La Esquina Mediterránea: The Best Lasagna in Sabaneta

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La Esquina Mediterránea restaurant
La Esquina Mediterránea restaurant

Several neighbors and expats in Sabaneta had recommended to me La Esquina Mediterránea (The Mediterranean Corner), which is a small neighborhood restaurant that I finally tried recently.

It turns out this small restaurant is considered by many locals in the area to have the best lasagna in Sabaneta, which potentially could even be one of the best lasagnas to be found in Medellín.

La Esquina Mediterránea is owned by an American from Seattle who lives near the restaurant. The owner is an experienced chef who previously owned a restaurant and wine store in the States.

The owner acquired the restaurant over two years ago and enjoys living in Sabaneta.

The owner of La Esquina Mediterránea is also currently looking for a partner for opening an upscale restaurant in El Poblado or possibly Laureles.

My Recent Experience at La Esquina Mediterránea

I happened to be near this small Mediterranean-style restaurant recently at lunchtime and decided to try it out for the first time. Since several locals had recommended the lasagna, I ordered the meat lasagna.

The ingredients were fresh and the lasagna was cooked perfectly and was very tasty.

Since the restaurant is located in Sabaneta, which typically has lower costs than ritzier El Poblado, the cost of the lasagna was very reasonable, only 12,000 pesos ($3.88).

My impression is that La Esquina Mediterránea is a small local restaurant in Sabaneta that has many regular local customers but not many foreigners have yet discovered it.

This small neighborhood restaurant has the best lasagna I have tried in the Medellín metropolitan area.

The lasagna at La Esquina Mediterránea
The lasagna at La Esquina Mediterránea

The menu at La Esquina Mediterránea

The menu at the restaurant primarily has several Italian dishes including lasagna, pizzas and several pasta options. Lasagna with either meat or chicken costs 12,000 pesos.

The pizzas cost 18,000 pesos for a six-portion pizza. The pizza options include Bacon, Meats, Chicken with Mushrooms, Hawaiian and Vegetarian.  The several pasta options each cost 16,000 pesos for a large or 12,000 pesos for a medium portion.

On the menu are also a few other options including dishes from France, Russia and Greece. For example, the Beef Stroganoff costs 16,000 pesos and shish kebabs cost 14,000 pesos.

In addition the menu has several appetizers including fish cakes, beans, meatballs, Italian bread and salads.

The menu also includes several drinks including juices, sodas, beers and white and red wines.

How to Get There

La Esquina Mediterránea is located in Sabaneta about six blocks from the popular Parque Sabaneta and Iglesia de Santa Ana.

The small restaurant is also located two blocks from Pizza en Leña, which is a small pizzeria with the best pizza in Sabaneta.

The easiest way to get to Parque Sabaneta is to take the Medellín metro south to the Sabaneta station. The park is located a 10-minute walk east from the metro station.

There are also frequent buses that run from the Sabaneta metro station to Parque Sabaneta, which is near to where Pizza en Leña is located. The cost is only 1,800 pesos ($0.58).

Parque Sabaneta
Parque Sabaneta

Or you can ask any taxi driver in Medellín to take you to “Parque Sabaneta,” just about every taxi driver will know where it is.

It is relatively safe to walk from the metro station to Parque Sabaneta as there are many people on the streets during the day, or you can take the short bus ride.

The bottom line is if you happen to be in Sabaneta and craving some good food, La Esquina Mediterránea is a recommended local neighborhood restaurant.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. I really enjoy reading your articles Jeff, you pack a lot of great information in each one.
    I was wondering if you could give me an update about the climate there in Medellin. I have recently read about a serious air pollution problem there plus the city being under siege this past weekend by neo-paramilitary group? Any truth to these stories? I have read them on http://www.todaycolombia.com
    thank you for your time.
    Marc

    • Hi Marc, the climate (temperature range) is the fairly normal “spring-like” as usual for the city but there has been an increase in pollution recently with the city taking a number of actions including a day without cars or motorcycles, free use of the metro for a period of time, banning outdoor activities, etc. The increase in pollution is due to the city suffering the effects of the abnormal weather pattern caused by the “El Nino” phenomenon.

      Neo-paramilitary activity was not really very evident in Medellín. It was mainly outside the city. The Urabeños shut down all traffic connecting Medellin to the Caribbean coast, leaving a large part of northwest Colombia isolated from the rest of the country. Entire town centers in northern Colombia turned into ghost towns as no shopkeepers wanted to challenge the Urabeños’ order or believe in the police system’s ability to provide protection. The only impact in Medellín was in barrios in the far west of the city where very few expats go. They burned a bus and buses stopped running to the area and shopkeepers closed shops. I understand it was only for a couple days. But no impacts were seen to my knowledge in El Poblado, Laureles, Envigado or Sabaneta.

      • Thank you for the reply Jeff. I was planing on bringing the family down at the end of April. Should I hold off because of the pollution? Sounds pretty bad.

        • The pollution is nothing compared to the big cities in India or China. I sleep with the window open in Sabaneta and run around the city during the day with no problems. The worst area is probably in El Centro but you can avoid that area and the brief rain showers are becoming more frequent that clears things up. In April it typically rains about 35% more than in March and even more May, which is usually one of the rainiest months. Plus the actions the city is taking appears to have helped some.

  2. Thanks for writing about this restaurant in Sabaneta. It’s very good to find out about some of the best restaurants in areas outside of Poblado.

  3. The lasagna looks good and great value of money.
    How far is Sabaneta from parque lleras area? and how much by taxi?
    Thanks

    • The taxi time and cost depends on traffic. During non-rush hour I would estimate about 25-30 minutes from Parque Lleres and cost would probably be around 15,000 to 17,000 pesos.

      Or you could take the metro from Poblado station to Sabaneta station and the restaurant is about a 10 minute walk from the Sabaneta metro station or a minimum fare 4,600 peso taxi ride.

      Another option is buses from in front of Oviedo mall that cost 2,000 pesos to get to Parque Sabaneta. And there are buses going the opposite direction from Sabaneta departing in front of the Exito next to Aves Maria mall that go to Oviedo mall for only 2,000 pesos. The Sabaneta Exito is about 4 blocks from the restaurant.

      I would also recommend spending a bit of time in Parque Sabaneta, such as having a few drinks in one of the bars. But right now there is some construction or something going on in the park where much of Parque Sabaneta is blocked off. But you can still get to the church and all the bars/restaurants around the park.

  4. Went by a couple weeks ago, didn’t even know it was there. Definitely not a good lasagna. Whatever the spinach layer they put into it especially ruined it. The best lasagna in Sabaneta is still pasta pronto on the top floor of Aves Maria, but it was better there when it was Pizzotas. I will say the lady inside who I think was the owner’s wife was really nice.