COCINA SUNAE

Closed door restaurants have cropped up in major cities over the recent years and Buenos Aires is one of those places where several of them can be found.  A few years back, we went to Casa Saltshaker, American Dan Perlman's puerta cerrada (which means closed door and is what Portenos call these private dinner places).  Since then, I heard about another one from fellow blogger and friend George from My Hotel Life wrote a rave review of it here. (Have a look at his super photo of the same sisig I ordered after reading his article).  Even before we arrived in Buenos Aires, I had already booked a table for six for a Thursday evening knowing that after several days of amazing Argentine cuisine (grilled meat, empanadas, pastas, dulce de leche and more grilled meat), we would all be needing an Asian fix.

Cocina Sunae is the brainchild of Korean-American Sunae who decided to create a space to showcase the cuisine of her childhood in the Philippines and the rest of south east Asia.  Why in Buenos Aires?  Because she fell in the love and married an Argentinean (as one does) and decided to start a family in Buenos Aires. 

As this is a puerta cerrada, we were only given the address and that weeks' featured menu (two starters, two main courses and a dessert) after we had confirmed our booking a few days before.  We got a bit lost looking for the lace and ended up ringing the bell of a dark entryway on the same street until we realized we had the wrong house number.  Finally, we found the gate which also serves as their home with the restaurant on the ground floor and their living area upstairs.   The place was packed and unlike a typical puerta cerrada where the diners usually sit together in one large table, this felt like a proper restaurant with about ten tables seating around 24.

The menu that week was a choice between a Thai green mango and prawn salad or a Thai tom yum soup followed by either the (infamous) Philippine sisig or a Thai Khao Soi and a dessert of chocolate ganache and green tea ice cream.  

The green mango salad was sour and salty from the fish-sauce based dressing and the other starter of  clear prawn-flavored soup was pleasantly spicy.  My son and I had the sisig - chopped marinated pig cheeks sautéed in onions and chili till crunchy and traditionally served with a sunny side up egg on top. (Sisig is one of my favorites and something I hadn't eaten in years as it's almost impossible to find abroad, although I luckily had sisig twice in 2013 first at Pig and Khao in New York and then at Cocina Sunae) while A and my in-laws had the yellow curry of chicken with crispy egg noodles which was sinus-clearingly spicy.  Dessert was a refreshing mix of sweet oranges, bitter chocolate and cold green tea ice cream served with a ginger flavored butter cookie.  What a find Cocina Sunae was!  It's going straight onto my Buenos Aires favorites list.

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Cocina Sunae
Colegiales, Buenos Aires
(Closed door restaurant, please email for exact address)
Email: reservas@cocinasunae.com
*Dinner at 8 p.m.  from Wednesday to Saturday only

TARQUINO

When we are in Buenos Aires, my sister-in-law S who knows I love to eat, always organizes a lunch. Once, it was at the hip little Bar 6 in Palermo Viejo which has since been one of our favorites.  Another time, our visit coincided with her birthday, and she hosted a fun Mexican themed party at her lovely home.  On this trip, she and her daughter C, took me to Tarquino, located in the quiet boutique hotel Hub Porteno in the chic Recoleta area.  The restaurant is hidden off to the side where we walk through a dark and cozy bar towards the light-filled glassed-in courtyard where a large tree is surrounded by tall furry mushrooms that look like mini truffala trees from the movie "The Lorax".  This whimsical decor is echoed in the multi-colored tassels hanging over the tables and the mobiles of colorful birds hanging up near the ceiling.  Here, the young up-and-coming chef Dante Liporace has come up with a creative menu showcasing the mostly meat-centric cuisine of Argentina.  Since their menu changes with the seasons, what we ate that day may no longer be on their current menu.

Lunch was very quiet, we were the only ones there so it was a good thing they had a very reasonable three course set lunch (wine and mineral water included) which gave us a chance to sample the menu.  As soon as we ordered, a silver tray was laid on the table with an assortment of sea salt along with a plate of warm homemade breads - baguette and olive.  I had the soup - a creamy potato leek topped with crispy shoestring fries which was fine, followed by what was listed on the menu as Fish from the River - calamari pasta with squid ink which was delicious.  Portions are quite generous so I dent quite finish my main course to leave some space for dessert - a martini glass of caramelized foam, lemon reduction and milk ice cream which is the chef's take on the classic flan.  The food was good but I expected something much more modern from a chef who has trained in Spain in the kitchens of modern masters Pedro Subijana and Ferran Adria.  Perhaps, a second visit at night when the place has  a bit of buzz and noise would be good so I we can try some of those other dishes that most have been raving about.

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Tarquino

Rodriguez Pena 1967

Recoleta, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 6091 2060

*Lunch Mondays to Fridays, Dinner Mondays to Saturdays

LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN

Our last trip in 2013 before our move to Singapore was to Buenos Aires to visit family.  It was the tail end of winter in the Southern hemisphere and although the sun was shining on most days, it was still chilly so we lucked out on a nearby cafe which was two blocks away from where we were staying.  Le Pain Quotidien has been a favorite for years.  I remember spending so much time there in the late 90's when my stepsister was living in New York.  The Madison avenue branch was our local cafe and we whiled away hours with our bowls of cafe au lait reliving our Paris days.  Since then, Le Pain Quotidien has become a global brand recreating their bleached wood interiors with the standard communal table and their selection of amazing bread all over the world. 

