Harry Sasson

The building itself makes the argument before a single plate arrives. Harry Sasson occupies a red-brick mansion on Carrera 9 in Zona G — a property that has presided over the neighbourhood for over a century, its walls absorbing the social history of Bogotá's most ambitious district. Walk through the entrance and the architecture shifts from heritage exterior to a spectacularly conceived interior: soaring glass ceilings that flood the main dining room with Andean afternoon light, a robata grill visible from the dining room, and a patio with the kind of effortless grandeur that only legitimate buildings can achieve.

Chef Harry Sasson's cooking is a confident fusion of Latin American, Japanese, and European influences, unified by an obsession with live-fire technique. The robata grill is the kitchen's centrepiece, and the dishes that emerge from it — shrimp tails basted with koji butter, whole grouper crisped over charcoal and served with spicy fried beans, Colombian cuts grilled to an exactness that most restaurants never achieve — demonstrate what a dedicated fire kitchen can do with excellent South American ingredients.

The à la carte format is generous in a way that tasting-menu restaurants rarely are. The freshly baked pan de yuca arrives warm and irreplaceable as the table settles in. The heart of palm preparations are given their own menu section — a signal of the kitchen's conviction about an ingredient that most restaurants treat as an afterthought. Portions encourage sharing; order widely.

Harry Sasson has appeared on Latin America's 50 Best list repeatedly, and its continued presence is easily explained by what the restaurant does with consistency: a room that is always animated, food that always delivers, and a wine list that takes South American viniculture seriously without excluding the French and Italian benchmarks that business dinners sometimes require.

There are restaurants where the environment communicates success before anyone speaks, and Harry Sasson is Bogotá's most compelling version of that proposition. The glass-ceiling dining room is one of the most visually impressive in the city. The à la carte format allows guests to control their own pace without the rigid progression of a tasting menu — essential when the real agenda is a negotiation. The service is attentive without being intrusive, and the noise level stays low enough for genuine conversation throughout the evening.

For closing a deal, the private dining room options at Harry Sasson offer complete exclusivity for groups of eight to fourteen — a significant advantage when confidentiality matters. The wine list has sufficient depth to support a proper pairing without requiring specialist knowledge. Book the main room for atmosphere; book the private room for business.

For team dinners, the shareable à la carte format is ideal — the table fills with plates, the conversation flows around them, and the animated atmosphere of the main room provides the social backdrop that bonding-over-food requires. Explore more of Bogotá's exceptional dining scene for your next visit.

Begin with the pan de yuca — obligatory — and the heart of palm preparations, which range from raw to roasted to grilled with considerable creativity. The shrimp from the Japanese grill are essential, as is the whole fish of the day over charcoal. Colombian beef cuts, treated with the reverence the robata demands, close the savoury courses decisively. The wine list leans heavily into Argentina and Chile with authoritative selections; ask for guidance on the reserve list.