Hofmann School, known for producing chefs who go on to work in the academy’s own Michelin-starred restaurant, Hofmann.
After three years in the Catalan capital and five more in France, Clavijo always kept the option of returning to Colombia open—especially as he had yet to convince his mother that all those years invested in Europe would lead to something truly unexpected: a chef in the family. Mon Dieu! But delaying his return to Bogotá was New York, home to culinary greats such as Thomas Keller of Per Se. Acclaimed for its fastidious attention to detail and haute French cuisine, Per Se hired Clavijo—not as a dishwasher this time—and he learned that an immaculate kitchen is the foundation of any successful restaurant. “My cooking is French, my ingredients are Colombian, and my organization is American,” he says as we sit down in the main dining room of El Chato.
Although El Chato opened its doors in 2017 in what used to be a dilapidated house in Chapinero Alto, its reputation had been circulating for years. In 2013, Clavijo left the chaos of New York kitchens to start his first restaurant in Bogotá. The original location in Quinta Camacho was somewhat removed from the city’s gastronomic scene; even though his menu of mostly slow-cooked meat dishes, crafted with hyper-elaborate technique, dazzled clients, the opportunity soon arose to move El Chato to a more neighborhood-friendly venue.
The ambiance in this 80-seat establishment is a blend of the familiar and the eclectic. Household items donated by friends—a 1970s telephone, framed and faded high school photographs, a collection of medical encyclopedias—sit on wooden shelves lined against bare brick walls. The lighting is soft on the eyes, and while the décor leans tongue-in-cheek, Clavijo’s concise one-page menu introduces one of his core beliefs: dining out shouldn’t be taxing on the mind, but an opportunity to enjoy exceptional dishes shaped by years of training and technique.
To begin our El Chato experience, we order a round of house “mules,” a playful nod to the classic Moscow cocktail and to Colombia’s countryside icon. The drinks are infused with herbs and tropical fruits. While you can order anything from the bar, the house selection sets the tone for an evening built around carefully chosen local ingredients woven into a series of exceptional dishes, each prepared in the second-floor kitchen by a team of cooks moving with the calm precision of monks on sacred ground.
The main dining room hums with conversation, proof that word about El Chato is spreading quickly. In a city where restaurants are more likely to fail than succeed, one round of starters makes it clear that Clavijo has star power. His masterful creations hint at a larger manifesto: to establish a Bogotá restaurant worthy of international recognition. In the near future, El Chato will undoubtedly make the prestigious San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants list, joining the ranks of El Celler de Can Roca (Girona) and Osteria Francescana (Modena).
El Chato offers an informal dining experience rooted in an unpretentious philosophy. The plates are reasonably priced—around $34,000 pesos—considering the level of technique and the quality of ingredients sourced from exceptional horticulturists in the Sabana de Bogotá. A signature dish, the roast lamb—Boyacá meets Provence—is tender and served with a creamy, buttery sauce. Another standout, worthy of an article of its own, is the crab in avocado purée, garnished with mango, foraged greens, and ground blackened rice chips.
Clavijo isn’t risk-averse and enjoys pushing the limits of heat, mindful of how temperature defines masterful grill cooking. His meat cuts are never simply “slapped onto the grill”; instead, they are cured in-house for weeks, letting alchemy work its magic.
Rarely leaving his kitchen, Álvaro elevates seemingly simple dishes to another level. So whether you come for lunch to try the house Cuban pulled pork or shrimp sandwich, or opt for beef tartare dressed in rose vinaigrette, mini croutons and kale mayonnaise, dining at El Chato is an encounter with fine gastronomy. In this Chapinero house, mountain meets sea, garden meets homestead. Bring on the inventiveness—this restaurant stands shoulder to shoulder with the very best.
El Chato – Calle 65 No. 3B-76