We were pleasantly surprised with the Buenos Aires outpost - same bleached wood interiors, a large oval communal table, the usual open-faced tartines (sandwiches), the big bowls (not cups) of milky coffee, the daily blackboard menu and the same friendly service.  We had breakfast there almost every day and since it was located in the mostly residential neighborhood of Palermo chico, it was superb for people watching and hanging out.  As they say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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Le Pain Quotidien

Jerónimo Salguero 3075
Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, Argentina
+54 11 2073-1866

*Open all-day daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

*Other branches in Palermo Viejo and Belgrano

THE BEST OF 2011

My Best of the Year post takes time to complete.  I go through all the meals of the past year and make a short list of the places that really impressed me with an unforgettable meal.  It doesn't have to be a fancy restaurant, it's all about the food and the experience.

Since 2011 was a year of travel for me, there were many restaurants to choose from.  New places were discovered - Bangkok and Beijing, some revisited - Sydney and San Francisco, along with the usuals - Singapore, Las Vegas and Manila and of course I explored my island home - Bali - as well.  After much deliberation and elimination, and in no particular order, here are my best gourmet experiences of 2011.

BEST BREAKFAST

No questions about it, my best breakfast this year was at bills in Sydney's Darlinghurst.  From the fantastic flat whites to the amazing ricotta hot-cakes, the delicious sweet corn cake to the homemade oatmeal, the breakfast was amazing and the service friendly.  How I wish there was a bills near me!

BEST IN THE PHILIPPINES

Since I'm from Manila, I had to include two restaurants that really impressed me back home: Antonio's and Cafe Juanita.  Antonio's is a no-brainer and on most foodies best list.  It made the drive up to Tagaytay worth it and their fine dining and Colonial atmosphere is just the right mix of fancy and simple.  Cafe Juanita is a bit off the beaten track but also worth the drive to Pasig for home-cooked Filipino food.  This is the kind of food I crave while living abroad.  It felt like I was back at my lola's (grandmother's) house having one of those long leisurely Sunday lunches.

BEST IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Here in Bali, a restaurant that that's a favorite for local food is Cafe Degan for classic Javanese cuisine in a classic wooden joglo (wooden house).  Simple food and friendly service.  They also have half their menu dedicated to Thai dishes as the chef used to work in Thailand.  Whether you order from the Thai side of the menu or the Javanese side, you won't be disappointed.

In Singapore, where I was almost every six weeks, my cousin took me to Ippudo where we had a fantastic noodle lunch - flavorful broth, al dente ramen, chunky pork belly - everything was good.

Two new places we visited this year were Bangkok and Beijing.  In Bangkok, I had my first taste of the real flavors of Thai cuisine.  I tried many types of Thai food and enjoyed most of them but it was chef David Thompson's fine dining take on classic Thai street food at Nahm that left me with a clear idea of how sophisticated Thai food is.

In Beijing, we had the best Beijing duck (aka Peking duck) I've ever tasted at Made in China  - extra crispy non-fatty skin with either sugar for dipping (a novelty!) or the traditional Hoisin-pancake-scallion-cucumber roll.  And it wasn't just the duck, the other dishes were also outstanding and it was the best Chinese meal I'd had all year.

BEST IN THE AMERICAS

In the Americas, we start down South where we made our usual pilgrimage to Buenos Aires and where surprisingly, we didn't eat at our favorite El Mirasol as often as we usually do.  Instead, we rediscovered a Recoleta classic - Munich (or as the locals call it - "el munitch") where we had dinner almost every night and never got tired of their repertoire of classic dishes - a perfectly grilled matambre (pork steak), crispy papas paille (shoestring fries), a simple green salad, the retro Chicken Maryland and Chicken Kiev plus lots of other home-style dishes from the past and the impeccable service from the white-jacketed old-timers just added to the atmosphere.

Finally to North America, first at our usual stop in Las Vegas where we had a superb tapas meal at Jaleo where it felt like we were back in Spain.  It was great to see the quality of Spanish food so lovingly recreated at chef Jose Andres' hip and happening tapas restaurant.  We also revisited our favorite city - San Francisco - so many lovely memories from past visits and so long since our last encounter in 2004.  Dinner at RN74 was impressive - cool concept, fantastic Burgundy wines, packed with a mixed crowd and best of all, the food was really good - simple classic dishes made of incredible ingredients which is what San Francisco is all about.

Last but not least, we go back to breakfast where I just have to mention the best coffee I've had all year (lots of close seconds - Sambalatte in Las Vegas, bills in Sydney and Liberica in Jakarta) but this one topped my list and made my mornings better - Blue Bottle Coffee.  The coffee was prepared with so much love and they took their time getting it right which just goes to show that after all these years, San Francisco's foodie ways haven't changed, it's only gotten better.  And with that I look forward to another year of eating and traveling.  I hope that 2012 will be as food-filled as 2011 was.  Happy Gourmet Travels!

Buenos Aires: A few of my favorite things

Artesania Argentina

Arandu - Avenida Ayacucho, 1924, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4800 1575)

Right smack in the tony neighborhood of Recoleta, Arandu has been in business since 1987 producing high quality traditional Argentinean arts and crafts.  From belts to ponchos, alpargatas to boots and all sorts of leather goods, pewter items to silverware, carriages to saddles and even clothes, are all beautifully displayed at their multi-story boutique close to the Alvear Hotel.  They have several branches in the city but it's this particular location that is often visited by celebrities and tourists in search of a souvenir or made-to-order equestrian equipment. 

