La Calendula is one of the better places in La Candelaria for the traditional Colombian almuerzo — the set lunch that anchors the working day. The menu changes daily: soup, a main of chicken, beef, or fish with rice, salad, patacones, and juice, all for a few thousand pesos.
The room is simple and the service is fast — this is a working-person's lunch place, not a tourist restaurant. The food is genuinely good: well-seasoned, generous, and entirely typical of the everyday cooking that most visitors to Bogota never find because they stick to the places with English menus. Arrive between noon and 1pm to be sure of a table.