Trout Restaurants

Trout is the definitive Salento meal and you will find it on the menu of virtually every restaurant in town. The standard preparation is pan-fried and served with patacones (flattened fried plantain), rice, and salad — simple and good. More elaborate preparations exist at the better establishments on Calle Real.

Several restaurants specialise exclusively in trout, with menus of five or six different preparations of the same fish. The best are the ones that source directly from nearby farms in the Cocora valley; the fish arrives the same day it is caught. Prices are low by international standards. Order the whole fish if you can; the preparations using fillets are less distinctive. The restaurants on the upper end of Calle Real tend to have the best views and the freshest fish.

eating out restaurant
A story
Trout was introduced to the Quindío rivers in the 1950s to stock cold-water streams for sport fishing. The industry gradually shifted toward aquaculture, and today farm-raised rainbow trout from the Cocora valley and surrounding streams is the signature dish of Salento and the wider Eje Cafetero. The cold, fast-flowing mountain water gives the trout a clean, mild flavour appreciated throughout Colombia.