Best buy: gaucho-inspired belt or alpargatas for less than US$20.

Lecuona de Prat Artesanias - Pacheco de Melo 1967 - 1C, Recoleta (Telphone: +54 11 4803 0253)

In an apartment located in residential Recoleta is this amazing boutique of Maria del Pino Lecuona de Prat (a mouthful of a name) where one-of-a-kind pewter items from Salta are for sale. There are trays and soap dishes, bracelets and picture frames, ice buckets and tumblers, all of them handmade.  Prices are not cheap but this is a real find.  Call first for an appointment.

Best buy: pewter stirrup-shaped teaspoon with a handle covered in braided leather for about US$10.

30 Quarenta - Arroyo 890, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4326 1065)

Although not a shop that specializes in traditional Argentinean artifacts, this colorful store on Recoleta's chi-chi antique furniture and art gallery street Arroyo, is a delight.  Antique posters, old toys reworked as lamps, decorative pieces and furniture.  You'll be sure to find something you like and if friendly owner Miguel is there, have a chat with him to find out a bit more about his whimsical designs.

Helado (a.k.a ice cream)

Argentina competes with Italy for best artesanal gelatos with an excellent quality and innovative flavors.  There is always the original, classic Freddo (several locations, Delivery ) but our favorite is Un'Altra Volta (also several locations, Delivery 0810 88-VOLTA) for their creamy flavors and an incomparable chocolate amargo (bitter chocolate).

Best buy:  Mini cones at both places for US$1.20 for a sweet afternoon treat

Treats to try: 

• fried (not baked) empanadas - the best ones I've tried are at El Mirasol (see below)
• medialunas de grasa (made from lard) and medialunas de manteca (made from butter)
• tostados de jamon y queso at any cafe for breakfast or an afternoon snack
• cortadito - a slightly taller espresso macchiato

Recoleta

A stroll around the neighborhood of Recoleta, mainly on Avenida Alvear and Avenida Posadas where several fantastic examples of Belle-Epoque architecture are evident and where the city's most expensive designer boutiques, both local and imported ones, are located.  Watch out for the dog walkers as well - another interesting Buenos Aires feature.

El Mirasol - El Mirasol de La Recova, Posadas 1032 (Telephone: +54 11 4326 7322)

My two favorites on their menu and probably the best versions in the city.  Empanadas de carne - hot crispy, fried pastries filled with a delicious ground meat and spice mix and Mollejas de corazon (veal sweetbreads) - sliced thinly and grilled to perfection and enjoyed just with a spritz of lemon.

Best buy: A dozen empanadas to go or to delivered to your doorstep in a box.  Empanadas are about US$1.50 each.

Alpataco, vinos y cuero - Avenida Pte. M. Quintana 450, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4806 9637)

Good value and reasonably-priced, wines are good presents for friends or for your own cellar.  There are several wine stores in the city but this is one that we liked because of the friendly service and knowledgeable staff.  They have a well-edited selection of wines accompanied by wine accessories and beautiful leather products making it a one-of-a-kind store. Plus, they pack the wines in styrofoam cases ready to be checked in for a long flight and deliver to your apartment of hotel.

Best buy: a bottle of the typical Argentine white wine Torrontes for around US$15.

Aldo's Vinoteca - Moreno 372, San Telmo (Telephone: +54 11 5291 2380)

In out of the way San Telmo, this wine bar is paving the way to proper enjoyment of wines with it's policy of selling wines with retail shop prices in the restaurant to encourage diners to splash out on a good bottle of wine instead of ordering the usual cheaper wines by the glass. It's an idea that should be copied wordlwide.

Best buy: a plate of cured salmon (US$11) with a bottle of Torrontes (US$15).

Asado Argentino

Our last evening in Buenos Aires was spent with family at home and a typical Argentine Asado (barbecue meal) where it's all about the lighting up the grill early then waiting patiently for the wood to burn then when the embers fly and the wood is white-hot, the grill is cranked up and the super hot wood chunks are pushed underneath before the grill is lowered again and the meat is cooked.  We always start with some sausages - always chorizo, sometimes morcilla (blood sausage) followed by several cuts of meat.  This time there were costillas de cerdo  (pork ribs), asado de tira (beef short ribs) and  bife de lomo (tenderloin)  plus baked potatoes.  Along with the meats, there are always several salads: cherry tomatoes, hearts of palm and corn, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, a mixed green salad, and shredded carrots with shredded beets.  Several plates of meat and bottles of Malbec later and the desserts were served: a strawberry mousse, a chocolate tart and brownies.  It was a beautiful spring evening with family and a great way to end our two-week holiday.

* The photo above is an Asado Argentino that we did at our home in Bali last year.  Again, it's all about the grill and the wood used.  We had a makeshift grill propped up on the ground but we still used wood and did it the classic way.

CASA SALTSHAKER

Casa SaltShaker is one of several puerta cerradas (closed door dining places) in Buenos Aires and is a trend that seems to be taking place all over the world with similar "private dinner parties or dinner clubs" all over the United States, in Europe and even in Asia.  I have even read about one run by former Chez Panisse chef David Tanis in Paris and several in Hong Kong.  I suppose these private residences turned into an impromptu dinner party several times a week is a chance for travelers to experience a meal at a local's home.  One must have a sense of adventure, no complicated food requests and be open to share a table with strangers for one night.

