Quick summary: “Los 3 Soles” means “the three suns,” one for each cuisine on the menu: Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Each of those countries had its own sun god, Sué, Tonatiuh and Inti, and the sun shows up in the logo, the colors and the menu. All of it happens in Chía, land of the Muisca moon goddess.
Some names are picked because they sound good. Others actually say something. Restaurante Fusión Los 3 Soles is the second kind. Translated from Spanish, it means “the three suns,” and each word carries an idea: a number that stands for three countries, and a star that, for the ancient cultures of those countries, was far more than a ball of light in the sky.
This isn’t the story of how the restaurant got started; we’ve told that one elsewhere. Here we’re sticking to the name itself: what each sun stands for, what the sun meant to the peoples behind our three cuisines, and where you can spot those suns when you visit.
Three suns, three countries, one table
The most direct explanation is also the most important one. The three suns are Colombia, Mexico and Peru, the three countries whose cooking comes together on our menu. Each one brings its own ingredients, techniques and way of gathering around a table.
On our website we sum it up with a line we love: one plate, three kitchens, a single sun. The idea is that the three traditions don’t compete with each other. They come together and, in doing so, create something new, the way three beams of light that cross shine brighter than any one of them alone.
If you want to know how it all began and who’s behind it, that’s a story for another day, one we’ve already told in our history of the restaurant and the fusion of three cultures in Chía.
The sun in the three cultures behind our cooking
There’s a detail that makes the name work even better. The Indigenous peoples of all three countries worshipped the sun. Each gave it its own name and its own story.
Sué, the sun of the Muisca
For the Muisca, the people who lived on the high plateau where Bogotá and Chía sit today, the sun was called Sué. Spanish chroniclers also recorded the name as Xué, Súa or Zuhé. According to Muisca mythology, Chiminigagua, the creator of light, brought Sué and Chía to life so they could light up the world as the sun and the moon.
The Muisca associated gold with the sun because of its shine, and they’re also the people behind the legend of El Dorado. Their main temple to Sué stood in Sogamoso, a town still known today as the City of the Sun.
Tonatiuh, the Fifth Sun of the Mexica
In central Mexico, the Mexica, often called the Aztecs, revered Tonatiuh, the sun god. Their mythology says the world had passed through several ages, each with its own sun, and that the current age belonged to the Fifth Sun. As the story goes, that sun was born when the god Nanahuatzin threw himself into a bonfire and a spark lit up the sky.
Inti, the sun of the Inca
In the Peruvian Andes, the sun was Inti, the most important god of the Inca Empire. He was the son of the creator god Huiracocha and the husband of Mama Quilla, the moon goddess. His great celebration, Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun, still takes place every year in Cusco around the June solstice.
Three suns in the land of the moon
Here’s the part we love telling most. The town of Chía is named after the Muisca goddess of the moon. Chía was the wife of Sué, the sun, and her main center of worship was right here in this territory.
So Los 3 Soles is, quite literally, a restaurant of suns in the land of the moon. For the Muisca, the sun and the moon were a couple who shared the sky. We like to think our name carries on that conversation: three suns that came from far away and found a home in the moon’s own land.
Where to spot the three suns when you visit Los 3 Soles
The name isn’t just on paper. You’ll find it all over the restaurant:
- In the logo, a sun with rays in shades of orange and amber, with the number 3 at its center.
- On the sign at the entrance, where the names of Peru, Mexico and Colombia are spelled out together.
- In the colors of the place: the amber, orange and warm brown of the brand evoke sunlight on the earth.
- On the menu, organized by country and full of dishes that cross all three cuisines.
- In the Dioses del Fuego y del Sol tasting menu, or “Gods of Fire and Sun,” held twice a year as a tribute to Muisca and Andean deities.
Chiminigagua and Huiracocha, from myth to plate
That tasting menu brings the names of the creator gods to the table. The Chiminigagua dish honors the Muisca creator of light, and the Cuniraya Huiracocha dish nods to Huiracocha, a figure in Andean mythology associated with creation. Together they show, in a very concrete way, how the restaurant’s name turns into food.
Short on time? Order this at Los 3 Soles
If you want to taste one sun from each country in a single visit, here’s the lineup:
- Ajiaco (Colombia): Bogotá’s signature chicken soup with papa criolla (a small, buttery golden Andean potato), corn on the cob, guascas (an earthy Andean herb) and capers, served with avocado and white rice.
- Birria tacos (Mexico): four corn tortilla tacos with slow-cooked beef and consommé for dipping.
- Retirement loin (Peru): 200 grams (about 7 ounces) of beef loin stir-fried with onion, tomato and green mango in soy sauce, served with white rice and French fries.
- Arepitas de birria (fusion): little white corn arepas stuffed with cheese, fried in birria fat and topped with shredded beef and guacamole.
The name Los 3 Soles: frequently asked questions
What does the name Los 3 Soles mean?
It means “the three suns.” They stand for the restaurant’s three cuisines, Colombian, Mexican and Peruvian, which come together on a single menu.
Why the sun?
Because the Indigenous peoples of all three countries worshipped the sun: the Muisca called it Sué, the Mexica called it Tonatiuh and the Inca called it Inti. The sun is a symbol all three cultures share.
What does the name have to do with Chía?
Chía is named after the Muisca moon goddess, who was the wife of Sué, the sun. That’s why we like to say Los 3 Soles is a restaurant of suns in the land of the moon.
Where does the sun appear at the restaurant?
In the logo, on the sign at the entrance, in the brand colors, on the menu organized by country and in the Dioses del Fuego y del Sol tasting menu.
Where is Los 3 Soles?
On the Vía Cerca de Piedra, off the Chía-Cota road in Chía, Cundinamarca, a short drive north of Bogotá.
Three suns that shine brighter in person
You can explain a name, but you really get it once you sit down at the table. Come see the sun on the logo, read the three countries at the entrance and try a dish from each one, along with everything else that makes Los 3 Soles unique. The three suns of Restaurante Fusión Los 3 Soles are waiting for you in Chía. Planning a trip to Bogotá? Add us to your itinerary.
