Rant: If you don't know how to make the drink, just tell me...

[KatharineAnn]

I should have known that in even remotely suggesting that perhaps its perfectly fair to adapt a drink to local tastes would not be taken well on this forum. Of COURSE Argentines are doing it wrong, because the US/Canada/UK/whocares is doing it RIGHT!
Maybe even with a helluva a lot of sugar that Martini sure seems dry to people here. Who cares. You can´t smugly ask for a refund, or another drink, just because you, a foreigner, are not satisfied with their version of what you consider a classic drink that absolutely cannot be modified. That´s like ordering a pizza here and snarling at the waiter that you want a refund or a ´real pizza´ because the cheese-to-sauce ratio on your pizza was like TOTALLY WRONG!

Also, was it called a dry martini, and I mean exactly that, ¨dry martini¨, in English? Have you ever stopped to wonder that maybe they don´t have the slightest clue what that even means? A lot of times people just put random English names on food and drink here just cause it looks cool and trendy, and really has nothing to do with what the English means.

I guess Argentines just aren´t hardcore enough to get ´fo realz bartending´. Never knew there was so much snobbery about tragos!
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[muppditt]

the bar/resto in palermo next door to limbo (i will post the name when i remember/find it), ya know that square on costa rica with all the bars, sugar, etc...
i was pleasantly surprised by the dry martini skillage. :O)
in my experience, swanky hotel bars do a dry martini right.
And dude, katherineann, chill out. A dry martini is a dry martini that has a certain recipe. The guy made it wrong. Sugar??? They should not put that cocktail on the menu if it is not in fact a martini.
The OP's complaint has nothing to do with her not accepting local tastes. It is about her not receiving what she asked for, not even remotely close.

 

[Celia]

...but since we know they put sugar in everything, even the roasted coffee, it's not that surprising...

 

[mobri1130]

Find this post endlessly amusing and agree that a dry martini, is a dry martini, is a dry martini.

My favorite Argentina cocktail giggle is the 'Miami Bice' that Cluny's in Palermo SoHo serves. Makes me laugh everytime I see the menu. I have a mental picture Don Johnson, wearing a white suit and loafers with no socks, sipping one in South Beach.
Oddly (or maybe not so oddly), Cluny's doesn't make theirs with rum.

 

[citygirl]

Agreed - a dry martini should be the same the world over. And sugar in a dry martini is just on every level. That's not a "local adaptation" - that's just wrong.

If you go to Lupita on Wed/Sat, sit at the bar & ask for Alejandro. He's an absolute genius when it comes to cocktails. One of the best bartenders I've found anywhere in the world. Makes lots of very innovative cocktails, lots of fresh ingredients, etc. They're pricey but worth it. If you get him, ask him to make you something off the menu, you won't regret it.

He's the only one that really knows what he is doing though, the rest of the bartenders are fine but average.

 

[PhilipDT]

You can´t smugly ask for a refund, or another drink, just because you, a foreigner, are not satisfied with their version of what you consider a classic drink that absolutely cannot be modified. That´s like ordering a pizza here and snarling at the waiter that you want a refund or a ´real pizza´ because the cheese-to-sauce ratio on your pizza was like TOTALLY WRONG!

No this would be like ordering a pizza and asking for a refund or a real pizza when I get a salad delivered to my table.

A lot of times people just put random English names on food and drink here just cause it looks cool and trendy, and really has nothing to do with what the English means.

I shouldn't be responsible for this idiocy

 

[mendozanow]

Yeah, I have given up ordering cocktails in Mendoza. You would think being so close to Chile, they could make a pisco sour. No way. Like pancakes or real Italian food, stay home and make it. Save the nights out for wine, beer and fernet, and asado, nothing else.

No excuse. And, thank gawd we got this forum to rant on , so we can stay sane in this basically wonderful country. This is not a criticism of Argentina, it is just plain therapy, and those overly sensitive foreigners and Argentines who prowl here and shake their holierthanthou fingers at us just don´t get it. I hear the same thing from latinos, especially Argentines, who do not think I understand their overheard conversations in Spanish, when I go home for a visit...and yunno, I don´t get offended.

 

[JoeBlow]

Eventually the drink arrives and I take a sip. And do all I can to keep from spitting it back out.

The same thing happened to me when I tried Antares beer, too.

 

[KatharineAnn]

No this would be like ordering a pizza and asking for a refund or a real pizza when I get a salad delivered to my table.
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A fine example of expat snobbery.

I shouldn't be responsible for this idiocy

And another.

You´re in another country, so play by this country´s rules. If everything has sugar in it, well, then, tough luck. These threads are so ridiculous

 

[perry]

A Dry martini is a dry martini is a dry martini and has a standard recipe everywhere . Now we can change it slightly but by putting tons of sugar in this drink and then proclaiming it dry is ludicrous.

There is no critisicm of Argentina here but a normal complaint that one can have in everyday life anywhere.