On our last few days in Buenos Aires, A & I decided to take the plunge and try this novel concept.  I contacted Dan Perlman, the chef at Casa SaltShaker and received a reply right away.  We had booked three places for their dinner on Thursday evening, October 20 as we had invited A's mom to join us.  After having breakfast with our friend F,  on the same Thursday, we mentioned that we were going to a puerta cerrada that evening and invited him to come along as well.

Dinners at Casa SaltShaker are for ten people at a shared table and take place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Menus change every week and are 5-courses and may be enjoyed with or without the accompanying wines.  A reservation fee of 50% per diner must be paid in advance via PayPal and the only other requirement is that we arrive between 8:45 p.m and 9:00 p.m. so we can all sit down to dinner by around 9:15 p.m.

We keep to the rule and arrive a little after 8:45 and are led into a cozy ground floor duplex apartment with an outdoor patio at the far end of the room.  Another couple, Americans living in Paraguay, are already there and soon after, the rest of the group arrived just in time for the welcome cocktail - a sweet apple juice and vodka mix served in a shot glass.  There were a total of seven Americans, 2 Argentines (my husband and mother-in-law) and 1 Filipino (myself) - not as international as we expected.

We head to the table and split up so each one is seated beside someone they have just met which makes for an interesting start to the evening.  The menu that week was themed on the bicentennial of Hungarian musician Franz Liszt so some of the dishes were Hungarian-influenced.  Dinner started after a short announcement by the chef then our first wine - Chandon Brut sparkling wine - was poured with the interesting first course: a salad of escarole with roasted garbanzos topped with a chunk of breaded Port Salut (French mild-flavored semi-soft cheese) - the hot, crispy cheese combined well with the chick peas and the bitter greens.  It was an auspicious start to the evening.

Next up was a soup of potato and apple flavored with sour cream and crab (a novelty in itself as Argentine restaurants hardly ever have soup on the menu).  The soup was creamy and sweet with a slightly spicy hint at the end, which we found out later on came from the addition of a spice mix from Chile called Merken (it's a combination of dried and smoked goat's horn pepper with salt, cumin and coriander seeds), another novelty as none of us had ever heard of it.  This was  served with an Algodon Semillon-Sauvignon blanc.

Mid-course was a Hungarian-inspired salty strudel of smoked turkey and shiitake with a parsley sauce which came with a rose Estiba I Tempranillo Rosado from Bodegas Esmeralda.   I'm not sure the pairing with a rose was right for the strong flavors of mushroom and smoked turkey.

The main course was ground lamb with aubergines, brussel sprouts and olives was a lamb meatloaf topped with the vegetables was served with the Nieto Senetiner Cabernet Sauvignon.  I thought the meat loaf was bland and stodgy, although A seemed to enjoy it, and left half uneaten.  To be fair, I was already quite full at this point and we still had one course to go.

Dessert was a poppy seed muffin-shaped cake with dulce de leche and chocolate.  This was a failure - the cake was hard and the chocolate topping even harder making it almost impossible to slice.  The saving grace were the sweetened pecans and the whipped cream which made each mouthful okay.  The wine served with the final course was a Quara Torrontes Dulce Natural - a very interesting late harvest Torrontes which is an excellent dessert wine.

So, what's the verdict?  It was enjoyable and fun to try something new.  Would I do it again?  Maybe.  The food was good, the wines were fine, the dinner went smoothly enough and the conversation flowed, although a more diverse mix of nationalities would have made for a more interesting evening.

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Casa SaltShaker

A duplex apartment in Recoleta, Buenos Aires

Reservations by email only: casasaltshaker@gmail.com

Here's the link for some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) about Casa SaltShaker

EL OBRERO

Bodegon El Obrero in La Boca has always been on our list of parilla restaurants to try.  Over the years, we had heard mixed reviews but we were still curious to go there, if only for it's reputation as being Boca Juniors players favorite restaurant and it's convenient location near La Bombonera, the iconic football stadium that is Boca Juniors home.  Opened in 1954, El Obrero has the claim to fame as being one of the oldest parrillas in town.

On a sunny Monday morning, the kids went off with their grandmother and cousin C to Temaiken, a large bio-park showcasing animals in their natural habitats, about an hour's drive away from the city.  We took advantage of the free day to have lunch at El Obrero and finally see what the fuss was all about.  The restaurant's facade is quite rundown and doesn't really invite passersby to walk in but once you enter the wooden doors, you are greeted by a floor-to-ceiling display of football memorabilia with one wall dedicated to football pennants from other teams and the facing wall filled with framed photos of football celebrities including lots of shots of the most famous Boca Junior player - Diego Maradona.  Surprisingly, the place is actually not as scruffy as it seems from the outside with it's white tablecloths and cozy wooden chairs.

The specialties are written on several chalkboards hung on the walls but we were also presented with a menu that had and English translation (a sure sign that the restaurant is now frequented by many tourists) along with a basket of bread.  The menu is varied and also includes several fish and seafood dishes which is not typical.  After having a look at the standard parilla items, we decided to have share a chorizo a la mariposa (split in the middle and "butterflied" so it cooks all the way through) and our favorite mollejas (sweetbreads) to start along with a simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes and thinly-sliced onions.

