Want to make the most of 24 hours in the incredibly vibrant foodie city of Buenos Aires, Argentina? Follow this itinerary and be rewarded with amazing tacos, a bookshop bar, an incredible steakhouse or parilla or a wonderful vegan restaurant and end your day at one at the top 10 gelaterias in the world!
12:00PM Lunch at Don Julio or Chui
We are starting our day at lunch. Don Julio is an iconic steakhouse or parrilla that is one of the quintessential Argentinean experiences. Located on Guatemala it is absolutely worth visiting at least once to try their steak. To get a table can be tricky but not impossible and they are super charming and lovely here. Read my review of Don Julio here.
If you're seeking something less meaty then check out my review of Chui, a gorgeous plant based, organic restaurant in Villa Crespo with a talented female chef at the helm. Because sometimes you just need to lighten things up to balance the amount of steak. See my review of Chui here.
4PM: Afternoon Gelato at Cadore
You know exactly where you are on busy Av. Corrientes and when you’ve reached Cadore Gelato Artigianale. That's when you see the queue of people lining up outside this tiny heladeria or gelateria. Cadore has been declared as one of the world's top gelaterias (National Geographic magazine named it in the top 10 gelatos worldwide).
Cadore has a range of traditional flavours as well as some really special ones that you won’t find elsewhere including 6 flavours of chocolate alone. When you reach the front glass doors there are QR codes to show you the flavours available in many different languages. This will give you a brief amount of time to contemplate what flavours you would like and which one you would like a tasting of. A woman emerges from the store with a broad smile carrying a tall cone of gelato. Her joy is infectious and I ask her what flavours she has. She has the pistachio and the dulce de leche with chocolate chips.
After you first walk through the door, your first decision is to figure out which size you would like. They range from $2000ARS ($3.58AUD or $2.35USD) for one flavour or the cone for $4000ARS ($7.17AUD or $4.70USD). Then the next thing is to ask for a sample. You can go adventurous or you can go regular with flavours like Russian cream, chocolate mousse, marron glace, piedmont hazelnuts, pistachio, apple pie or rum & raisin. If you go for a cone, they will shape it into a spire.
Forget lemon, try the pomelada. Cadore's signature flavour is the pomelada with grapefruit, hibiscus and cardamom. This unusual combination is an absolutely brilliant and refreshing gelato flavour. Also I definitely recommend the choc chip dulce de leche. I’ve had plenty of dulce de leche gelato but never with chocolate chips. This flavour is called Dulce de Leche Grandizano. The chocolate chips are tiny which is actually perfect so that you get lots of bits of chocolate in every spoonful. They use good quality chocolate that melts once it hits your tongue so that this is such a perfect flavour, both taste and texture-wise. The dulce de leche is house made by boiling sweetened condensed milk for up to 16 hours. Oh and Cadore is open from noon to midnight and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays!
Cadore: C1042AAC, Av. Corrientes 1695, C1042AAC Buenos Aires, Argentina. Phone: +54 11 4374-3688. Hours: Sunday to Thursday 12 pm–12 am, Friday and Saturday 12pm-2am.
8:00PM Dinner At Georgie’s
After cruise food, we were craving something spicy and Mexican. Enter Georgie a gorgeous little eclectic Taqueria in Colegiales (near Palermo Hollywood) that has a simple menu with vegan and non-vegan tacos and gorditas.
Start with one of the hummus dips with gazpacho, pickled eggplant and peanuts with fried tortilla chips. It's a really interesting mix that goes together well - just make sure to get extra chips and try to get a bit of everything on your tortilla chip.
Then segue into tacos with either pork, beef or tempeh if you are vegan. I personally loved the pork one as it was paired with a pair and coconut chutney and red pepper mayonnaise and pickled onion, but the beef one was very soft and tender.
If you’re vegan, I actually recommend not the tacos or the cachapa but the vegan Gordita with a really nice balance of flavours with white cashew sauce, pesto and broccoli and almond and raisin salad. And if you eat meat and want some familiar flavours, definitely get the Trevor Gordito with raised beef, mince, onion, cheese, pickles, and big Mac sauce.
Georgie's: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires AR, Charlone 499, C1427 BXI, Argentina. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 7:30–11:30 pm (closed Sunday and Monday). Phone: +54 9 11 3009-8429
11PM: Drinks at Backroom Bar
Things don't really get going in Buenos Aires until later so finish off your night at Backroom Bar, a gorgeous little bar attached to a bookstore in Palermo. Browse the bookstore while you wait for your table to be ready. Get ready for a biiiig and very tempting cocktail menu broken down by category from cocktails inspired by authors to "Lively and Fresh".
I toss up between the Dizzy's Delight with Bulldog gin, St Germain, honey, lemon, tonic water and cardamom bitters but opt for the No Seas Banana with Absolut vodka, Christian Drouin calvados, banana, passion fruit add extra dry Mumm champagne and it absolutely hits the spot for both flavour and creativity.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever spend 24 hours in a city and try to make the most of every meal there?
Looking for other things to do in Buenos Aires? Check out my other Buenos Aires stories!
- Mataderos Market & A Fuudis Tour, Buenos Aires
- The Mysterious Side of Buenos Aires at Recoleta Cemetery
- The Argentine Experience, Buenos Aires
- The Beauty of Buenos Aires, Argentina
All of the meals in this post were independently paid for. NQN travelled to South America as a guest of Qantas but all opinions remain her own.
Qantas
https://www.qantas.com/au/
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