We booked in and then read in the Lonely Planet that the food here was not great, this was a slight disappointment but there were plenty of other attractions in the area to keep us occupied, including the beautiful Tayrona national park which you can walk in (camping overnight if you want), as well as diving in the sea on its coast line. We spent a great day in Tayrona, walking in the jungle and on the beaches, the scenery is very dramatic and impressive, however when we were there it was a touch over cast and a bit cold to swim on the great beaches (be careful some of the beaches have strong currents and are not suitable for swimming, these are clearly marked!)
On our arrival in Taganga we had been down to the beach front to scout out the place and although there were a few places to eat and drink there didn't seem to be much going on. This just proves how deceptive first impressions can be and also how much difference getting to know a place a little bit can make (you have to wonder how much we missed by our rapid pace through the rest of South America).
We only found out about the best restaurant in Tayrona by talking to our dive instructor, the excellent Juan from the equally brilliant Poseidon dive centre on our third day in Taganga.
Pachamama is a simple palm hut walled in with some corrugated tin roofing round it, in the rain half the seats and unusable and the service at busy times can be terribly slow. It is also not easy to find, hidden just off the beach on a dirt road, despite these short comings it serves an amazing fillet steak with some of the best sauces I have tasted in South America. The blue cheese and mustard sauces are both exceptional, although steer clear of the red wine and mushroom as it sounds a lot better on the menu than it tastes. All these steak options cost 22,000 pesos (8 GBP) and are served with a potoato and egg cake along with bread topped cheese melted on top (sounds basic, tastes great).
If you think a steak is a bit much there is also a pachamburger option costing 14,000 pesos (5.50 GBP) which is something else I would recommend, this is topped with blue cheese and bacon (my all time favourite burger topping combo) and is easily the equal of any "Gourmet" burger I have had in the UK or elsewhere. Oh and the tapas there is good but if you have a big appetite it will turn into a very expensive way to eat as it is not as good in value terms as the rest of the menu.
The icing on the Pachamama cake was the happy hour cocktails, with blue and regular Margueritas costing 7000 pesos, (3.75 GBP), and tasting great, although at busy times if you want to get drunk order them 2 at a time, definitely a good place to get the party started! Once we found this place it was hard to eat elsewhere however we did try a couple of the restaurants.
The other decent place was Bitacora, which also had good steak (the rump I had there was pretty much half a cow) as well as some tasty salad and fish options, however if you thought the service in Pachamama was slow Bitacora is not for you. Bitacora also boasts a seafront location which is good for people watching, however you often get involved with the show as many people wander past the front tables singing and playing musical instruments at you (sometimes you want to pay them to make it stop) or trying to sell you things (I purchased a Tis5ot watch to replace my fake ice watch which does a horrible death in Quito airport).
The best way to find out about the bars and parties here is to learn to dive, there are a number of competing dive schools and the workers seem to socialise a lot after work, we owed Juan a number of beers for getting us through our open water PADI certification so we went out with him and his girlfriend who owns the Tortuga Hostel. We got on really well with them and ended up drinking on the beach with them and a number of other dive people into the night (there is an off license near the front that the locals use for this), we also got invited to a party on Tortuga's excellent rooftop bar which boasts some pretty great sea views on Friday night)
Even after 8 days in Taganga we didn't feel ready to leave, however we decided that we needed to give Cartagena a similar chance to bewitch us and so have booked 6 nights there next.
Pictured below are the beach front at Taganga, a beach at Tayrona national park and the steak from Pachamama
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