The starters were served soon after.  The chorizo was delicious - spicy, meaty and crispy both on the outside and on the inside and tucked into a split baguette-like roll, it was the perfect choripan (chorizo sandwich).  The mollejas were fine but were slice too thickly for our taste (The best mollejas are still at El Mirasol) making the sweetbreads quite chewy.  Squirted with  a bit of lemon juice though, they were okay.  Our shared main course came next - asado de tira, the classic Argentine cut of short ribs (which is like having spaghetti bolognese at an Italian restaurant) which was cooked perfectly and served with fantastic chimichurri (oregano, herbs and oil-based Argentine sauce for everything from the grill).  The meat was disappointingly greasy and gristly with not much on the bone.  Worse were the accompanying fried sweet potatoes we ordered which were undercooked and hard as coins.  We ate what we could and settled for a shared espresso for dessert then waited for our radio taxi (it's unadvisable to walk around outside and hail a cab on the street).  Was it worth the trek to dingy and dangerous La Boca?  Not really.  After a Boca Juniors winning match though, it might be the place to stop for dinner and celebrate with some die-hard Boca fans.

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El Obrero

Agustin Caffarena 64

La Boca, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 4362 9912

OUI OUI

Our first Sunday in Buenos Aires and we met up again with J & V in Palermo Viejo's Plaza Serrano (actually called Plaza Cortazar) where the many roads to Palermo Viejo's hip and happening neighborhood start out.  From there, we walked several blocks passing through many of Palermo's still undeveloped areas and finally crossing the railroad tracks where we found ourselves in front of Oui Oui.  Listed as one of Buenos Aires' best brunches in this blog and mentioned by one of J & V's designer friends, we were sure to have a good breakfast.

We had worked up an appetite with our long walk and sat at one of the last outdoor tables right under the awning and in the shade of a large tree.  The sidewalk is quite small so the wooden tables and chairs are a bit cramped but it's a quaint setting nevertheless.  Inside, there is a communal table in a cozy space.  There were several brunch options available which included coffee and juice - several of us had the salmon and cream cheese bagel, V had the granola with fresh fruits and yoghurt and little C had the scrambled eggs with sausages, bacon and toast.  Large creamy coffees came first, followed by fresh orange juice and finally, our big brunch plates.  The sesame seed bagels were toasted and stuffed with slices of smoked salmon and lots of cream cheese. This was served with lemon-herb roast potato wedges and a large salad.  The scrambled eggs were creamy and came with two delicious pork sausages and thick-cut sourdough toast.  The granola was crunchy and came with a big bowl of fruit and a vanilla yoghurt (in Buenos Aires, it's impossible to find natural non-sugared yoghurt, it's usually, vanilla, low-fat or Greek).  Portions were big and service was friendly.  The place started to fill up and soon enough there was a queue of several families waiting for free tables while munching on muffins or reading the Sunday paper - a real neighborhood hangout.  (Across the street, is another cafe - The Food Factory - which looks worth a try.  I'm sure that the next time we're in Palermo, there will be a few more new cafes to visit.)  After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and promised to meet again very soon, perhaps in Bali.

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Oui Oui

Nicaragua 6068 (between Arevalo y Dorrego)

Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +5411 4778 9614

*Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Closed Mondays

Nearby is also:

Almacen Oui Oui  (their grocery which sells breads, jams and lots of lovely kitchen things)

Nicaragua 6099

Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires

Telephone: 4776 4442

*Open Mondays to Saturdays 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Closed Sundays

ALDO'S

In a country that has recently become a popular wine producer, there seem to be lots of wine boutiques in Buenos Aires but only a few wine bars.  One of them is the recently opened Aldo's off a nondescript street in the old-style neighborhood of San Telmo.  (We went there for dinner on a Saturday evening with our very good French friends, J & V who we met in Chile more than ten years ago.  J is godfather to our firstborn and he and V had flown over for the weekend from Santiago where they still live just to see us and meet their godson again.)

First thing one sees is the entryway flanked by large store-like window displays of wines on open shelves.  Once through the door, the restaurant is one large square room with wooden floors, cozy dark blue velvet banquettes and a bar at the far end of the room.  Tables are set simply with a wine glass and a water tumbler, linen napkins over a paper tablecloth with a double red stripe running through it.

At Aldo's it's all about the wine and their comprehensive wine selections lists all the different grape varieties of Argentina leading with the Malbec and Torrontes.  The menu is a simple one-page sheet with a few appetizers, some quiches (called tartas), half a dozen main courses with most items cooked on the grill and a handful of desserts.  Keeping with the wine-centric evening, the knowledgeable Peruvian sommelier guided us through the wine list keeping in mind our budget.  To start, we chose a Colomé Torrontes 2011 which showcases the typical white grape variety grown higher up than Mendoza in Salta with vineyards more than 2000 meters above sea level.  Part of the Hess Collection of wineries, Colome was established in 1831 making it the oldest winery in Argentia.  Here both Torrontes and Malbec are produced with great success.  We were pleasantly surprised by the wine and it's flowery aroma and it's freshness.  With this we shared two appetizers: a marinated salmon with paper-thin slices of cucumbers and dill and a plate of jamon crudo topped with dried figs and arugula.  Both starters were simple but quite good and served with a basket of bread.

