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Clara restaurant, in the Ecuadorian capital Quito, has been named Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants One to Watch 2024. The award is part of the prelude to Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro on November 26.
The project, born of the passion of a trio of chefs—Felipe Salas, Angel De Sousa, and Ana Lobato—was founded in the city's La Floresta neighborhood in 2023. Clara today inhabits the space once occupied by legendary bar Pobre Diablo de Quito, a well-known haunt of Quito's artists and creatives during the city's booming scene of the 1990s.
That creativity lives on in Clara, with the cuisine combining the influences of the chefs’ origins. Lobato, of Spanish origin, brings a Mediterranean influence; Salas, an Ecuadorean, imbues the kitchen with local flavors; while De Sousa, who hails from Venezuela, brings his experience as part of a social project focused on Manabi gastronomy.
The team also has a deft ability to keep things paired back and simple, with a meal at Clara a celebration of Ecuador and Latin America.
Marsia Taha Mohamed, of restaurant Arami, La Paz, Bolivia has been named Latin America's Best Female Chef 2024.
Taha Mohamed is recognized for her work as a champion of Bolivian biodiversity and supporting indigenous communities which she will put at the heart of her new restaurant Arami, in the capital of one of the world's most biodiverse countries.
Taha Mohamed was born in Bulgaria to a Palestinian father and Bolivian mother but grew up in Bolivia, where she embarked on her culinary journey. She served as Head Chef, and then Executive Chef at renowned restaurant Gustu in La Paz, her work there drawing numerous accolades, including Latin America’s Rising Star Female Chef 2021.
A dish at Arami. Photo by Christian Gutiérrez
Having recently decided to set out on her own she has founded her first solo restaurant Arami, which means ‘shard of heaven’ in Guaraní, a native language from the lowlands of Bolivia. The restaurant, which opens in November, will showcase and preserve indigenous food ways and knowledge from the Andes to the rainforest, which Taha Mohamed has acquired through Sabores Silvestres, a research and educational initiative project she co-founded in 2018.
Arami will be in the upscale neighborhood of Achumani, in the south of La Paz in a renovated period residential house with a restaurant on the ground floor and a wine bar on the first floor which will serve only Bolivian labels. The second floor will become a drying, preserving, and fermenting lab.
The restaurant will offer a limited but well-thought-out menu. “On Sunday, I want families to come and share a big, baked Amazonian fish with lots of garnishes. Everything will be in the middle of the table and for sharing. But on some days, there will be more of a fine-dining offering," Taha Mohamed told 50 Best.
“Inspiration never starts in a restaurant or in a kitchen, where of course I love to be. My inspiration comes from outside. Nature gives me ideas, gives me creativity. And, of course, nature gives me new products and new flavors.”
On receiving the award, Taha Mohamed said: “There are so many talented female chefs all around Latin America that I admire. I am super surprised, super grateful and super happy! I also have a big feeling of responsibility. This means a lot not just for me, but also for the gastronomy of my country. It’s a great opportunity to showcase Bolivian cuisine with the visibility this award will give me.”
This article was updated on 10/31/2024.
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