Int'l Fast Food And Casual Dining Chains...

[2GuysInPM]

So we now have lots of Starbucks, Subways, a couple of Wendy's, and a KFC among many others that have been here for some time.

Today P.F. Changs opens in San Isidro, and there's news The Cheesecake Factory is also coming.

I for one would love to see Chipotle here but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Tgutierrez]

My one complaint about living here is that the food is not good, unless it is meat and well that has gone down hill also. While I miss food so much (Cheesecake Factory opening here would be a dream come true) my Argentine husband always points out that no matter how American it is, the Argentines just can't get it right. TGIF's burgers are horrible bc there is always one thing missing..some sort of flavor that I can't pinpoint but just isn't the same. The same issue goes for Mexican food and sushi (what is with the cream cheese in every roll..who does that??) Le Pain Quotidien opened in Palermo and is pretty true to what I remember in the USA but as for the rest of the stuff, I will be hopefully but not expect too much. Just have to wait for my yearly trip to the USA for chips, salsa and guacamole...

 

[Yogur griego]

My one complaint about living here is that the food is not good, unless it is meat and well that has gone down hill also. While I miss food so much (Cheesecake Factory opening here would be a dream come true) my Argentine husband always points out that no matter how American it is, the Argentines just can't get it right. TGIF's burgers are horrible bc there is always one thing missing..some sort of flavor that I can't pinpoint but just isn't the same. The same issue goes for Mexican food and sushi (what is with the cream cheese in every roll..who does that??) Le Pain Quotidien opened in Palermo and is pretty true to what I remember in the USA but as for the rest of the stuff, I will be hopefully but not expect too much. Just have to wait for my yearly trip to the USA for chips, salsa and guacamole...

Most of the food in the US is equally terrible - seems to be a bit of a new world thing. For me the presence of US brands in Argentina is not really an improvement anyway, and I think Starbucks serves awful coffee. Haven't really liked the food in most Latin American countries either. Peruvian food is kind of nice. In Argentina I got fed up with the same greasy food all the time, I usually enjoy Asian recipes that I cook myself. But I actually like many kinds of pasta that are served in Buenos Aires. However, I know people who have a milanesa with french fries lunch every day - I can bear that perhaps once every two weeks.

 

[2GuysInPM]

Very true... sourcing local replacement ingredients, messing with the recipes to water them down to local taste, and poor service are always a bad combo for these chains. TGIF's is a perfect example of that. The one here in PM is terrible.

I remember once we went with visiting friends to the then recently opened Hooter's (their pick, not ours) here in PM. They had cheese fries that looked amazing on the photo menu, so we ordered some. We got back a basket of cold fries with two slices of cheese (unmelted) atop ..... Went to KFC here last month to check it out, and they didn't even have bisquits. They may have them now, but it was just weird that after a couple of weeks since opening, they didn't even have that.

I don't care much for Starbucks coffee, but I often buy their beans (Colombian or Kenyan) and grind them for my french press. Not great, but better than the sugar toasted mix at the supermarkets.

 

[Yogur griego]

Apart from the chains you are talking about.... I grew up eating spicy Asian food and the complete absence of spicy taste in Buenos Aires was not exactly easy to accept. Whenever I asked for some extra picante stuff they used to look at me in a very strange manner.

 

[2GuysInPM]

Apart from the chains you are talking about.... I grew up eating spicy Asian food and the complete absence of spicy taste in Buenos Aires was not exactly easy to accept. Whenever I asked for some extra picante stuff they used to look at me in a very strange manner.

That's been our experience as well, tho recently we went to Kaffir Thai and asked for extra spicy and surprisingly it was VERY spicy. More than we usually get at our fav Thai spots in the USA. To their credit, the server did confirm with us "are you sure? are you sure?" before placing the order.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Cheesecake factory....tgif...good food????

Universally disgusting, profit before quality wretch-merchants more like.

 

[Aleina Dee]

I almost said "Denny´s" for their breakfasts, but thinking about it I would prefer the kind of development that happened in London in the 90s. When I arrived in the 80s the most exotic thing to be had was Spaghetti bolognese and now London is at the forefront of culinary innovation, with Paris looking rather staid in comparison. In other words a culinary innovation through individual efforts rather than by means of a franchise. If you implant a franchise first in a cuisine adhering to traditional cooking methods you only expand the national palate by so much , retraining it to yet another narrow, standardised benchmark of what food is acceptable or not and within a short period the culinary landscape will look just as stale. But yes, it will mean a wait until the time is ripe.

As far as requesting picante and not getting picante is concerned I had the funniest experience in a taqueria in Mexico. I reached for the picante hotsauce sitting on the table and the waiter all but slapped my hand telling me "muy picante" and whisked the bowl away. I told him in Spanish that "yes that is fine,me encanta salsa que pica". "Pero,no.Muy picante "."Si ! excellente!"
As I would not give up he finally called his mother out of the kitchen,who proceeded to give me the same warnings, but finally she relented and gave me back the hot sauce. It was hot, but I could not possibly show it ,honor depended on it and mother had placed herself at the table next to me watching my progress with a wary eye. We became good friends after that though..

 

[Gringoboy]

I'd walk a thousand miles for a decent English breakfast.
Could anyone steer me somewhere please?

 

[scotttswan]

I'd walk a thousand miles for a decent English breakfast.
Could anyone steer me somewhere please?

You'll have to swim rather than walk! :lol:
I'd love a proper sausage, cumberland lincolnshire etc. Even more so i'd kill for irn-bru and haggis but its just not going to happen.