36 new hotels for Buenos Aires

[from Pablo Tomino @ la Nación, 20 June 2011]

Buenos Aires sumará 36 nuevos hoteles

En los próximos meses se inaugurarán varios de cinco estrellas (5 stars) y uno de superlujo (super deluxe); siguen creciendo los alojamientos boutique

Hotel Boca Juniors opens in 2012
designed by Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott

La consolidación de Buenos Aires como un destino predilecto del turismo internacional en América latina alienta una importante inversión que pretende aumentar en los próximos meses la oferta de plazas para pernoctar en la ciudad: de aquí al 2013, se inaugurarán en la Capital 36 hoteles, entre ellos uno considerado de seis estrellas, para lo cual se invertirán unos 490 millones de dólares.

Estos megaemprendimientos se concentrarán en los barrios de Palermo, Puerto Madero, Recoleta y en el centro, principalmente. De los 36 hoteles, 20 de ellos se inaugurarán antes de fin de año, mientras que los 16 restantes se estrenarán entre principios de 2012 y 2013, lo que confirma la tendencia de crecimiento que el sector turístico ha tenido en los últimos años en la capital del país.

Click here to read more.

boutique hotels in Buenos Aires

[thank you to David Galland via Eric Watson]

This morning, I just happened to catch a travel program on the BBC TV World Service called Fast Track. It was about the booming hotel industry in BA. In the last year or so, there are about 100 new or revamped hotels. Average occupancy now up to 87%. Prices in last year up 16%. Average room rate US$ 134 per day. 30 of these new hotels are Boutique Hotels that look terrific. I imagine you spend one night in BA, coming and going to Salta. Here are some you may want to check out for yourself or visiting amigos.

Design

Design Hotel

Esplendor

Hotel Splendor.

Home

Home Hotel.

Faena

The one that really impressed me was the FAENA Hotel. This is built inside an old Corn Warehouse and was designed by Philippe Starck, one of my favourite architects.

More info available here.

Abasto mall

Abasto Shopping Mall on Corrientes

When we visited Abasto de Buenos Aires, I looked up & snapped this picture as two security guys were emphatically saying, "No photos," to Mike, but since he doesn't speak Spanish, he was just waving his hands & saying, "No hablo español." Then I looked over & rescued him, but I had the shot.

The guards explained that it was a security measure. When I explained that we were moving to Cafayate, they said, "Calafate?" Lots of people do this, which surprises me some because Cafayate is SO much nicer, I'm guessing, than Calafate, but now I'm learning that people visit Calafate to see the glaciers.

Petito Moreno glacier, Calafate, Patagonia

Later, one of the security guards came by & talked to us for a long time. He admired my "Castellano" & said he wanted to practice his English, but we spoke in both languages about Cafayate & the United States. He has a brother who married a Mormon & moved to Salt Lake City. Clearly, he misses him a lot.

The mall was like a US mall. We passed through & walked across the street to a combination asado & Chinese restaurant. The latter was quite good. I wish I could remember the restaurant name.

Owner Susan Fujii adds:

I just have to add that if you have children, this particular mall is *paradise* for them as they have a wonderful Children's Museum (Museo de los Ninos) on the 2nd floor! It is far better than many, many US Children's Museums (and we've been to some very nice ones with our 5-year-old and 3-year-old) and features an enormous hands-on "city" where kids can do all sorts of fun things. My girls' favorites were singing, dancing, and operating the production cameras of a "real" TV studio, flushing themselves down the giant toilet slide, making milk and milk products in the dairy center, and grocery shopping (and being cashiers) in the awesome super-market.

It truly was amazing and lots of fun! Also the food court, unlike most in the US, sells wine and beer and has a great assortment of delicious restaurants.

And there was also a huge indoor amusement park there called "Neverland" complete with a hot-air-balloon ferris wheel ride, swinging pirate boat, and more, that we didn't have time to check out as we had to run to catch our plane (much to our girls' chagrin!).

cartoneros

[from Buenos Aires Perception, 26 October 2009]

A cartonero (cardboard picker) is someone who digs through the trash to collect anything that may be of value. Basically, they are sorting through the garbage set out at the curb, mostly in search for cardboard and other useful remains. The cartoneros work within certain territories in the various neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Sadly, there are thousands of them out on the streets, many are children. The number of cartoneros has rapidly increased during the last economic crash in 2001. For many people in Argentina, that is the only way to make a living.

Viviana Luengo

Viviana Luengo working at her loom

Meet Viviana Luengo, an artist who lives in Buenos Aires. I met her on the Internet after she discovered this blog. Why not visit her website & explore her work.

