Cumbre Restaurante

This is my place to go when I miss what my grandmother used to cook for me, the silpancho, the salteñas, the «aji de lengua», the «sopa de maní» the humintas and the majadito are my preferred here. The attention is amazing and the live music makes it almost nostalgic, this is a place for anyone that wants to feel a little closer to Bolivia.

Small hole in the wall. Came here for a New Years celebration. Good was delightful. I’ve only had home made Bolivian food and the silpancho was great! They ran out of beets but had cooked a potato to perfection — I’d say the best baked potato I’ve ever had.
Everyone is festive and there was a mixup in the seating but they gave out fun New Years hats and necklaces and played lots of sing along throwbacks. Certainly a New Years I won’t forget…

My first time eating Bolivian food. We had a two soups and a tongue dish. The food was simple but quite tasty. The staff were great, as was the atmosphere.

This is one of only 2 or 3 Bolivian-​centric restaurants in the NY-​NJ area. My Mother in Law is Bolivian, and we’ve been wanting to come here for a few months, ever since we saw it written up online. The place is small, with traditional Bolivian artwork on the wall & from the moment we walked in today, we were greeted by a friendly server, and an even friendlier manager/​partner. And as soon as the MIL mentioned she was Bolivian, it almost was like seeing long lost family.
As soon as we sat down, we were given a pitcher of moqochinche, which is a dried peach drink – almost like a tea – with cinnamon and sugar. Not too sweet, and delicious. And all natural – you can taste it. They do sell soda, but I’d much rather have this!
So, just an FYI, we split every dish. The portions are HUGE, and the prices are good.
First, we ordered Saltenas. One chicken, one beef. For those of you who haven’t ever had a Saltena, make sure its on your «to-​do» list. I’d take saltenas as a snack ANYDAY over most anything else. Saltenas are –loosely stated– a Bolivian version of an empanada. Except completely different. A faintly sweet dough (which is almost always baked, not fried) encases a rich & sometimes slightly spicy stew of chicken or beef, sauce, potatoes, peas, raisins, olives and hardcooked egg. More than just a snack, almost a delicious little meal on its own. The only comment I would make about the Saltenas here at Cumbre is that the dough was markedly softer than what I’m accustomed to. Maybe a little undercooked. But still out of this world! BTW this is served with a «salsa». Very spicy. If you’re not accustomed to spicy stuff, don’t liberally dip your food in it like I did. The Moqochinchi came in handy after the salsa.
Then, we split a order of Papas a la Huancaina, a potato dish with cheese and a peanut sauce. Having had the Peruvian version many times (which has a creamy sauce with aji amarillo) this was a nice departure, as the peanut sauce adds another dimension to the flavors and aji in this dish. Really yummy.
Lastly, we split an entrée of Silpancho. This very thin breaded steak is served with white rice, and eggs over easy, with diced beets, onion, and tomato over top. My MIL mentioned that it’s an awesome hangover cure. After tasting it, I could see that happening.
We then heard the word «Huminta», of course, I was lost, but my MIL immediately ordered some to go. A corn pudding made with cinnamon and raisins, steamed in the husk, like a tamale. I’ll be sure to dig into that later on.
For all the food that we ordered (and she ordered some stuff «to go») it was VERY reasonable.
We’ll definitely be back.

Came to Cumbre with a group of friends so we got to try a lot of stuff. Each plate portion is huge and can easily feed 2 people so we were more than stuffed.
Saltenas — similar to empanadas but the shell is sweet and the inside is juicy and soft
Empanadas — I actually liked this more because the flavors were more of what I prefer but both are pretty good
Lengua — tender and amazing, highly recommend
Silpancho — super large piece of meat with a fried egg on top, this was ok and on the salty side
Peanut soup — interesting… probably wouldn’t get this again
Piqué macho — a MASSIVE plate of stir-​fried meat, onions, tomatoes, hot dogs, potato, and cubed feta cheese in a slightly sweet and spicy brothy sauce (the menu says it feeds 2, but I think 3 – 4 is a more realistic number)
Escabeche mixto — pickled headcheese, pig feet, and veggies (served cold)
Lechon — nice and fatty, just like how pork should be
Plantain with rice — I didn’t try this but my friend seemed to like it
We had 1 more meat dish, but I forgot the name of it; I just remember the meat was a bit salty with fava beans and corn on the cob with huge kernels which were very starchy.
Sadly, my camera died so I couldn’t take more than a few pictures.
Cumbre is very loud due to the people playing instruments and singing in the front. If you are there to have a conversation, it might not be the place for you. It was fine for us though because we were there to stuff our face.

