Everyone describes the neighboring area of Getsamani as Cartagena's version of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's THE cool, hip 'hood of Cartagena with its underground feel and less touristy vibe from the Old City walls. It's got a bunch of great graffiti lined streets and it's home to several up and coming trendy restaurants. We originally stopped by Demente during the day but they weren't open yet, so we decided to come by later for dinner. Even though we didn't show up to dinner until 9pm, we were still the 1st people there.
The whole vibe of the place oozes cool. It's facing the busy plaza - which that night had a wedding party hanging around and then became just a night party with a booze cart, food carts and a strangely enough a kids show as well. I would recommend snagging the 2 rocking chairs outside if you can so that you can just enjoy the surrounding area for some great people watching. The menu is tapas style with just a handful of items on the menu and again, it's all in Spanish. I had read about the oxtail mini sliders but honestly I have no clue what oxtail is in Spanish - so I went out on a limb and ordered what looked like was described as a mini hamburger ($7). The one word in Spanish that I did recognize was bravas and I knew that usually was served with potatoes - so I went out on a limb and ordered that as well. Luckily for me, that was exactly what it turned out to be. The potatoes ($4.50) were perfectly crispy and roasted with olive oil and some salt. The spicy sauce and crema on top had the right amount of heat to it and it was pretty damn addictive. I actually ended up eating the whole plate myself.
The slider was also quite good, although I honestly can't say if I knew if it had oxtail in it or not. It was a pretty thick slider covered with a gruyere like cheese on it and it was juicy - it might have been cooked a bit too well done for me, but I would have never known how to say "medium rare" in Spanish anyways.
Allison got the octopus ceviche which looked like it was more grilled octopus but I didn't get to try it, so I'm not really sure how it tasted. The place definitely got packed around 10 or 11pm with a bunch of young locals and tourists. It's definitely a great late night people watching place and even if you just wanted to roll in and have a few drinks, it's a great place to be late a night. While it's not a huge menu, you can definitely make a good meal out of it. Plus given that our total bill $20/pp with drinks, tip, I felt like it was a very reasonable and affordable alternative to the more touristy, higher end place in the Old City.
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