Argentina’s restaurants shine brightly (Micheline guide)

[Ries]

Hi Ries, The Aramburu 18 course menu costs $200,000 pesos and the pairing wine $80,000 pesos..
Is this what you have experienced ?

No, I have only been to Bis, the cheaper Aramburu. Which is excellent. I have been several times, over probably a 6 or 7 year span, and if its that good, I can guess that the fancy restaurant is very good as well. (and the lunch special there is much much less than 200k)

 

[sergio]

Hi Ries, The Aramburu 18 course menu costs $200,000 pesos and the pairing wine $80,000 pesos..
Is this what you have experienced ?

OMG. In a country with so much serious poverty!

 

[Ries]

OMG. In a country with so much serious poverty!

Every poor country has expensive restaurants. I just read there is a new Ferrari dealer in Caracas, where the average salary is $145USD a month. I was in a restaurant the other night in Retiro with a 78,000 peso lomo on the menu. Not sure if anybody orders it, we sure didnt, but I would imagine there are at least a hundred restaurants in the city where with wine you could easily spend 100,000 pesos per person.

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[sergio]

Every poor country has expensive restaurants. I just read there is a new Ferrari dealer in Caracas, where the average salary is $145USD a month. I was in a restaurant the other night in Retiro with a 78,000 peso lomo on the menu. Not sure if anybody orders it, we sure didnt, but I would imagine there are at least a hundred restaurants in the city where with wine you could easily spend 100,000 pesos per person.

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Sorry but it sounds to me like "Let them eat cake"! Unseemly for expats to even discuss these otherworldly places in the midst of so much poverty -- I read now 57%

 

[Ries]

Sorry but it sounds to me like "Let them eat cake"! Unseemly for expats to even discuss these otherworldly places in the midst of so much poverty -- I read now 57%

I dont discount the increasing poverty, and how bad it looks things are going to get. Merely pointing out that, in Argentina, just like everywhere else, there is great wealth accumulated by a few.
And Argentines are in the majority patronizing a lot of the most expensive restaurants.

Meanwhile, my go to lunch, the choripan promo (includes papas fritas) went up another 100 pesos at my neighborhood parilla, I now pay 3000 pesos for it.
Interestingly to observe the different rates of inflation at different places for different things.
In october, it was perhaps 1800. Coke products at the kiosko have also doubled since Dec 15.
These are both things that the average Argentine busy.
Still a long long way from true "cake" prices.

In the last 4 months, I have probably eaten 4 or 5 times at places where we paid what we think of as "expensive" prices for dinner- more than 25,000 pesos each, at todays rate. I have no need for a 25,000 peso burger at ponyline.
Its still quite possible to eat very well for under 20,000 per person, less cocktails or wine, and I dont really drink either.
Meanwhile, in the wonderland that is the current USA, an average meal at Olive Garden, a very un-cake-like restaurant, is running right around the 25,000 peso mark, and any upscale restaurant in Washington State, where I live, is going to be a minimum of $50 per person before drinks.
The enormous concetration of wealth in a few is a global issue, and its getting worse everywhere.

 

[sergio]

I dont discount the increasing poverty, and how bad it looks things are going to get. Merely pointing out that, in Argentina, just like everywhere else, there is great wealth accumulated by a few.
And Argentines are in the majority patronizing a lot of the most expensive restaurants.

Meanwhile, my go to lunch, the choripan promo (includes papas fritas) went up another 100 pesos at my neighborhood parilla, I now pay 3000 pesos for it.
Interestingly to observe the different rates of inflation at different places for different things.
In october, it was perhaps 1800. Coke products at the kiosko have also doubled since Dec 15.
These are both things that the average Argentine busy.
Still a long long way from true "cake" prices.

In the last 4 months, I have probably eaten 4 or 5 times at places where we paid what we think of as "expensive" prices for dinner- more than 25,000 pesos each, at todays rate. I have no need for a 25,000 peso burger at ponyline.
Its still quite possible to eat very well for under 20,000 per person, less cocktails or wine, and I dont really drink either.
Meanwhile, in the wonderland that is the current USA, an average meal at Olive Garden, a very un-cake-like restaurant, is running right around the 25,000 peso mark, and any upscale restaurant in Washington State, where I live, is going to be a minimum of $50 per person before drinks.
The enormous concetration of wealth in a few is a global issue, and its getting worse everywhere.

US people earn many times more than Argentines. An Olive Garden meal is affordble to most. Anyway it's irrelevant what the prices are in the US. The topic is what is costs in Argentina where wages for the overwhelming majority are very low and pensions even worse.

 

[Ries]

My point is that the wealthy of Argentina support these restaurants. There is an estimated $400 billion in us one hundred dollar bills in Argentina. Physical bills. Obviously much more wealth in other assets. So the biggest problem in Argentina is not the existence of a few restaurants that charge more than $100 us, but the incredible concentrationof wealth in a few, and increasing poverty for the many.

