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Caracas has an extraordinary range of cuisines on offer, from home-style Venezuelan fare to traditional Spanish cuisine to sushi and Chinese restaurants. Specialties include beef steaks and arepas (corn-bread snacks stuffed with fillings of your choice).

The restaurants below have been grouped into four different pricing categories:
$$$$ (over Bs 55,000)
$$$ (Bs 40,000 to Bs 55,000)
$$ (Bs 19,000 to Bs 40,000)
$ (up to Bs 19,000)
Prices are for a three course meal for one, with half a bottle of house wine or equivalent, tax and service included.

Taiko
Sleek, minimalist and extremely classy, Taiko is in the heart of the city’s gastronomic hub, Las Mercedes. It was the first of many Japanese restaurants and sushi bars to reach Caracas, and it continues to be the best.

Calle Trinidad, Las Mercedes 
Tel: (0212) 991 6705.
Price: $$$$

La Estancia
Famous for its juicy steaks straight from the Venezuelan plains of the interior, La Estancia is an upmarket restaurant in a beautiful hacienda-style building with wooden interiors, green courtyards and faultless service.  

Principal de la Castellana
Tel: (0212) 261 4223.
Price: $$$-$$$$
 
El Barquero
Aficionados of fish will be happiest in El Barquero, which has a long list of seafood and freshwater fish dishes cooked to perfection. It is a friendly and well-loved place with personal attention and two dining spaces to choose from: one laidback with music and the other more formal.

Avenida Luis Roche
Tel: (0212) 261 4645.
Price: $$$

Restaurant Urrutia
Traditional Spanish restaurants are a mainstay of the Caracas cuisine scene, and this one is particularly recommendable. Situated in a round whitewashed building with a lively atmosphere, it specializes in Basque dishes.
 
Avenida Francisco Solano
Tel: (0212) 763 0448.
Price: $$

El Gourmet Vegetariano
Vegetarian food isn’t well understood in Venezuela, where the rump steak rules, but this simple, unassuming little spot breaks the mould, serving up enormous portions of healthy, filling meat-free fare for little more than loose change. It is slightly out of the way and the walk goes through a rough area so best catch a cab.

Avenida Los Jardines
Tel: (0212) 730 7490.
Price: $



Nightlife:

You’ll find few Latin American cities with nightlife as energetic as that in Caracas, and that is saying something on a continent that prides itself on partying until the llamas come home. The best clubs, bars and cafes are found in the districts of Las Mercedes, Altamira, El Rosal and La Castellana. Bars open their doors around 1900 but most barflies don’t come out until 2300 when the action really starts. Most clubs open around 2200 and shut around 0500 or when the last reveller leaves.

Bars: Caracas drinking spots can come and go in the blink of an eye, but one enduring favorite is the low-key El León (tel: (0212) 263 6014), an open-air bar on Plaza La Castellana, popular with the city’s youth. For something trendier, try Vintage (tel: (0212) 262 1766), in Centro Comercial San Ignacio, or for a down-to-earth American-style bar head to Wassup (tel: (0212) 991 0686) on Calle New York.

Clubs: To burn the midnight oil, join the beautiful people at Aeon (tel: (0212) 265 5525), in the Centro Comercial San Ignacio, which has DJs spinning a range of modern music. Another possibility is Gohka (tel: (0212) 991 4143), on Calle Madrid, which plays easy-to-dance Latin pop.

Live Music: For a burst of live salsa music, head to old favorite El Maní es Así (tel: (0212) 763 6671) on Avenida Francisco Solano López. Alternatively, for some cool live jazz, try the long established Juan Sebastián Bar (tel: (0212) 951 5575) on Avenida Venezuela.

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