Buenos Aires
F&W's roundup of the best restaurants in Buenos Aires, from an excellent small-plates spot to two sister parrillas (grill restaurants) just a few yards apart. For more great restaurants, check out our guide to the world's best places to eat.
Restaurants
Café des Arts at the Malba Museum
Best known as the Malba cafeteria, this bright glass dining room outfitted with Arne Jacobsen
chairs and Eero Saarinen marble tables attracts a hip crowd of local painters and models (especially during weekend lunches). The contemporary French menu, by young French chef Jerome
Mathe, focuses on freshly caught Argentinean and Chilean fish, as well as meat and poultry served
with a choice of four sauces and side dishes.
We loved: Rib-eye steak with béarnaise sauce.
Felix Clásico
Politicians, trade-union leaders and top executives cross the Riachuelo River to the industrial
suburb of Avellaneda to hold clandestine meetings in one of Felix Clásico's two dining
rooms—one filled with neon signs and newspaper clippings, the other lined with red velvet
drapes. Chef Alfredo Joda's repertoire of seafood ranges from Norwegian cod fish to black
hake.
We loved: Shrimp and squid with garlic; sole with tomatoes, basil and olive
oil; salmon with a coriander-and-Chardonnay sauce.
La Bourgogne
For 16 years, chef Jean Paul Bondoux has been perfecting his classic French cooking with a
continually updated menu in this formal-chic dining room near the National Museum of Fine Arts and
the Palais de Glace Museum. More than half of the 500-label wine list is local, with bottles from
the esteemed Mendoza winery Finca & Bodega Vistalba.
We loved: Chilean turbot cooked in a salt crust and served with a white butter
sauce.
Le Mistral at the Four Seasons Hotel
Chef Matthias Zumstein's small-plates menu is wide-ranging, merging Porteño and
Mediterranean influences in dishes like an Argentinean-beef carpaccio with caper pesto.
We loved: Spiced-roasted jumbo shrimp.
Little Rose
At this trendy Palermo Soho spot, sushi takes on a Porteño point of view—most of the
dishes are prepared with very fresh, lean salmon. Cinema is the theme: Films by Seijun Suzuki and
Won Kar Wai are projected on the wall over the counter of the open kitchen, and industry
heavyweights including Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola have dined at Little Rose.
We loved: New York Panko (salmon, cream cheese, rice and seaweed covered in
crispy panko bread crumbs).
Lotus Neo Thai
Cecilia Carena recently moved her restaurant to a 1920s Italian-style house in the heart of the
vibrant Chinatown, but she sticks to the same tried-and-true Thai dishes she's been serving
for the past 15 years. It's a good thing her menu is as extensive as it is—including
eight different curries—since Thai food is hard to come by anywhere else in the city.
We loved: Haw mak (salmon and shrimp in red curry); banana fritters
with honey.
Parrilla La Cabrera and La Cabrera Norte
Local meat lovers split their time between these two sister parrillas (grill
restaurants) just a few yards apart. The extra-large beef cuts—nearly two pounds
each—are smoked over wood and come with 13 vegetable side dishes, including a pumpkin
casserole.
We loved: Ojo de bife (rib-eye steak); bife de chorizo (sirloin strip steak).
Sottovoce Libertador
Although roughly half of the Argentinean population is descended from Italy, few restaurants in
the city serve stellar Italian food. Sottovoce is the exception, thanks to chef Alejo Waissman,
whose pastas—especially the stuffed handmade ones—are wonderful.
We loved: Bresaola with mozzarella di bufala; green
tagliatelle with squid, prawns and spider crab with tomato sauce; pappardelle with mushrooms.
Tegui
Chef Germán Martitegui's fourth restaurant only bears a tiny sign with its name on
it; the rest of the spot's facade is dominated by street art by Nicolás Monti. Inside
the huge, 100-year-old loft space, Martitegui and his kitchen staff work in an open kitchen
preparing an audacious, experimental menu—just four appetizers, four main courses and four
desserts—that changes every Monday. A few recent choices: codfish foam and smoked mashed
potatoes.
We loved: Veal fillet steak with farofa (tapioca); foie gras with
brûléed pears.
TOMO 1 at the Hotel Panamericano
The cooking of sisters Ada and Ebe Concaro has been the standard-bearer of Argentinean cuisine
for the past 38 years. With the help of Ada's son Federico Fialayre, the meat dishes,
prepared with ingredients like Patagonian lamb, suckling pig and water buffalo from the Entre Rios
province, continue to be exemplary. The radically remodeled restaurant now has a chic new look and
wine cellar.
We loved: Kingfish fillet with cashews and lime; passion fruit parfait.