For our main courses, A and J had meat - Milanesas con pure and the 8-hour lamb while V and I both had the fish of the day - grilled cod with two sauces: salsa verde and a creamy butter sauce which we were then going to have with a Zorzal Reserva 2009 Malbec from further south of Mendoza in the Valle de Uco.  The wine complemented the boy's meat dishes and although we had a few sips, we stuck to our Torrontes.  It's good that the wines were interesting as the main courses were disappointing - the milanesas (breaded beef) were battered in sesame breadcrumbs and the lamb was a black mass of meat on a plate, not very appetizing to look at and dry despite the many hours of slow-cooking.  The fish of the day was dry and the sauces bland.  We shared a dessert of fresh fruit with mint and grapefruit granita which was just that, nothing more, nothing less.  Considering that the place has only been open a few months, they can still improve their menu.  Don't come here for the food because Aldo's is a wine bar and in that sense, they have succeeded with their extensive wine list and very reasonable wine prices.

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Aldo's Vinoteca

Moreno 372

(at the Hotel Moreno)

San Telmo, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 5291 2380

SIPAN

Every year, when we come to Buenos Aires, there is a new food trend.  Several years ago, it was Asian cuisine followed by Japanese and lots of sushi restaurants, then came Peruvian-Japanese cuisine (Osaka) which seems to be holding out in the taste trend with the popular Sipan with two restaurants in Buenos Aires and a third in South America's St. Tropez - Punta del Este.

A and I went for dinner with R & F at the Sipan in Palermo Viejo's Hotel Palermitano.  The restaurant entrance is alongside the hotel lobby which leads into a long room with tables on one side and a ceviche bar on the other.  Further towards the back is a spacious terrace with comfortable sofas and lounge chairs.  As it was raining, we couldn't sit outside and settled into one of the larger tables right beside the open kitchen instead.  The menu at Sipan is extensive with several pages of ceviches (raw fish or seafood cured in lime juice), tiraditos (raw fish or seafood prepared with a Japanese influence), sushi rolls, empanadas and main courses plus a long list of Pisco creations.  As we were unsure of what to order, we left it to the server to bring out four popular dishes that represented Sipan's modern Peruvian cuisine instead of their Japanese-Peruvian fusion dishes.

First, we were given a small bowl of crunchy corn kernels to munch on while we waited for our dinner.  Then we received a complimentary bite of wantanes al tamarindo - delicious crunchy fried wontons filled with salmon and fish paste and served with a passionfruit and tamarind dip.  Next came the ceviche clasico - raw fish and seafood tossed in lime juice, shredded onions and topped with two types of corn: on the cob and crunchy kernels, mouth-puckering sour fish chunks that were quite quite good but not the classic ceviche we expected.  Papas Huancaina - slices of potato covered in a creamy sauce made from yellow chilies, cheese and milk sprinkled with hard-boiled egg pieces - bland and lacking oomph which was a pity as this is a typical Peruvian dish that should have been quite easy to recreate.  Two hot dishes followed: conchas a la Parmesana - baked scallops topped with melted cheese and butter which were delicious just with a squirt of lemon and the empanandas de aji de gallina con langostinos - a modern take on the classic Peruvian dish, this version is made with chicken and prawns in the creamy aji sauce stuffed into a fried empanada - a spicy and crunchy mouthful although I wouldn't have minded a traditional aji de gallina at this point.  The problem with fusion cuisines is that most of the time, the classic versions are already quite good and very seldom does it get better when fused with another cuisine, in this case Japanese/ modern Asian.  It's often repeated but it does seem like fusion confusion sometimes.  We ended the meal with a chocolate mousse dessert that was too sweet and not chocolatey enough.  Lucky that we were there catching up with R & F so although the food was not impressive ( a few dishes better than most), the company was good.

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Sipan Palermo

Uriarte 1648, Hotel Palermitano

Palermo, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 4833 9383

Toll-free from a BA land line: 0810 77 74726

Sipan Microcentro

Paraguay 624

Retiro, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 4311 6875

Sipan Punta

Bikini beach
Punta del Este, Uruguay

Travel 2011

2011 has been my year of travel.  I have never been on a plane this much ever.  There were trips to new places - Bangkok and Beijing, a trip to my favorite city - Paris, trips to visit family - Buenos Aires and Las Vegas, several trips to see the doctor - Singapore, trips to do renew our passports - Jakarta and quick trips on a stopover - Sydney.

November, though, is going to be the busiest travel month for me, with a week in Manila from today (to finish unpacking boxes that have been in storage for several years) then a week in Osaka and Tokyo (my first trip to Japan) and finally, two weeks during Thanksgiving in Laguna Beach, Las Vegas and San Francisco, before I head back home to Bali just in time for the children's holidays and Christmas.  And there are still so many places I haven't been to and hope to visit in 2012.  So bear with me and my erratic posting.  I promise there will be lots to read very soon with my Buenos Aires posts coming out, slowly but surely, and with more gourmet travel write-ups soon.

LA BIELA

After our seemingly-endless flight (1.5 hours from Bali to Jakarta, 7 hours from Jakarta to Sydney and finally, 15 hours from Sydney to Buenos Aires - not counting the stopovers in three airports), we arrive early on a Monday morning in springtime Buenos Aires feeling bedraggled and bewildered.   First thing we do is head home to our borrowed apartment on chic Avenida Alvear and freshen up before walking the five blocks up the road to our favorite parrilla restaurant - El Mirasol - for a quick lunch of empanadas (meat-filled fried pastries), mollejas (sweetbreads) and asado de tira (short ribs) accompanied by papas paille (actual translation is hay potatoes but are actually shoestring potatoes).  Halfway through our first Argentine asado meal, we feel the effects of the 12 hour time difference and end up packing up most of our food to take home, where we head straight for bed in the early afternoon.  We all wake up at midnight and kill time waiting for a decent cafe to open nearby.

