This photo of lechona forms part of a photo series called Flavor Fridays. Each week, one dish is featured that the Flavors of Bogota team has given their seal of approval.
Restaurant
Lechoneria Doña Rosalba
Dish name
Lechona
Description
Paloquemao is an amazing, maze-like market selling everything – exotic fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers and meats. Near the loading dock behind the fish section you’ll find the Lechonería Doña Rosalba. For as little as $2 a serving you can try lechón, a typical dish from the Tolima area of Colombia. It’s a whole pig, about four feet long, that is stuffed with rice and vegetables then sewn up and oven-roasted for eight hours. The result is a crunchy toasted skin on the outside and flavorful meat on the inside.
Near the loading dock at Paloquemao, Bogota
If you want to taste the original lechona you have to travel to a town in Tolima called Espinal. A quality lechona there has little to no rice! I have yet to find a good lechona here in Bogota, sadly.
That’s a great tip! I do want to go to Tolima and see the true, original lechona. What a shame it’s so hard to find here in Bogota.