There are restaurants that are in hotels and restaurants that are the hotel. La Makha is closer to the second category. Not because Binn Hotel revolves exclusively around its gastronomic offering (the design, the spa and the rooftop have their own weight) but because La Makha has a sufficiently defined identity for the restaurant to function as a reason to visit independently of the hotel that houses it.
That is not common in Medellín or Latin America. Hotel restaurants tend to be functional (good breakfasts, wide menu, accessible) but they rarely have the editorial point of view that makes local people book a table to come specifically to eat there.
La Makha has it.
What “journey of flavors” means as a concept
The concept La Makha uses to describe itself (a journey through the flavors of Colombia) is not marketing. It is the most precise description of what happens during a full dinner at that restaurant.
Colombia has a gastronomic diversity that few people outside the country know in depth. The Colombian Pacific has a fish and seafood cuisine with African influences that resembles no other Latin American cuisine. The Colombian Caribbean has preparations with coconut, plantain and spices that combine indigenous and Spanish tradition. The Andean region (which includes Medellín and the department of Antioquia) has a mountain cuisine based on grains, tubers and meats that is the best known but also the most misunderstood outside the country.
Chef David Suárez Estrada built La Makha’s menu so that a diner can travel through those regions in a single dinner. Not as an academic exercise: as a flavor experience that makes sense dish by dish. The Pacific ceviche is not there to demonstrate regional diversity. It is there because it is the best way to understand what makes that coast singular.
Haute cuisine with Colombian products
The distinction that makes La Makha different from most Colombian restaurants in Medellín is the application of haute cuisine techniques to products that those same restaurants use without treating them that way.
Caribbean ñame, Pacific yuca, highland maize, Magdalena bocachico: these are ingredients every Colombian recognizes but that in their everyday form do not have the presentation or refinement that haute cuisine treatment produces. What La Makha does is take those ingredients, understand them in their cultural context and transform them with techniques that elevate them without stripping them of their identity.
The result is not fusion. Fusion mixes different traditions to produce something new. What La Makha does is take a specific tradition (the Colombian one) and work it with the tools of another technical school without the mixture being the point. The point is the original ingredient, presented better.
The living menu: why it changes and what that means for the diner
La Makha’s menu is not fixed. It changes according to the seasonal availability of ingredients and according to what the chef considers is at its best at each point in time.
For the habitual diner at restaurants with a standard menu, that can seem like a complication: not knowing exactly what you will find when you arrive. In practice, it is an advantage. It means what the restaurant serves is what has the highest quality at that moment, not what was good six months ago and the printed menu has not updated yet.
It also means the returning diner (the one who comes three times a year or during a long stay at the hotel) has a genuinely different experience on each visit. Not small variations in the garnish of a central dish that never changes. Real changes in the offering according to the season.
To book at La Makha with the active tasting menu, it is worth confirming at booking whether a seasonal menu is available and how many courses it includes. You can learn more about the creative vision behind the menu in the article on chef David Suárez Estrada and La Makha.
How to integrate La Makha into a Binn Hotel stay
The advantage of having La Makha inside the hotel is that the restaurant requires no transfer, no external reservation and no itinerary adjustment. It is right there.
But that accessibility can lead the guest to underestimate it: to treat it as the default option for when there is no desire to go out and look for something. The way to get real value from it is the opposite: plan at least one dinner at La Makha with the same intention one would apply to visiting a destination restaurant.
Book in advance. Ask for the tasting menu if available. Coordinate with the sommelier or dining room team if wine pairing is available. Mention if there is a celebration: the restaurant can prepare an additional detail without it needing to be explicitly requested if the context is there.
That evening at La Makha, well planned, tends to be one of the most concrete memories guests take away from Binn Hotel. To complement the gastronomic experience with other options in the neighborhood, the article on luxury dining in El Poblado has nearby recommendations.
Frequently asked questions
What makes Binn Hotel’s gastronomy unique in Medellín?
The combination of La Makha and Etro Rooftop offers two gastronomic registers within the same hotel: Colombian contemporary cuisine with a living menu at La Makha, and signature cocktails with sharing gastronomy at Etro. Both spaces have their own editorial identity and do not function as interchangeable alternatives.
Does Binn Hotel offer all-inclusive packages with gastronomy?
Not in the traditional all-inclusive format. Through direct booking at binnhotel.com it is possible to coordinate packages that include breakfast, dinner at La Makha or Etro Rooftop consumptions as part of the rate. The concierge team personalizes the proposal.
Are there eco-friendly practices at La Makha?
Yes. La Makha operates with a zero-waste approach, using the living menu to adapt the card to the seasonal availability of local ingredients and reduce waste. Suppliers are primarily Colombian regional producers, prioritizing ingredient traceability from the source.
Best rate guaranteed · Dinner at La Makha available in select packages