 

[Ries]

52 % of US citizens earn US $40,000 or less. That would be "most". given the current economic situation in the USA, with the median home price for the entire country at $387,000, I dont think its accurate to say a 25 dollar meal is "affordable" to most. Olive Garden is considered a fancy meal for special occasions, in the rural agricultural county I live in, by "most" of the people. There are, of course, much more expensive places too, for the 10%.

Regardless, this is a thread about restaurants in Argentina, and how Michelin is now recognizing them. (for financial reasons, of course- Michelin does this to make money).
Are you seriously saying that expats, or argentines, should not discuss restaurants because a majority of the population cannot afford them?
Its "unseemly"?
My point about the USA, or Venezuela, is that in neither country can most people afford restaurants that cost $200 per person.
Should citizens of those countries then not discuss them either?

I live here on Social Security. I actually get the low end of the payments, as I was self employed most of my life. I cook a lot at home, and eat 3000 peso choripans with gusto.
But yes, sometimes I do commit the moral failing of going to a restaurant and spending $20 or even $30 US per person.
And obviously, compared to the average argentine, I am incredibly lucky to get this pension.
I realize that every day, as I walk around BA.
At least I am spending that money here, adding to the foreign income.

There are discussions here about the economy, and poverty.
There are also discussions here about iphones (which cost close to 2000 dollars US here) or buying real estate, or buying cars, or travelling to Iguazu, none of which can the average argentine afford.

 

[Rich One]

52 % of US citizens earn US $40,000 or less. That would be "most". given the current economic situation in the USA, with the median home price for the entire country at $387,000, I dont think its accurate to say a 25 dollar meal is "affordable" to most. Olive Garden is considered a fancy meal for special occasions, in the rural agricultural county I live in, by "most" of the people. There are, of course, much more expensive places too, for the 10%.

Regardless, this is a thread about restaurants in Argentina, and how Michelin is now recognizing them. (for financial reasons, of course- Michelin does this to make money).
Are you seriously saying that expats, or argentines, should not discuss restaurants because a majority of the population cannot afford them?
Its "unseemly"?
My point about the USA, or Venezuela, is that in neither country can most people afford restaurants that cost $200 per person.
Should citizens of those countries then not discuss them either?

I live here on Social Security. I actually get the low end of the payments, as I was self employed most of my life. I cook a lot at home, and eat 3000 peso choripans with gusto.
But yes, sometimes I do commit the moral failing of going to a restaurant and spending $20 or even $30 US per person.
And obviously, compared to the average argentine, I am incredibly lucky to get this pension.
I realize that every day, as I walk around BA.
At least I am spending that money here, adding to the foreign income.

There are discussions here about the economy, and poverty.
There are also discussions here about iphones (which cost close to 2000 dollars US here) or buying real estate, or buying cars, or travelling to Iguazu, none of which can the average argentine afford.

Some of these expensive restos (Like Marcel) are patronized by government decision makers that live out of taxpayers money....! They surely are aware about the poverty levels.
Let's not worry about a few hundred SSA beneficiaries ..!

 

[sergio]

52 % of US citizens earn US $40,000 or less. That would be "most". given the current economic situation in the USA, with the median home price for the entire country at $387,000, I dont think its accurate to say a 25 dollar meal is "affordable" to most. Olive Garden is considered a fancy meal for special occasions, in the rural agricultural county I live in, by "most" of the people. There are, of course, much more expensive places too, for the 10%.

Regardless, this is a thread about restaurants in Argentina, and how Michelin is now recognizing them. (for financial reasons, of course- Michelin does this to make money).
Are you seriously saying that expats, or argentines, should not discuss restaurants because a majority of the population cannot afford them?
Its "unseemly"?
My point about the USA, or Venezuela, is that in neither country can most people afford restaurants that cost $200 per person.
Should citizens of those countries then not discuss them either?

I live here on Social Security. I actually get the low end of the payments, as I was self employed most of my life. I cook a lot at home, and eat 3000 peso choripans with gusto.
But yes, sometimes I do commit the moral failing of going to a restaurant and spending $20 or even $30 US per person.
And obviously, compared to the average argentine, I am incredibly lucky to get this pension.
I realize that every day, as I walk around BA.
At least I am spending that money here, adding to the foreign income.

There are discussions here about the economy, and poverty.
There are also discussions here about iphones (which cost close to 2000 dollars US here) or buying real estate, or buying cars, or travelling to Iguazu, none of which can the average argentine afford.

A google search tells me that the average Social Security pension is $1,767. A lot more than what Argentines receive. And I think many US citizens have private pensions, savings and paid off mortgages. But my point is not the standard of living in the US. My point is that foreigners talking about restaurants that charge super high prices, even in USD, (and that is what I was responding to -- not a USD $20 meal) and Michelin stars does indeed look noblesse oblige under the circumstances.