Muñequita con Ojai Poppies

puerta cerrada (closed door)

[from A Gringo in Buenos Aires, 26 March 2010]

Closed-Door Restaurants of Buenos Aires

Closed-door restaurants, a.k.a. restaurantes a puertas cerradas, are big in Buenos Aires. Never heard of them? What closed-door restaurants do is to blur the line between restaurants and dinner parties. They often occur in what is actually the home of the chef, and so necessarily they’re limited to small number of diners. Menus usually change weekly or even daily according to the whims of the chef. They also almost never offer you a choice of dishes; you just get what the chef is cooking on the night you go, which is actually kind of liberating.

The result of all of this is something more intimate and social than a regular restaurant. Going to a closed-door restaurant usually involves meeting and chatting with the chef and the other guests, rather than just eating and dashing. There’s much more a feeling of a shared experience with your fellow diners. Also, the cuisine they offer is often a lot more creative and adventurous than your standard Buenos Aires restaurant fare (which makes a welcome change from meat-and-Malbec).

Casa Saltshaker

The most well-known closed-door restaurant in Buenos Aires is undeniably Casa Saltshaker, which is run by Dan Perlman, author of the influential Buenos Aires restaurant review site at www.saltshaker.net. Casa Saltshaker offers a five-course tasting menu (optionally paired with wine) which changes from one day to the next. Every menu at Casa Saltshaker is themed, and some of the themes are pretty whacky (check out the website). It seats just 12 people in the apartment of Mr. Perlman and his partner Henry Tapia. It’s located in Barrio Norte.

Casa Sunae

Much newer on the puerta cerrada scene is Casa Sunae. The food is ‘pan-Asian’ and both promises and delivers “fiery curries, fresh herbs and exotic spices.” If you’ve been in Buenos Aires for a while and are craving food with flavor, Casa Sunae might be just the thing. There’s a nice patio which is a perfect place to meet the other guests over a cocktail prior to dinner, and the service is also top-notch.

Casa Felix

Casa Felix is another well-established closed-door restaurant. Rock star chef Diego Felix offers a five-course tasting menu for up to 12 people every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for ARG$150. Guests get a free welcoming cocktail on arrival. Casa Felix operates out of a beautiful house in Chacarita near Colegiales. Unlike some (most?) closed-door restaurants, mingling between guests isn’t all that common. The food at Casa Felix is sublime and consequently it’s wildly popular, and maybe the best-reviewed closed-door restaurant in Buenos Aires.

La Cocina Discreta

Two other highly regarded closed-door restaurants here are La Cocina Discreta, which is located in Villa Crespo and has the capacity to seat 18 diners, and Treintasillas, which is in Colegiales and is run by the talented and creative chef Ezequiel Gallardo.

Treintesillas

If you want to check out the puerta cerrada experience, note that most of them only open for Friday and Saturday nights – obviously if you’re running a restaurant out of your home, you don’t really want to have guests every single night of the week. Bookings are also essential.

Buenos Aires eats

[many thanks to Cyrus Sarmadi; click on restaurant names below for additional reviews of these & similar restaurants]

Rio Alba, Avenida Cervino 4499, Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, Argentina, (54-11) 4773 9508

This is a local favorite, I don’t expect you’ll find many tourists there. The atmosphere is casual. The steak is the best that I’ve had so far in Argentina, the salad was very fresh as well.

salchicca criolla

Sarkis, Thames 1101 at Jufré, Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, (54-11) 4772-4911

This Armenian restaurant is in Palermo Hollywood. It had some really delicious Mediterranean dishes. I would get a combination of platters like kabob, hummus, olives, tabouli salad, and so on (they have non-meat selections also). They only take cash.

Tegui, Costa Rica 5852, Buenos Aires; (54-11) 5291-3333

This is a fusion restaurant in Palermo Hollywood. The food was good (small portions though) although a bit pricey, the atmosphere is very contemporary, and the service was OK.

rabbit ravioli

the best sushi in Buenos Aires

[from Brando, 5 April 2011]

You can find sushi restaurants in all parts of the city, & most offer takeout & delivery.

the best pasta in Buenos Aires

According to Brando, Buenos Aires has great pasta restaurants because so many porteños (people who live in Buenos Aires) are of Italian descent. Here's Brando's map of fine pasta restaurants:

Read today's Brando article to learn more.

furniture shopping in Buenos Aires

We happened across a store called Decormundo, Avenida Córdoba 2699, where Nataya Cacciavillani spent 2 hours designing furniture arrangements for our house. Decormundo's furniture is modern, custom made, & what I would call high end, but we are novices in this game. I expect we'll order a few pieces.

Here's a small sample of their wares.

