Crazy prices at MALBA

"JG" said:
Prices are through the roof here!! out of control. i went to buy a birthday cake and very average look quality cakes were so expensive. an apple cake, medium sized was 102 pesos, and a chocolate and dulce de leche cake was 72. This was in a bakery in Boedo, hardly recolleta. i ended up buying a mouse cake for 60 pesos. was very average, i was very disappointed. even the kids didnt like it. I should know by now that argentina has mediocre bakeries. low quality and untrained staff, but mostly cheap ingredients, artificial flavor, and cheap ingredients (repeating that as they are so consistent with their low quality).
anyway, i hardly earn 60 pesos in a day. i paid a days wages on that mediocre cake. When i lived in the states, i could buy a nice cake without thinking twice about it. here i felt like i was buying a watch or something.
the same bakery in boedo has trays of these racial stereotype cookies. i plan to go with my camera and ill send you guys a link how you can see them. One has an african male with really large red lips and big nose. the other cookie is a black child with an afro and same feature. i really found these cookies strange. im sure many of you will agree.
anyway, prices are soaring here, quality remains rock bottom low.
This has been since the devaluation so I have no idea why you moved to BA in the first place

 
The restaurant at any art museum is oriented towards tourists, not low prices.

The restaurant at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC has a prix fixe of $58 US ($180 pesos) Its more if you order ala carte, and that does not include wine, which starts at 20 bucks a bottle.

At the Pompidou, in Paris, the restaurant can easily run 50 to 75 euros, without wine (thats well over $200 pesos)

Not far from Malba, one can get a very good choripan for just about 4 pesos, in the Bosque.
 
Yes, Pompidou and MOMA are expensive. I had lunch at the Pompidou Centre in January. It cost about 50 euros for one person with a 1/2 bottle of wine. MOMA is also expensive. Amazingly I could spend just about the same nowadays at MALBA. A major difference is that MOMA and Popmpdou have really elegant restaurants. Pompidou has probably the best panoramic view in Paris. MALBA is basically a cafe. I think you also missed my point - MALBA was not so expensive until inflation became serious here and even now it is out of line compared to most prices in BA.
 
When I was there it was moderately crowded. Lots of people speaking English, so this is now probably a place given over to tourists. Too bad.
 
Just in case you thought MALBA's prices were OK....The Alvear Palace is advertising A Bastille Day lunch - $480 per person. I guess it's cheap compared to Paris.
 
There are so mmany myths about Buenos Aires and the biggest one is that is somehow cheaper now than when one dollar was one peso. Its actually dearer now in dollar terms than in 1999 for just about all items.
I remember in the 1990s when I visited it was very easy to find a Hotel for around 20 dollars a night . Nowadays a cheap Hotel is 70 dollars . Restaurants are dearer now than at any time in the 1990s as well
 
Yes, Pericles you are right. In the 90's there were decent hotels for $20 or less. I stayed at the Regis for around $15 USD a night - very pleasant hotel. The Esmeralda Palace was around $20 USD. I understand that Kings Hotel (not sure if it is still in business) was about $10 USD. Even less than five years ago 2-3 star hotels were in the $25 range (Prince and Guido Palace for example). Last I checked the latter two were about $100 USD a night. Up to the develuation a cup of coffee was routinely $1,50 pesos or the same in dollar terms. Patio Bullrich, the city's premier shopping center, charged $2,50 which we thought was unbelievable. I am not sure if they have reached Malba's 8,00 pesos but probably close to it. The Buenos Aires Herald cost 60 cents US in the 90's, went up to 80 cents. Now $2,50 and $3,50 on Sundays. I carry with me a card from a remise company with prices scratched out over the years. The cost of a ride to Ezeiza has gone up several times. I could go on and on...Point is that even when it was 1 dollar / 1 peso Buenos Aires was cheaper in almost all respects than now. If the 3-1 rate is not maintained, prices will go wild in international terms.
 
I wasn't there during the one-to-one, but i assume that prices in the tourist-sector haven't risen because of inflation, but simply because a huge growth in demand. After the one-to-one the tourist-sector exploded (and so did the prices).

Can you name prices in dollars of products you bought on a daily basis?
 
I suppose prices in the tourist sector rose because of increase in demand AND inflation. You ask about daily prices. I came across a receipt from SUBITO, a very nice restaurant that used to be in Patio Bullrich but is now in La Recova. Prices were substantially lower than now. As I said, the average price of a cup of coffee was $1,50 pesos/dollars and as little as $1peso/dollar in some places. I remember certain prices, others I have a vague idea. I drank the same 1/2 bottle of wine in the same restaurant for several years most Saturdays and paid $5 pesos/dollars. It now costs me $17 pesos. Membership in a health club went up about double in dollar terms, most supermarket products are around 3 x or more than they were before 2001. A pack of computer paper was $5 pesos/dollars, now around $17 pesos. I could go on and on but what is the point....Prices, in dollar terms, have equalled or exceeded pre devaluation prices in most cases. Only those things controlled or subsidized by the state have avoided the huge increases.
 
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