High Quality Argentina Products

Dougie

Registered
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
582
Likes
730
New thread, the other one can be renamed "buying a car in Argentina"

So far we have:

-Familia Beaudroit Yogurts. You can buy online and they deliver in CABA directly from their factory.
Santi Cheese Market. Same as above.
Manuka Granola. Same as above. Also a lot of healthy dry snack and baking products. The company was set up to help NGOs.
La suerte makes great cheeses!
If you are a coffee drinker: Café El Continente (not to be confused with La Continental). This is place is like a tiny museum of vintage coffee roasting machines and grinders, most of which are in still use
I like Piu Piu bakery, on Instagram.
Guitars - https://www.guitarreriabsas.com.ar/guitarras.php
One place I can reccomend is Fresco Market.
 
A couple more to add to the list:

Onneg salads/dips. They have really good coleslaw, egg salad, hummus and a tangy green salad with cucumbers and onions. They have a bunch of other products, but those are the ones I have tried.

Mikonos feta cheese. I recommend the sheep's milk (they also have cow's milk)

4 esquinas halloumi cheese

I also tried the cheddar cheese from la suerte that someone else had reccomended. It was awesome. Versatile enough to eat alone or grate for TexMex food.

I also want to reccomend two stores you can order delivery from:

Tina & Co: Incredible selection including old el Paso taco shells, salt & vinegar chips and the onneg dips/salads I mentioned.

Almacen con Ruedas: This is where I bought the feta and halloumi cheeses. They also have kalamata olives! I finally managed to make a "Greek Salad". Not sure if that is actually greek in any way or how common it is outside of the northeast but it is a salad with lettuce red onion feta tomato and kalamata olives.
 
For more than 40 years, I have been involved in metalworking and textiles, so I have a pretty good handle on quality in both those fields.

Argentina has a long history of quality manufacturing in many metalworking areas- most are not "consumer" goods, so you may not see them. But its a steady manufacturer of agricultural equipment, and exports it as well- tractor accesories, seeders, sprayers, and other smaller scale implements for farming.
Its a manufacturer of high quality industrial food processing equipment- you will see, of course, espresso machines and pasta making machines everywhere, all locally made. But it also makes all kinds of other food processing equipment, from ovens to dough mixing machines to food freezing and packaging machinery.
SIAM, which went on to become a manufacturer of everything from autos to fridges, got its start with dough making machines for bakeries, and, of course, helado making mixers that old school heladerias use.
Up in Santa Fe province, they make a lot of electric motors, transformers, and electrical switchgear.
Cordoba has long had forging shops for industrial products, as well as toolmakers- There are good quality argentine drill presses, vices, and other shop tools.
Good quality drop forged wrenches and hand tools, nice hammers, and a lot of cutting and carving tools- chisels, jewelry tools, and other small metal hand tools. Usually available at more industrial hardware stores, but always more expensive than the cheap chinese imports. In Once, the stores that sell jewelry making tools have nice smaller locally made hand tools.
Very nice hand made brushes- Argentina has traditionally had a pretty large cleaning supply manufacturing base, and cheap chinese polyester has not eradicated trapos de rejillos.
There is a great brush store, El Rey De Cepillos, on Marcelo T Alvear in Retiro- it used to be much bigger, on Callao, but the range of locally made brushes for sale there is incredible- for hair, cleaning, clothes, shaving- many from exotic or unusual natural fibers. You would be hard pressed to find a selection like this in Paris or NYC, and certainly not for the prices.

Obviously, shoemaking and textiles are huge industries, and, if you have the ability to select for quality, there is great stuff available.
If you judge everything by mass produced Walmart prices for slave labor produced Bangladeshi clothing, you will think the prices are "high", but 100% cottton argentine made t shirts and socks and underwear are priced well below "designer" made in China stuff in the USA- if you buy in bulk, in Once, with usually fifty dollar or less minimums, you get quite good quality. I stock up on mens undergarments every few years, and find they last hundreds of washings, at very reasonable prices. Fifty bucks will buy me twice as much as I get at Fred Meyer or similar chain stores in the US.

I work in a metal shop and on a farm for much of the year. I wear Pampero and Ombu Argentine made work clothes. 1/3 to 1/2 the prices of made in Bangladesh or Mexico work clothes they sell in the USA, but better fabrics- I like the 100% cotton camisas and bombachas, myself. Bulletproof stuff, and I can destroy work clothes, welding, machining, and forging.

Leather, obvio.
Shoes and boots- again, dont compare to mass produced chinese, compare to made in Europe or made in USA all leather shoes, and you find quality is equal or better, and prices are far lower. I like Correa and Aqua Patagonia, for mens shoes.

