Rapid summary: Karen Cruz, 3 Soles bar manager, won the Fomenco Liquida category of the Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2026 with Solanum Andino, a cocktail that runs through three Colombian territories in a single drink.
A prize of this kind isn’t earned by chance. Karen Cruz, 3 Soles bar manager, she had been put up with a production that did not simply mix liquor with a complete tour of three territories of Colombia and was counted through a single drink.
What’s The Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2026
The Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2026 was a competition organized by the Municipal Mayor’s office that brought together more than 80 participants from local cuisine. Following a selection phase at different restaurants throughout the area, finalists have been confronted at a later stage at the San José María Escrivá Educational Institution of Balaguer, with modern facilities and kitchens for this type of activity. The contest recognized proposals in categories such as traditional and old cuisine, contemporary cuisine, urban flavors, masses and amasijos, pastry and liquid cuisine, highlighting the talent of chefs and cooks from the region. The winners have an opportunity to attend the Peru Fairy fair, MUCH Gusto, in Lima, to propose them at an international stage.
To compete with a plate in the category of a liquid kitchen means something different from competing with a plate: a cocktail does not have the same time to explain that a plate preparation, or the same amount of visual elements to transmit an idea. The whole concept has to be sustained in what’s best in a drink, and so that gain in this category requires as much or more conceptual rigor as anything else.
Solanum Andino, the winning cocktail
Solanum Andino was built with a single taste but with a tour: Andes, Pacific and Amazon, three regions of Colombia united with one drink.
Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2026, Category Liquid Cooking
The Andean starting point: tree and quin tomato
The cocktail starts with the tomato tree in the Andes, a fruit of the genus Solanum that gives name to the proposal, grown in the Colombian mountains and symbol of the region’s agricultural wealth. It’s connected with the Andean tree with its bark and its origin with quinine, and also with the Aperol profile, creating a bridge between a local ingredient and a reference that the palate already knows.
The Pacific Pass: Reposado Vigo
From that, the tour arrives to the Colombian Pacific with the resting viche, an ancestral distillate and preserved by middle- and tiresome-minded women. More than a liquor, the viche represents memory, resistance, traditional medicine and cultural heritage of a region whose contribution to Colombian cuisine rarely reaches a drink outside its native territory.
The Amazon clasp: copoazú and cocoa
The tour ends with the Amazon with copoazú and cocoa, and these are the fruits of biodiversity, tradition and community knowledge of the region. Cocoa brings depth and balance, closing a journey that crosses three different territories without losing coherence in the cup.
Why this prize matters for 3 Soles
That’s not the only recognition of 3 Soles in this edition. MuysquynsucaAnthony Mora’s plate also reached the final phase in the category Contemporary Cooking of the same Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2026. Also, this was the first recognition of the restaurant at large: 3 Soles had already won the Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2025 in the category Contemporary Cooking, and had been a final of the Reto Porkgombia 2025. To gain from a liquid cuisine adds up to a different dimension to that path: it confirms that the production of the restaurant does not restrict itself to the plate but also extends to the cooking industry with the same level of research about ingredients and territory.
What does this type of recognition represent for whoever visits the restaurant
A prize of this nature does not change the atmosphere and location of the restaurant but does support something that is more difficult to check at a glance: that after every cup there’s a real research about ingredients, techniques and territory, evaluated by an outside jury. To whoever’s choosing where to celebrate or simply where to have a good cocktail, that backup weighs different from a social networking recommendation.
The Winner’s words
When the result became known, Karen Cruz shared his thanks for the backup received from the restaurant:
“Thanks to 3 Soles Restaurant To get back to me with these events, to let me continue to work with you, to be able to explore technologies and to continue to know our territory and inheritance. Thank you, challenges of gastronomy.”
If you have little time, ask for this.
- Author’s cocktail 2×1 from the letter, to get to know Karen Cruz’s style of cooking.
- Jawk ($43,700) as a fresh entrance to accompany the experience.
- Bondiola in cruba sauce ($51,800), an author plate with the same local ingredient spirit.
- Fitted with a deconstructed The place’s been closed with dessert.
What’s the Gastronomic Challenge of Chia?
It’s a competition organized by the Mayor’s office of Chia that brings together restaurants, cooks and gastronomic projects from the municipality with categories such as traditional cuisine, contemporary cuisine, urban flavors and liquid cuisine and so on.
What’s Solanum Andino?
It’s the cocktail with which Karen Cruz, 3 Sole bar manager, won the Fomenco Liquida category of the Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2026, built around ingredients from the Andes, Pacific and Colombian Amazon.
Can I order Solanum Andino in 3 Soles?
The proposal put forward at a competition and with a special experience and with a special offer should be consulted with the restaurant.
What’s the viche and why’s his place at this cocktail?
The viche is an old distillate from the Colombian Pacific, traditionally prepared by middlewives and high-end people of African descent and at Solanum Andino represents the peaceful portion of the tour of the three territories of the cocktail.
What other awards have you earned 3 Soles?
The restaurant also won the Gastronomic Challenge of Chia 2025 in the category Contemporary Cooking, has been at Gastrobest 2025 and 2026 and was a finalist of the Reto PorkColombia 2025.
If you want to get to know about the job after this prize, discover the winning cocktail at 3 Soles and check their availability.
