Favorite Restaurants in Buenos Aires

[sketchyblueeyes]

hello all!

So I did search old posts to see if I could come across this, and found it in bits and pieces but thought it could be cool if we put it all in one place. I know about Guia Oleo already, but I wanted some trustworthy, personal recommendations. I live on basically an upper middle class argentine salary and lifestyle - out for dinner once a week, to decent but under 75 peso per person places. Mostly go out to friends homes, drink 25 peso wine, etc. ANYWAYS, i have some guests coming to see me who are on a much higher budget than me - not hemorrhaging money or anything, but wouldn't bat an eye paying between 200 and 400 per person from time to time. Anyways, I would very much like to take them to a variety of variously priced and AWESOME argentine, italian, and any other restaurant (except asian, only because there is so much asian food where they live).

So- bottom line. What's your favorite splurge place? Or even just favorite regularly priced place? What neighborhood is it in, and what's your favorite dish there? And what are some decent bottles of wine that cost around 75-125 pesos?

My only limitation is please don't use this thread to tear into me or other people's suggestions. Don't call my friend's rich americans, don't say i have no idea what its like to be an upper middle class argentine, etc. If you must, feel free to pm me so as not to derail the thread.

i'm super looking forward to your suggestions And looking forward to packing on a few pounds trying them out!

 

[French jurist]

A must go if you are ready to spend 350/400 pesos per person minimum (wine included) :

Restaurant "Le Sud" in the Hotel Sofitel

For me, it's likely to be the best restaurant in Buenos Aires.

The Chef, Olivier Falchi was voted the best Chef in Argentina, is a member of the French Culinary Academy, has won numerous prizes, etc...

http://lucullusargentine.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/olivier-falchi-chef-ejecutivo-sofitel-arroyo/

I'm not making his promo because he's French btw (For instance I have tried "Les Anciens Combattants" and I wouldn't recommend it for the price).

 

[syngirl]

My current favourite for consistently good cuisine is Crizia, on Gorriti at about Thames in Palermo. The wine list is outrageously priced (seriously an Humberto Canale for 45 pesos?) but the food is very very good. They have an oyster bar, very nice selection of appies, and the slow roasted shank of lamb is delicious. Principales range from about 50 - 80 pesos. However I don't mind paying good money when the food is actually good quality. It just kills me the markup on the wine, otherwise we'd be there more often.

The other thing to do with tourists that is very nice is the brunch at the Alvear, though I suspect that's over 100 USD a person now. The cheaper alternative there that I just took my sister to a few weeks ago is the afternoon tea, at around 4-6pm -- and if you order one service per person consider it your dinner as well. It's a ridiculous amount of food -- we made the mistake of ordering one per person, you don't need to, order one tea service between two and an extra coffee or pot of tea. I paid I think about 85 USD for two tea services including champagne -- but as I say we could have easily just shared the one.

 

[syngirl]

Oh for wines I suggest you give Nigel at 0800 Vino a ring -- I'm assuming you're looking to buy a few bottles? Or perhaps your friends want to bring some home -- if you call him up and explain your price range etc he should be able to come up with some very nice options, and if your friends want to take some home he has the styrofoam thingies to put them in. Otherwise Winery has a decent selection, but I personally wouldn't bother with the wine shop in Palermo that is near that place "Cabernet" -- I went in with my sister and a lot of their prices were ridiculous, on top of that they didn't even have the A/C on the day that we were there so I'm not sure that their 300 pesos bottles of wine would have been in the best conditions for drinking anyway...

 

[weltawelta]

My girlfriend and I had a really great experience at Fervor in Recoletta. The service was great from the start. There was a problem with our reservation (we may have called the sister restaurant by mistake) and we were early at that. The hostess just gave us each a glass of sparkling and said she would take care of it. We waited in the bar area with the sparkling while she arranged for a table.
The wait staff was attentive, yet not intrusive and the food was great. I had lamb, we shared a large seafood ap and shared a dessert as well. The dessert was INCREDIBLE!
For drinks we had 2 more glasses of sparkling, 2 glasses of white and a bottle of red (I don't remember the price range - sorry). I think our wine was around 80 pesos. The cost was approximately 460 pesos with a larger than normal tip as we were in quite a good mood. This was in late November, the first time we were here. (Prices subject to change

 

[Roxana]

I heard and read more than wonderful reviews of Marcelos, at Puerto Madero.

 

[PhilipDT]

My favorite is still Tomo 1, can't stop going back.

Chila was very good but in my opinion doesn't merit the price which was exorbitant. If they're going to charge what they do, the food better be excellent. La Bourgogne which falls in the same price manages excellent much better.

After really enjoying Tipula I must say I was very disappointed by The Hernan Gipponi Restaurant, much more expensive and the food wasn't that great.

 

[PhilipDT]

Restaurant "Le Sud" in the Hotel Sofitel

I've wanted to go for a while but have been scared off by the mixed reviews on Giua Oleo

 

[sketchyblueeyes]

Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate the input!

 

[French jurist]

I've wanted to go for a while but have been scared off by the mixed reviews on Giua Oleo

There are a few negative ones indeed but let's take them by chronological order (the few negs) :

El Boeuf Bourguignone no tenía mucho gusto a mostaza y para mi gusto le faltaba huevo y limon. El pescado discreto. Muy caro para la calidad y cantidad de comida. El café a $15 parece un poco excesivo.
--> The "Boeuf bourguignonne" never has mustard in it, nor eggs or lemon !!! "Discreete fish" = ??. Very expensive for the quality & quantity = surely this moron has no idea about food & tastes. He might have gone there during the day to spend less.

Un fiasco! Comimos en uno de los lugares que se supone superan las espectatativas, y de ninguna manera llegan a alcanzar las mismas.El servicio lentisimo, la personal distraido, el pan se nos ofrecio una sola vez, con el agua mejoró, la sirvieron dos veces. Todo debe ser "petit", los ravioles de centolla, saladisimos, fueron cuatro estampillas.Lo lomito de cordero, inexplicablemente estaban correosos, tal es asi que al comentarselos al mozo, sugiriò cambiarlos por pescado, pero no estabamos de animo para esperar otros 40 minutos mas. Es imposible mantener la excelencia? En Le Sud, si.
--> Service was bad ? That's weird (I always am welcome there = even with free wine glasses when I'm supposed to have only one in the "degustation menu"... Well, patriotism I guess). The size of the plates = yes, it's French so you'll have a bit of everything, don't expect a 500 grams bife de chorizo with 800 grams of French fries and a liter of Coke.

El ambiente es excelente pero la comida quedo bien abajo de nuestras expectativas. El servicio irregular y con la gente distraida en otras cosas y conversando mucho entre ellos. Una decepccion.
--> Here again the service. And the food quality (but that's one among twenty very positives = people who paid 500 pesos or more & are very happy).

There are some other negative ones (mostly the service, surprisingly and also the decoration which I agree is a bit "neutral" like in every high end hotel).


Nevertheless, it's worth to go there to try the "degustation menu" (about 6 different plates) at night.
I launched the idea two times on the forum already but if some expats want to join, it would be possible to have a table for 8 or 10 and likely with a discounted rate for the "degustation menu". Since a French guy would ask for it, I guess everything would go very smooth