Textile products- especially natural fibers- are a deal, and great prices- there is a significant string, rope and yarn industry, (I have been sewing, embroidering, and crocheting since the 60s) I buy local cotton or wool or linen or jute strings and yarns for a fraction of US yarn store prices.
Scalabrini Ortiz, South of Cordoba, has a half dozen stores with incredible selection.
Yardage is similar- skip cheap chinese poly, look or Argentine cottons and wools, and there are good things to be found.

Cookware- there are several brands of quite good, reasonably priced chef's knives. I think Arbolito is the best- a 100% Argentine made subsidiary of an excellent German knife company- and, compared to USA "gourmet" store prices, a bargain. A 5" (12.5cm) Arbolito is 1200 pesos retail- at Blue, thats ten bucks more or less- an equivalent Wustoff, discounted on Amazon, in the USA, is over fifty dollars.
Darto steel pans are great, look good, and indestructible.
Argentina still makes "cowboy coffeepot" style porcelean enamale plates cups and bowls, cookware, and also stainless, glass, and ceramic flatware, glasses, and plates, and there are very well made versions ranging from basic to elegant. Skip the injection molded chinese discount products, and you find simple quality.

In all of these cases, it takes work to find the good stuff, just like it does in Paris or London or LA or NYC.
But its out there, and if you learn what makes a quality fork, or tank top, or leather shoe, you can find quite high quality product.

What you WONT find is ultra cheap mass produced electronic consumer goods.
Because of tariff and economic policy, but also because, for instance, there is ONE factory globally that makes a glass good enough for an Iphone screen, and Apple buys their entire production. Nobody is going to build $2 billion dollar factories in Argentina when the entire world supply is being made by existing, paid for, factories in China or Korea. So, no, you will never see an LG type smart fridge at FraVega for a thousand dollars.

Stick to traditional argentine manufacturing- textiles, clothing, light machinery, kitchen products, shoes, purses, luggage, furniture, lighting, etc, and there are many small companies making good stuff.
 
The food scene here is getting better by the day. Local quality often exceeds quality I can find in Europe in terms of freshness and flavour and produced in a more natural way with less additives, and more often than not at good prices. You have to search (e.g. avoid Jumbo, Cotto etc.) but you can usually find a good local product alternative... unless it involves spice.
  • Kapesel Maker coffee (for Nespresso compatible capsules)
  • LAB Coffee (for beans and grinds)
  • Compania de chocolates (Chocolate fix)
  • Santi Cheese (Cheese fix - including a lot of boutique local cheeses, not imitations for foreign cheeses)
  • Goodstein (Salted caramel ice-cream)
  • L'Epi (French style bakery, sorry but medialunas are just baked flour)
@cafeamericano - you made my day, was getting desperate for Haloumi and good feta.

Anyone know where to get good organic cleaning products or bespoke clothing (not formal tailoring but tailored tees and merino/ wool knits)?
 
can you buy any of these things outside of BA? There might be good stuff here but it's mainly is a tiny spot in the country.

I would really love an actual espresso maker, where can I find a good one?
 
can you buy any of these things outside of BA? There might be good stuff here but it's mainly is a tiny spot in the country.

I would really love an actual espresso maker, where can I find a good one?
Mercado Libre for espresso maker. Delivery for most things can be arranged nationwide. Saw some professional machines advertised today for 125k - ok not La Marzocco but the kind you seen it good cafes here. You can get cheaper household brand ones for around $45k I think, but check the pressure level and other buyer reviews as almost certainly the quality won’t match the price.
 
I was looking at the Darto webpage, they only have pans. Is there any high quality local manufacturer of pots? We got some Tramontina pots, but if there are better options out there I'd like to know.

I would really love an actual espresso maker, where can I find a good one?

Not Pedrini / Volturno?
 
I am not sure The Dyson Cyclone V10 is available in Argentina, but I have to say it is a beast. For small spaces or quick spot cleaning, this no cord vacuum cleaner is a champion. I have never seen anything like it. I was hesitant at first due to the price. But the performance justifies the price.
 
Anyone know where to get good organic cleaning products or bespoke clothing (not formal tailoring but tailored tees and merino/ wool knits)?
Not organic by the first world standards, but as clean and biodegradable as they get in argentina - and free of disgusting commercial fragrances that will not go away even if you rinse a 100 times. The best and the cheapest are at mercado solidario Bonpland, first stand / tienda on the left from the

Not organic by the first world standards, but as clean and biodegradable as they get in argentina - and free of disgusting commercial fragrances that will not go away even if you rinse a 100 times. The best and the cheapest are at mercado solidario Bonpland, first stand / tienda on the left from the entrance. Same market has clean and organic groceries and produce, just avoid shopping at the first tienda on the right run by a very unpleasant 60+ couple - grossly overpriced and they are rather obnoxious. Passed them there are two great stands with variety of produce of great quality and better prices and the vendors are lovely. In the middle there is a shop selling La Choza dairy, olive oil, grains from Naturaleza viva, and lots of other stuff that dieteticas mostly fake and charge double for.
1596142267262.png
 
Back
Top