“Encanto” is a great name for a restaurant. Especially a restaurant that specializes in Colombian cuisine.
Since 2021, the Spanish word meaning “charm” has been inextricably linked with the 2021 Disney animated film of that name — a film that, of course, tells the magical story of the Madrigals, a multigenerational family living in Colombia.
Colombian food has taken a back seat to other Latin American cuisines in the area, especially Mexican and Guatemalan cuisine. Even Tomatello’s Latin Cuisine in Hopewell, which is owned by a Colombian family, started out focused largely on burritos before gradually adding Colombian specialties to its menu.
Encanto Colombiano Restaurant, which opened on South Olden Avenue in Hamilton in April, has been zeroed in on Colombian cuisine from the get go. Among the restaurant’s best sellers is Bandeja Paisa ($27.50), a Colombian specialty of rice, beans, beef, chicharrón, chorizo, sweet potato, plantain, fried egg, blood sausage and avocado.
This heaping dish is accompanied, as per tradition, with an arepa, a type of ground corn flatbread that is popular throughout South America, but especially in Colombia.
Also popular at Encanto since its opening has been its Colombian-style mini-empanadas, or empanaditas ($10.50). Where many empanadas are made with flour, these are made with corn, and come stuffed with beef and potatoes.
Specialties of the house include Salmon con Camarones al Ajillo, or salmon and shrimp with garlic, $26.25; Chuleta de cerdo con agridulce de pimenton, or roasted pork chop spiced with sweet and sour paprika, $23.10; and carne de res al vino tinto, or beef cooked in red wine demiglace with mushrooms, $23.10).
Seafood specialties include ceviche de pulpo (octopus) and mango, $21, and encocado de camarones , or shrimp cooked in a creamy coconut sauce, $23.10.
Another traditional Colombian dish featured on the menu is Ajiaco ($21), a hearty soup of chicken, three kinds of potatoes, corn, and guasca, a Colombian herb. Mondongo ($21), a soup of pork, potato, plantain, cassava, carrot, cilantro, onion, garlic and bell pepper, is also on the menu.
Appropriately for a restaurant that opens at 9 a.m., Encanto also serves breakfast. including Calentado Paisa, or rice and beans with chorizo, scrambled eggs and arepa; Calentado Encanto, or rice with beans with sweet potatoes, bacon, scrambled eggs, beef or chicken; and assorted omelettes, including omelette ranchero, served with baby corn, sausage, onion, tomato and mozzarella.
As one might expect, Colombian coffee is on the menu. Encanto also serves a variety of fruit juices.
Encanto has a full bar serving everything from martinis to mojitos as well as special house cocktails, all of which feature Colombian aguardiente, typically an anise-flavored liqueur made from sugarcane. The La Bandera cocktail, made with aguardiente, vodka, gin, passion fruit liqueur, blue curacao and Grenadine syrup, is $15. Colombian beers such as Poker Lager and Águila are also available.
Encanto Colombiano Restaurant, Bar and Panedería. 2217 S. Olden Ave., Hamilton. Phone: (609) 940-9924. Web: encantocolombianonj.com. Open Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Encocado de camarones (shrimp). (Photos courtesy of Encanto/Instagram.),
