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Gustu

La Paz

• Latin America’s Rising Star Female Chef 2021

Bolivia’s endemic pantry showcased by Latin America’s Rising Star Female Chef

On the Pass

Marsia Taha

Pastry Chef

Natalie Espinoza

In 2013, Claus Meyer, co-founder of five-time world No.1 Noma, opened Gustu in La Paz, Bolivia, and the restaurant has since propelled the country onto the world’s gastronomic map. It’s now helmed by Latin America’s Rising Star Female Chef 2021, Marsia Taha. Since joining the restaurant at its inception, she rose quickly through the ranks and is now one of the few Bolivian women working as head chef at a top restaurant.

Taha showcases the country’s ample, and often little-known, endemic pantry, sourcing ingredients from the Andes to the Amazon. Dishes include the raw yacare with chipilo and tree tomato, a purple plate of pork, plantain and pear kimchi, or the smoked trout with garum, yuca and murmunta (a blue-green alga native to Bolivia and Peru). Cocktails, beers and wines are thoughtfully paired by the Beverage Director and Restaurant Manager Bertil Tøttenborg.

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