Arenales Apart Hotel

The Arenales Apart Hotel is on Arenales between Ecuador & Pueyreddón in Buenos Aires, one block from Avenida Sante Fe at the edge of Palermo. AR$300 efectivo.

location: good shopping up & down Santa Fe
beds: excellent, comfortable, soft pillows
bathroom: excellent water pressure, hot water
kitchen: 2 burners, kettle, dishes for 3, no cook pots
air conditioner: very noisy
street: noisy

We bought butter, eggs, fruit, tomato, & wine. Asians run the grocery stores. Too tired to go out for dinner, we boiled eggs in the kettle, ate them with butter & tomato, later walked out to Freddo for ice cream.

In the morning we boiled water in the kettle, poured it over grounds in the coffee cups, waited 5 minutes for grounds to settle. They did.

where to eat fish in Buenos Aires

[from La Nación, 8 February 2011]

Los mejores restaurantes para comer pescado en Buenos Aires

Clasico español: Restaurante Vasco Francés, Moreno 1370, Montserrat | Tel: 4381-5415

Se pueden pedir fritas, a la milanesa o a la plancha. El plato, para compartir, cuesta $75. Los chopitos, de entrada, son una verdadera fiesta: calamares pequeñitos rellenos con sus propios tentáculos y salteados a la plancha con cebollitas $66. El resto de los platos resultan una verdadera gozada: el pulpo a la gallega $180, los cachetes de abadejo a la vizcaína $53 y, claramente, la paella, que viene servida en pequeñas ollitas calientes ideales para raspar el fondo con el arroz pegado. Los arroces merecen un apartado especial con sus atractivas variedades: el negro vasco francés (con tinta de calamar, vieiras y langostinos, $135) y el especial (con centolla, langostinos, setas y crema, $160). Todos los pescados pueden pedirse con un surtido de salsas.

En clave peruana: Primavera Trujillana, Franklin D. Roosevelt 1627, Belgrano | Tel: 4706-1218

Si la idea es hacer un recorrido marítimo por el paladar, te sugerimos pedir el hit de la casa: camarones al ajillo ­-según el día, pueden ser langostinos-, que vienen con morrón, ajo en crema de achacote y arroz. Todos los principales cuestan $50 y se pueden servir con distintas intensidades de picante según la tolerancia del comensal. Otra especialidad para sumar en tu lista de opciones es el ceviche mixto, es decir, pescado y mariscos cocidos al limón con cilantro, especias varias y cebolla colorada.

Sabor portuario: Don José, Avenida Alvear 423, Martínez | Tel: 4798-4860

Los mariscos, por supuesto, son los protagonistas de la carta. La llamada "Fritanga" augura una comida memorable con langostinos, rabas, cornalitos y calamaretes. Si superás semejante entrada, entonces, estás listo para sumergirte en las profundidades de una cazuela de mariscos y moluscos (que cuesta $90 y alcanza hasta para tres personas). Una opción para los menos atrevidos son las pastas caseras con salsas de mariscos, como, por ejemplo, los escandalosos tallarines al bocco ($78, para compartir).

De pelicula: Nemo, Cabello 3672, Palermo | Tel: 4802-5308

Si querés hacer un paseo completo por el mundo de la pesca, entonces, podés elegir entre el tapeo de mar o el tableo de pescado. El primero viene con 14 platitos de mejillones, langostinos, camarones, brótola y otras opciones que no se repiten. Mejor, para compartir $145. Si vas "a por" el segundo, te vas a encontrar con 700 gramos de pescado surtido que propone como constante el salmón y las especialidades del día: abadejo, lenguado, corbina, mero y pacú del río, entre otros $150. El arroz, las papas a la plancha y distintas terrinas acompañan el desfile acuático. Nemo no ofrece pescado frito de ninguna clase ni tampoco excesos de condimentos, sino que, el foco está puesto en los sabores esenciales. Atención con el pulpo, siempre bien preparado, servido con papas al natural, sin trozar y con los tentáculos enteros, $89 el plato.

La pesca esencial: Sólo Pescado, Anchorena 533, Abasto | Tel: 4861-0997

Las especialidades de la casa: desde merluza, pasando por langostinos, trucha del sur, pejerrey, salmón, abadejo y cornalitos hasta paellas, ceviches y gambas al ajillo. En síntesis, todos los platos marítimos en sus correspondientes versiones porteñas, italianas y españolas. Por eso, lo mejor, para evitar confusiones, es acercarse al mostrador y preguntar por la pesca del día para que el cocinero, siempre sincero y honesto, recomiende cocciones y guarniciones. Con $50 comés más que bien.