What they call
pandulce here is the Spanish version of Pan Dulce from Genova, which was a sort of bread filled with dried and candied fruits (see below).
Here they use the same name also for
Panettone (the spongy, tall one, see below) from Milan which is the one I think
@sergio is referring to. You can find some place selling panettone, but as
@sergio said, the fact that here they tend to use the cheapest ingredient and put an overload of dried fruit, which makes the result far from the original.
I buy mine from
Mauro.it (11 de Septiembre de 1888 2465, C1428 CABA) but it is expensive. He does 2-3 types, the most expensive is the 'Veneziano' with sugar, almonds and hazelnut on top and it was $1200 one month ago (see below). The classic 'Milano' I think it was $900.
Argentinian bakers are lacking breading skills and Argentinian customers are lacking the spending power to buy quality product. Terrible combination.
I have tried the famous Pan Dulce from Plaza Mayor and to me, it was not something I could swallow... Like everything in Argentina, it sells only because of its name and the striving effort to find 'traditions' and 'food staples' in a country with very little gastronomical traditions. Tradition to 'queue' outside of a place selling pan dulce only during certain times of the day it is just the kind of abuse the Argentinian thrive for. For me, it's lacking of respect toward customers.
If you think that people here consider 'a nice meal' going to La Farola and a 'nice ice cream' going to eat an industrial-made Freddo ice-cream, you'll learn fast to never trust locals on food...
Not surprisingly, not even on La Nación they actually comment the food when they talk about places and restaurant. There is NEVER a negative word on any food in any place. Those are not food critic piece, those are advertisings.