11 Dec, 2019 | Alexandra Meleán

Reviews, Tourism and Food

Photos: Michael Dunn 

Sopocachi’s new boîte features Bolivian food with a spicy twist

The Sopocachi neighbourhood’s new kid Ahijada, or ‘goddaughter’ in Spanish, is the sister restaurant to the highly Instagrammable and hip Popular restaurant on Calle Murillo in La Paz’s city center. Like Sopocachi, Ahijada has soul. She’s an ajiceria – a modern kitchen serving local dishes with Bolivian ajís like aribibi, gusanito, chicotillo, chinche, dulce and locoto, among others. Fresh chicha, or fermented corn juice, is shipped from the small village of Cliza, up in the golden high valleys of Cochabamba. There is a handpicked selection of natural wines from the Cinti Valley in the south of Bolivia and artisanal cider made in La Paz. The house specialty trout is prepared with a rainbow mélange of fermented ajís by partner and chef Limber Quispe, a 28-year-old Copacabana local. Ahijada Ajiceria features a casual six-seat cement bar in front of a custom-designed open kitchen staffed with young Bolivian line cooks. Ceiling-to-floor windows give the 30-seat salon an airy, urban feel with a curbside Sopocachi street view. Quispe co-owns Ahijada with Juan Pablo Reyes, Diego Rodas and Alexandra Melean, who previously founded the immensely successful restaurant Popular. The partners have been changing the restaurant landscape in La Paz since 2017. 

Belisario Salinas 572, Sopocachi

12:30-14:30, Monday through Saturday

instagram.com/ahijada.ajiceria