Leonor Espinosa occupies a singular position in global gastronomy — part chef, part ethnobotanist, part activist. Her restaurant Leo, situated in a striking Chapinero building whose 2,187 individually placed textured glass panels pixelate natural light into shifting colour across the dining room, is the physical expression of two decades of immersion in Colombia's culinary archaeology. She is the 2017 recipient of the Basque Culinary World Prize and has built a foundation that supports over 150 indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The cooking is inseparable from this mission.
The CICLOBIOMA tasting menu — available in five, eight, or twelve courses — maps Colombia's biodiversity through plates that are simultaneously avant-garde and deeply rooted. A ceviche prepared with the juice of a Chocó jungle fruit that exists nowhere else; a rice dish built around the fermentation traditions of a Pacific coast community; a dessert incorporating an Amazonian cacao variety that Espinosa's foundation helped rescue from commercial extinction. The menu changes quarterly as ecosystems are explored in rotation.
Leo actually houses two dining rooms: the main room under Espinosa's creative direction, and a second overseen by her daughter and sommelier, Laura Hernández Espinosa, who curates pairings from Colombian wines, craft beers, and local botanical beverages that are as thoughtfully considered as any European sommelier's programme. The architectural space — ground floor in artisanal brick, upper levels in textured glass — gives the room a natural drama that never overwhelms the food.
The wine and botanical pairing is genuinely worth booking. Laura's selections introduce Colombian viticulture (yes, it exists — at altitude, producing compelling grapes), fermented tropical fruits, and herbal infusions that would be gimmicky anywhere else but here feel essential. Leo rewards return visits: each seasonal menu is a genuinely different restaurant.