At dawn, we get ready and finally walk the one block to La Biela, one of Buenos Aires' historical cafes which sits on a tree-lined prime spot in Recoleta.  Here, we are surprisingly not the first ones in for breakfast as many locals come here for early morning meetings along with tourists who come later in the day.  We sit at one of the indoor tables as the day is overcast and still chilly in the early morning.  Menus are brought over by white-shirted and black-bow-tied waiters who are as much an institution as the actual cafe.  We settle on the set breakfast of cafe con leche (milky coffee), jugo de naranja (fresh orange juice) and 3 medialunas, Argentine croissants, which are either sweet manteca (butter) ones or salty grasa (lard) ones.  We all choose medialunas de manteca and some (mainly A, our 9-year old and the nanny) ask for the ubiquitous dulce de leche (caramel milk jam) to slather onto their medialunas while our 3-year old and I have them plain.  We have a long leisurely breakfast, linger over our coffees and watch the regulars have their coffee before we head out into the sunshine for a long post-breakfast walk around the neighborhood.

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La Biela

Av. Quintana 600

Recoleta, Buenos Aires

Tel; +54 11 4804 0449

*Open daily from early till late.

FARINELLI

On our last morning, we finally walked further up the road to try out a place that had been recommended to us when we first arrived.  Farinelli is a modern cafe that opened recently and has, since then, been the neighborhood hangout for Palermo Chico's stylish residents.

Walk quickly and you'll miss it as its' a tiny storefront accented only with the name on the large red awning shading its' one wooden outdoor table.  Inside, it's all red and white themed interiors matching the illy coffee they serve (a good sign).  Farinelli is sort of self-service.  First, you place your order at the counter near the entrance then try and snag one of the few tables, then you wait patiently until they come and bring your food over.  Service is a bit laid-back to say the least but friendly enough.

The breakfast we had was easily one of the more sophisticated ones for Buenos Aires - homemade granola with berries and yogurt, thick slice multi-grain toast served with the usual pots of cream cheese and jam, an Argentine quirk - jam for the few who want to indulge and cream cheese (aka mendicrim, the local brand) for the many more on a diet.  We also shared a raspberry muffin and a flaky enough croissant (not the usual bready medialuna that passes for a local croissant).  Music is sort of sixties pop (or maybe it was just the playlist that morning) but the place is bright and airy and definitely a neighborhood hangout.  True enough, we did run into a friend who lived nearby who was also having breakfast.  If I lived in Buenos Aires, I could imagine myself dropping in to Farinelli at least once a week for the illy coffee, the pastries and the cool ambience and maybe I'll even bump into a friend.

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Farinelli

Bulnes 2707 (almost on the corner of Cerviño)

Palermo Chico

Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 114802 2014

*Open Mondays to Saturdays from 8:00 to 20:00

BENGAL

In a city where fusion is unusual and grilled meats are eaten plain, it was refreshing to try a different kind of restaurant.  Bengal has been open for a few years now and has been successfully serving a menu of both Italian and Indian specialties.  It sounds strange but the combination works as those not willing to try anything new or spicy can stick to the Italian side of the menu while those who would like to go Asian for the day, can opt for the pretty authentic Indian dishes.

Located near the Ministerio de relaciones exteriores (Foreign affairs and culture ministry), the noon crowd is made up of mostly suited types having business meetings over lunch making ours the only table of lunching ladies (my MIL and I).  Luckily, we were seated right beside the window on that dark rainy spring day.

I arrived late because A and I had a late breakfast at the Alvear, with his childhood friends Sebastian and Guillermo then afterwards decided to wander around Recoleta and ended up getting stuck in a  sudden spring downpour.  When I got there, An was already waiting so I  had a quick look at the menu and ordered straightaway and A left to meet another friend for lunch somewhere else.

The food came quite quickly, a relief since I was hungry - spicy prawn tikka and saffron-flavored basmati rice for me which came in a clay plate that helped keep it hot while An had the chicken tandoori, also with basmati rice.  I also ordered some naan bread which was perfect for sopping up the leftover sauce on my plate.  The food was spicy enough and pretty authentic.  I admit that I was skeptical about the whole Indian-Italian combination as I thought that the dishes would be a fusion of both and was pleasantly surprised to see that they keep the Italian dishes totally separate from the Indian ones.  Aside from Sudestada in Palermo viejo which cooks up really good Southeast asian cuisine, this was the first time I tasted really spicy food in Buenos Aires as most places that purport to be "Asian" often lack that spice kick that good Asian food has.  Dessert was a shared panna cotta (from the Italian side) which came with a citrus syrup and grapefruit zest - a tart ending to tone down the heat from our spicy lunch.

