Gustu
Wednesday, March 20
Before we came to Bolivia, we did a lot of research online. During this research, a particularly good restaurant in the city was repeatedly mentioned online as a must-visit when in La Paz. The restaurant in question is called “Gustu,” located just outside the city.
The Gustu restaurant was particularly praised online for its fine dining concept and its use of local, seasonal Bolivian produce. However, Gustu is more than "just" a good restaurant. The Gustu concept was developed by none other than Claus Meyer, the Danish chef and founder of the world-famous 3-Michelin-starred restaurant "Noma" in Copenhagen. "Gustu" restaurant in La Paz is all about showing guests the unique fruits and vegetables, fish, and meats that Bolivia has to offer. Here, you can order individual dishes a la carte or enjoy a multi-course tasting menu. The prices are very high for Bolivia, still pricy by European standards—but considering the quality and number of courses served it’s definitely not overpriced.
We really wanted to try Gustu Restaurant while we were in La Paz, so we booked a table. To sample as much as possible, we ordered the tasting menu, which consisted of several smaller courses. We were blown away by the first bite. The presentation of the dishes was creative, unusual, and so different from what we were used to. Every single dish was incredibly delicious and surprised us on so many levels. Over the course of the evening, we had homemade bread made from a potato-like fruit that grows on trees in Bolivia; thinly sliced raw alligator tail; dehydrated watermelon with salty sorbet; and, for dessert, homemade white chocolate chamomile ice cream. Although we had already been traveling throughout Latin America for seven months at that point, we heard (and ate) about many of the ingredients used there for the first time! Each of the seven courses and three specials from the kitchen were incredibly good. The evening was a truly special experience that we would recommend to anyone who visits La Paz!
Gustu is not only an amazing restaurant — it is also affiliated with an NGO and sees itself as a training center where young Bolivians from difficult backgrounds can train to become chefs and service staff, thus enabling them to build careers. Since Gustu opened in 2012, the program is working and a trend has emerged in La Paz: Graduates of the Gustu training program are gradually opening their own restaurants in La Paz, contributing to La Paz's increasing transformation into a gastronomic hotspot in South America.
