Gastronomic journey in Argentina and the Inca trail July 2009
Just got back from a fabulous journey to Argentina. I am totally inspired by the diversity of food and cooking there. Wow! I went on a four-day horse trek from Salta across the Andes, which was amazing. Incredibly beautiful high altitude desert landscape, sort of Clint Eastwood meets Inca country. We stayed with families that have lived & cooked the same way for thousands of years, very basic, no electricity and no running water. All the cooking was done in the outside adobe mud brick oven by the gauchos and their wives: delicious empanadas, goats cheese, baked goat, potatoes and home baked bread .We drank water from the stream and mate tea. We seemed to have an insatiable appetite for dulce de leche Whttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_de_leche justified of course as fuel for the next days ride and to brace us against the cold of the Andes wind.
I flew back to Buenos Aires totally culture shocked and a part of me wanting to live in that amazing Andes landscape forever. I met my travelling companion Richard Lucchese in Buenos Aires and we had our first traditional Parrilla (grill restaurant) dinner at La Cabrera. http://www.parrillalacabrera.com.ar/. We thought we’d go late at about 11 pm, and miss the crowds, which turned out to be the busiest time as the locals we found out eat very late, even on a Monday night. Be advised you can book .The restaurant was packed to the rafters .We put our name down for a table and waited with about 30 other keen diners outside. The atmosphere outside was more like a cocktail party than being in a queue. We were served complimentary local Argentinean champagne and tapas chorizo , which kept us in a great mood , even after the hour’s wait! .Our dinner was probably one of the largest steaks I have ever been served, it was deliciously tender and accompanied by 10 complimentary side plates. What generosity.
The next day was another gastronomic treat in La Boca, the old Italian seaport. Traditionally it was a very poor area so years ago the residents painted their houses in multiple colours to brighten up the streetscape. Now it’s truly a unique and charming area with tango dancing in the streets. Lunch was fabulous at the local and very famous Italian restaurant called El Obrero. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/buenosaires/D55911.html, Good traditional southern Italian food and a favourite of celebrities such as Sting. They served us a vegetable consume appetiser in the most enormous silver caldron, really enough for 10 people, not 2. I think it was about AU$2 and so delicious. Dinner was great at Bar Uriarte in Palermo Viejo, http://www.baruriarte.com.ar/uriarte/default.htma modern interior brassiere serving Italian classics. We finished the evening up at the laid back Thelonious live jazz club
.The next day was spent in San Telmo which is full of ramshackle Spanish colonial buildings, art nouveau architecture, cobble stone streets and an overwhelming array of antique shops. It is very buzzy and lot of fun. We some how managed to squeeze another meal in, a Merienda (an afternoon tea around 6pm) at the historic 1920’s Café Tortoni http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/Dinner that night was a great local tapas diner.
On Sunday we visited the gaucho folk markets La Feria de Mataderos and tasted barbequed armadillo, a first for us, hmm. , And watched traditional folk dancing in the streets http://www.timeout.com/buenos-aires/shops/venue/7983/feria-de-mataderos.
Monday was another cuisine hi-light at one of our favourite restaurants ever, the recently opened Moreno,http://www.morenobuenosaires.com/restaurantplusbar.asp where chef Dante Liporace who has trained at El Bulli in Barcelona http://www.elbulli.com/esade/Caso_Ferran_Adria_and_elBulli-ESADE_en.pdfshowed us his style. He took us on a tour of his kitchen and cooked the most divine, molecular food. Final farewell to Argentina dinner that night was at the most very stylish restaurant in Palermo called Thymus,http://www.thymusrestaurant.com.ar/ For a gastronomic treat I truly recommend it .I had an appetizer of confit of duck, green sprouts with walnuts and shallot dressing, a main course of lamb shoulder braised over red lentils and red delicious apples and a dessert of warm quince tart and sabayon ice-cream .
We had out last night cap at la Cathedrale club, a milonga or social clubhttp://www.torito.nl/tango/fotos/buenosaires/milongas/la_catedral/index.htmlwhich was the coolest deconstructed tango club that I could ever imagine with a live band , originally from Italy called Unitango. http://www.unitango.com/nuestraorganizacion.asp
I can’t wait to get back to Argentina and tastes more gastronomic treats and soak up that warm Argentine hospitality.