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Bengal

Arenales 837 (between Esmeralda and Suipacha streets)

Retiro, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 4394 8557

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

MUNICH

For every new favorite, there is a classic counterpart.  Munich is the kind of place that hasn't changed much since it opened in 1956 and continues to serve the same home-style local fare.  Its' prime location alongside that other Recoleta institution La Biela (the traditional cafe to go to pre-or-post cemetery visit) makes it perfect for first-timers visiting the city who want to get a taste and feel of a local hangout.  Munich is where my husband, his parents and his siblings spent many long Sunday lunches and where he took our eight-year old son for lunch on a previous visit to Buenos Aires in 2007.

El Munich (as regulars call it) is brightly-lit with lace-curtained windows to keep out the curious, mounted animal heads (boar, deer and lots more), green leather banquettes, wooden panelling, white-linen tablecloths along with the jacketed and bow-tied waiters who've seen just about everything and served everyone over the years.  Munich is like one of  Paris' classic brasseries (Brasserie Balzar or Bofinger maybe?) serving large portions of classic dishes in a non-nonsense way.

No sooner had we squeezed into a booth and when a plate of assorted bread (breadsticks, crackers, rolls) was set down on the table along with the leather menus.  There's lots to order at Munich and their extensive menu is filled Argentine classics like milanesa (fried breaded beef escalope) and revuelto gramajo (sauteed potatoes, onions and ham topped with a runny scrambled egg) but simpler dishes like grilled beef and fish are also available.

A had some grilled fish, An had the pollo Maryland (essentially a chicken milanesa which came with a piece of breaded banana and crispy bacon strips) and I threw caution to the wind and chose the chicken kiev (a large breaded rolled chicken breast filled with oozing butter and herbs).  As usual, we shared a green salad and some shoestring fries.  Don't go to the Munich expecting towers of food or herbs strewn all over your plate. Here portions are large, food tastes as it should and is presented without any fuss on simple white plates.  Service is efficient and although the crowd is made up of mostly old-timers (just like the waiters), the atmosphere is friendly enough.  The only thing that's changed with the times are the prices which can be a little bit steep for standard Argentine cuisine, but for a bit of local flavor, the Munich can't be beat.

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Munich

R. M. Ortíz 1879

La Recoleta, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 4804 3981

*Open daily except Tuesdays for lunch and dinner

FERVOR

Scenes from Fervor, clockwise from top left: cutlery chandelier, the bar, signage, red menu.

Being back in Buenos Aires is like being back home (my second home, that is) and is always a pleasure to visit even for just a week.  On this trip, we had our first Sunday lunch at our all-time favorite parrilla - El Mirasol.  As always, it was packed with families enjoying the grilled meat and convivial atmosphere.

On Monday evening, my Mother-in-law invited us to try Fervor, a relatively new parrilla for dinner located on Posadas street right smack in the middle of chi-chi Recoleta.  Fervor is owned by the same people who run the Italian restaurant Sottovoce (another one we regularly visit and where we had dinner on Sunday evening).  The restaurant is right beside a street-side flower stall which makes the entrance colorful.  Interiors are bistro-like and done up in red (velvet curtains, menu covers, leather banquettes) and black (chairs and tiled floors) with an interesting tiered chandelier made up of cutlery hanging upside down (good thing there were only spoons and forks as sitting underneath knives would have been too risky).  The menu is simple - charcoal grilled meat obviously but also fish and seafood which is quite unusual in meat-centric Argentina, but a nice change for non-carnivores.

The place was half-empty when we arrived at around eight.  We were seated in a banquette on the lower floor (the place to be) and were in a cozy corner table which afforded us a view of the entire room and lots of people watching.  After looking at the menus, my two Porteño companions (A and his mom, An) ordered lenguado (sole) and brochette de langostinos (prawns).  I, on the other hand, couldn't resist another chance to eat Argentine beef and chose the 400 gram ojo de bije (rib-eye), medium rare.  Two side dishes that we would share were also ordered - an arugula salad and some Provencal french fries along with a half bottle of Malbec.

Slowly, the place started to fill up with an older, international crowd, although there were also quite a few locals and for a Monday evening, it was pretty packed.  By the time our dinner was served, there was hardly a table free and the atmosphere was quite lively - noisy with cutlery and glasses clinking and lots of diners tucking into large hunks of meat.  A bowl of assorted bread was set down on the table along with some sauces - chimicurri and salsa criolla for the meat and a trio of sauces for the fish - tartar, lemon and a slightly reddish spicy one.  The portions were good - more than a dozen grilled prawns on an oval plate, a slab of striped-from-the-grill fish with a wedge of lemon and a marbled slab of charred rib-eye.  The salad was bitter and sour with the lemon dressing and the fries were a mound of hot, crunchy, garlicky goodness - the perfect accompaniment to my steak.

I thought that I would never be able to get through that piece of meat but I managed to eat it all and just give A a couple of bites to taste.  For dessert, I had some homemade ice cream - dulce de leche and chocolate for me and A and the almendrado for An.  The ice creams were creamy and delicious and the almendrado was a tasty discovery for me - crema americana (a typical Argentine ice cream flavor of frozen cream) studded with crushed toasted almonds.  The usual espressos to end the meal and a quick walk up the street to catch a cab home.  Fervor was the first new Buenos Aires restaurant we tried on this visit and the second best meal I had on this trip (the first was Michael's in Miami).  I hope that on our next visit, more new restaurants like Fervor crop up on the scene, where the design and atmosphere is the same level as the food being served.

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Fervor

Posadas 1519

Recoleta

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Telephone: +54 11 4804 4944

*Open daily for lunch and dinner. Reservations recommended