I woke up to the rather disappointing fact that despite the fact it was now past the 24 hour water cut off, no agua. I asked my host, and she explained that sometimes goes beyond that. Great. I had a 1pm reservation at a place at least 30 mins away and really didn’t want to plunge my head into the cold jacuzzi water. Fortunately, it came on about 10 mins before I had to leave – cold but at that point I took what I could get.

My destination was in the up and coming area Usaquen, which was on the other side of the city nestled beneath the mountains. I soon arrived at the only tall building on the street and after some confusing navigation eventually went up to the 10th floor for Oda.

The restaurant was modern with great views of the whole surrounding area, helped by the bright blue sky. My server explained the concept of the restaurant is to focus on Amazonian food but with a modern spin. To kick things off, I was presented with a local bread and butter. The bread had some flecks of coconut but not too sweet – quite good.

Next was their take on smoked fish, which in this case was an Amazonian white fish with a leche de tigre sauce but not spicy. The fish was perfectly sliced and very tender. A delicious dish.

For my main, I was drawn to the Caramelized Amazon mushrooms in brown butter, onion ice cream, mushroom puree toasted Amazon seed and onion broth. This was quite something. I was encouraged to mix everything together via the giant spoon provided. The crispy mushrooms blended into the mushroom purse and the onion ice cream somehow really worked. A rich and complex dish.

I wanted to try a lighter dessert so they recommended the Amazonian nut crumble, yoghurt ice cream, cucumber, dragon fruit and local honey. Again a very complex dish with the crunchy nuts enveloped in the tart ice cream with the fruits and honey adding some needed sweetness.

I requested an Uber and headed downstairs. As I was waiting, I noticed I had no idea about the car brand, JAG. As I soon found out from my friendly driver, it was a Chinese EV – a first for me. It was much more comfortable than the typical cars so far with my Uber trips. He explained that there’s a discount for EVs and they also aren’t part of a traffic/pollution reduction efforts called “pico y plata.” The system restricts people from driving during peak hours (pico) based on their license plate number (plata.)

After my education on the Bogota driving process and a much needed siesta, I was back in yet another Uber (back to a shitty car alas) for a quick trip to Zona G in Chapinero. Tucked away in a small side street was Salon Tropical, which featured food from the coastal regions of Colombia.

I decided to keep things light and selected the tiradito of the fresh catch of the day, which was tuna, in a coconut Thai sauce. The fish was beautifully sliced with a sauce was very different than a typical tiradito that was delicious. A good start.

I decided to keep with the cold seafood tip and chose the ceviche de Chifa with tuna once again. The soy from the chifa sauce added some nice Asian notes to this once again not typical ceviche. The tuna, now cubed, was very fresh and the crispy onions gave it some needed texture.

Last up were 2 tostadas – octopus and shrimp. The octopus was a bit chewy and the whole tostada collapsed in a heap. It as just fine. Fortunately, the shrimp one more than made up for it. Teeming with fresh shrimp and just the right amount of shredded lettuce, I would have easily eaten more of these if I had room.

I had been drawn to the very cool spot next door and since I was finally back to normal, I headed up some steep set of stairs to the rooftop of Tokyo Rooftop Bar. A sea of red greeted me, and I took a seat at the bar. I had already looked at the cocktail list and chose ingari – which was a mix of sake, rum and roasted pineapples.

It was served in a flourish surrounded by dry ice, which was a fun touch. The cocktail was quite tasty – nice blend of the 3 main ingredients which tempered the potential sweetness of the pineapple. A nice way to close out a long day/night.