This is one of the most interesting Latin restaurants I been to, if you come here expecting typical Latin food, you’re gonna leave disappointed. Bolivian cuisine is different than the rest of Latin America because of indigenous influence, so instead of rice and plantains, expect to see dishes like quinua soup, tripe, and sweet tamale desserts. The highlights tho are the delightful salteñas, which are essentially empanadas on steroids. Try both beef and chicken to see which you like better, personally I prefer beef for their juiciness. Also try the moqochinchi, the dehydrated peach drink similar to a Polish kompot. The food is four stars, but I still recommend going here, just because this is unlike anything you’ve ever eaten before!

I was there Sunday ordered a Silpancho,
It meat was very well cooked, not greasy at all being that it Milanese. The plate was very well portioned. I could only finish it ¾ and I was starving. I did find the onions too bitter. But only complaint.
To drink mocochinche, which is one of official Bolivian soft drink. Not too sweet and very refreshing, almost to perfection. Except for the peach at the end of the drink that looks pretty funny, so don’t be alarmed when seeing it.
There was live andes music. I went with a large group. We were all accommodated apart from the fact that it is small.

Closed? Or not? Maybe I let this review draft sit too long! There are barely any dedicated Bolivian restaurants in NYC to begin with, so I was happy to discover this one right in my backyard.
Bolivian cuisine (to me) echoes Colombian/​Ecuadorian — with an emphasis on indigenous starches, hearty soups, and meat meat meat. Not knowing anything more specific, I came to Cumbre and went straight for the saltenas (Bolivian empanadas) — but they were out! Luckily, the ridiculously friendly and down-​to-​earth co-​owner helped us with the menu.
— Sopa de mani: Bolivian peanut soup. It sounded intriguing and for better or worse, didn’t taste like peanut at all. The fact that there are crinkle fries thrown in was kind of awesome. Don’t you make that face — this was a delicious, rich soup, only a little oversalted. Get a smaller portion, or else you won’t want to eat anything else.
— Lengua: The most tender tongue I’ve ever tasted. Wink.
— Chicharron: Served with starchy, swollen kernels of mote. This platter was huge, and awesome though pretty typical. It was fried pork belly, after all.
— Macho piqué: Was highly recommended, though we didn’t go for it. The $ 15 plate is one of those «kitchen sink» dishes (yes there are hot dogs in it), apparently large enough for two, and is their most popular menu item.
All of it went great with a couple bottles of Bolivian beer.
The restaurant is clean with a warm, family-​owned feel. The food was tasty and fresh, though the quietness of the place might have suggested otherwise. I appreciated that they were out of a few things (don’t expect to find saltenas past 6:30pm) since it suggests they’d rather run out of food than serve ingredients that have been sitting for too long.
I’ve walked past Cumbre on a karaōke night before and it looked like everyone was having a great time and loving everything. Fingers crossed that they’re not permanently closed.

This was definitely worth the trip from Brooklyn. Based on the food I’d give this place 4 stars. First the waitress brought us a really interesting homemade iced tea with some spices I can’t recall, but it was really good. Then we had the Salteñas which were fantastic! Calling them Bolivian empanadas doesn’t do them justice. The dough was wonderfully sweet and the soupy filling made me clean my plate. The entrees weren’t quite as good but still tasty. My son had a huge plate of many chicken and beef. The beef was really tender and good. For desert we had a sort of tamale with cornbread-​like stuffing and cheese. It’s not what I expected in a desert (the cheese wasn’t sweet but was more like mozzarella) however it was nice and moist. Our four dishes came to around $ 30, a more than reasonable price.
What made me give this place five stars was the music. There was a band there with a ukulele, a pan flute, a guitar, and a drum. They were singing in spanish and the flute player was really great. Two people there weren’t even in the band but just joined in. We went there on Saturday and the waitress said that the music is usually on Sunday but it was the owner’s birthday so we really lucked out.
Overall, great service, great food, and great music made for a wonderful experience.

My wife who happens to be Bolivian brought me to this place and I must admit, the food was solid! I’ve ordered food from here twice (once for delivery) and most recent, we ate in. Great service, reasonable prices. Don’t expect anything fancy so if you’re looking for an upscale, romantic place, don’t come here. If you are looking for really good food, this is your spot.

We brought my brother in law who is Bolivian. He said he missed the food from home so we found this place. He said it’s very authentic and I ate Bolivian for the first time. I must say, the food was delicious. You could tell a lot of care goes into the food and service. Everyone was very nice, and the love music was an added bonus! Highly recommend this place!

A very small place, but worth going there for salteñas, and Silpancho. Good Beer from Bolivia.

Worth the short walk from the 7 train. Delicious fried chicken (chicharrón de pollo), Salteñas, and Bolivia beer (cerveza Paceña). Definitely coming back on a Sunday when they have live music.

A cozy neighborhood café in La Paz transported to a desolate stretch of Woodside Avenue.

I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone wishing to try some new INCREDIBLE food. Stop by on the weekends and you’ll have live music. Great Service.
Try the sopa de mani soup
and the Falso Conejo
Sacta de Pollo.
you can bring your own wine. with this food red wine is AMAZING!!!

Spot on!