Eating and drinking in Argentina

Where to eat

Apart from generic restaurantes (or restoranes), you will come across parrillas (for steak and beef), marisquerías (for seafood), confiterías (cafés for coffee, cakes, snacks or simple meals), comedores (simple local canteens), pizzerías, bodegones (unpretentious restaurants that theoretically serve a house wine) and cantinas (neighbourhood places often dishing up Italian food, such as home-made pasta). 

By South American standards the quality of restaurants is high, and though by international standards they are not always cheap, they often represent good value. If you’re on a tight budget, make lunch your main meal and take advantage of the menú del día or menú ejecutivo, and in the evening try tenedor libre restaurants where you can eat as much as you like for a set price at self-service buffets. 

Up your budget and you can dine a la carte at most mid-range restaurants, wine included. Argentina also has a fair sprinkling of gourmet locales (restaurantes cocina de autor), concentrated in, but by no means limited to, Buenos Aires. In these, your per-head bill will cost more, though this still compares well with cities in other industrialized countries and you get fabulous food, wine, ambience and service. You should try and splash out at least once during your visit. Restaurantes a puertas cerradas or closed door restaurants, whose address is given out on reservation, are often run out of the cook’s own home. They can offer an intimate and often experimental dining experience that steers away from beef.

When to eat

Argentines tend to have four meals a day, given that dinner time begins far later than in Europe or the US. Breakfast is usually served up until around 10am, and lunch from around noon until 3pm. Hardly any restaurants open for dinner before 8pm, so if you think you’re going to be starving by this time, do as the locals do and either have a hearty lunch or take merienda: tea and snacks squeezed in before dinner at a café or confitería in the late afternoon.

In Buenos Aires – and in the hotter months in the rest of the country – few people turn up for dinner before 10 or even 11pm. Don’t be surprised to see people pouring into restaurants well after midnight: Argentines, and Porteños in particular, are night owls.

What to eat

While beef is the most prominent feature on many menus, it’s by no means the whole story. In general, you seldom have a bad meal in Argentina. That said, imagination, innovation and a sense of subtle flavor are sometimes lacking, with Argentines preferring to eat the wholesome but often-bland dishes their immigrant forebears cooked. 

At the other end of the spectrum, there is some very (some might say overly) inventive cordon bleu cooking being concocted by daring young chefs across the country, especially in Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Fast food is extremely popular, but you can also snack on delicious local specialities such as empanadas or homemade pizza if you want to avoid the ubiquitous multinational chains.

Snacks

If you’re feeling peckish during the day there are plenty of minutas (quick meals) to choose from. The lomito (as opposed to lomo – the name of the steak cut itself) is a nourishing sandwich filled with a juicy slice of steak, often made with delicious pan árabe (pitta bread); the chivito (originally Uruguayan) refers to a similar kind of sandwich made with a less tender cut; though it translates as “kid”, or baby goat, it’s made with beef.

Other street foods include the choripán, a local version of the hot dog made with pork sausages (chorizos), and the tostado (or tostado mixto), a toasted cheese and ham sandwich, often daintily thin and sometimes (in the provinces) called a carlitos. Milanesas refer to breaded veal escalopes served in a sandwich, hamburger-style. Empanadas are small pastries with savory fillings, usually stuffed with beef, cheese and/or vegetables, although the fillings are as varied as the cook’s imagination.

Parrillas, pizza and pasta

The three Ps – parrillas, pizza and pasta – are the mainstays of Argentine cuisine, both at home and in restaurants. Parrillas are simply barbecues (or the restaurants that employ them) where you can try the traditional asado . Usually there’s a set menu (the parrillada), though the establishments themselves vary enormously. At many, especially in big cities, the decor is stylish, the staff laidback, the crockery delicate and the meat served tidily.

Elsewhere, especially in smaller towns, parrillas are more basic, and you’re likely to be served by burly, sweaty grill-men who spend all their time carving hunks of flesh and hurling them onto wooden platters. Portions in parrillas are generally very large, intended for sharing, and accompaniments like fries or salad are ordered separately, again served family style on large platters to share.

Mass immigration from Italy since the middle of the nineteenth century has had a profound influence on Argentine food and drink – the abundance of fresh pasta (pasta casera) is just one example. Ravioli and cannelloni fillings tend to be a little unexciting (lots of cheese, including ricotta, but seldom meat), the sauces are not exactly memorable (mostly tomato and onion) and the pasta, whether stuffed or plain, itself cooked beyond al dente, yet it’s a reliable staple and rarely downright bad. 

Pizzas are very good on the whole, though the toppings tend to lack originality, especially away from the capital. One popular ingredient regularly used as a garnish may be unfamiliar to visitors: the palmito, a sweet, crunchy heart of palm. Argentine pizzas are nearly always of the thick-crust variety, wood-oven baked and very big, meant to be divided between a number of diners.

Regional cuisine

Although you will find parrillas throughout Argentina, different regions have their own specialities, too. Probably the most noteworthy regional cuisine is found in the Argentine Northwest, where, as well as the juiciest empanadas, you can find humitas – steamed creamed sweetcorn, served in parcels made from corncob husks like tamales, and locro, a hearty stew based on maize, with onions, beans, squash and meat thrown in. Andean quinoa is a frequent ingredient in everything from soups to empanadas. Patagonia, meanwhile, is famed for its barbecued lamb, staked around the fire, and jams made from local fruit such as the calafate berry.

Other cuisines

In addition to the Italian cooking available all over the country, Spanish restaurants serve tapas and familiar dishes such as paella, while specifically Basque restaurants are also fairly commonplace; these are often the places to head for fish or seafood. Chinese and, increasingly, Korean restaurants are found in many Argentine cities, but they rarely serve anything remotely like authentic Asian food and specialize in tenedor libre buffet dinners. You can find excellent sushi and Peruvian food in Buenos Aires, where nearly every national cuisine from Armenian to Vietnamese, plus Mexican, Polish and Thai is also available, but such variety is harder to come by in the provinces.

Arab and Middle Eastern food, including favorites such as kebabs and kepe (seasoned ground raw meat), is more widespread, as is German cuisine such as sauerkraut (chucrút) and frankfurters, along with Central and Eastern European food, often served in choperías, or beer gardens. Welsh tearooms are a speciality in Chubut, Patagonia.

Vegetarian food

As a vegetarian in Argentina, you shouldn’t have too many problems in the capital, the larger cities or Patagonian resorts, all of which are relatively cosmopolitan. A number of restaurants completely dedicated to non-meat-eaters do exist and many places have a few good non-meat dishes. The exceptions are parrillas, though the sight and smell of entire animals roasting on the grill is unlikely to appeal to vegetarians anyway.

In the smaller provincial towns, however, vegetarian food tends to be a lot simpler and you will likely have to adjust to a diet of pizza, pasta, empanadas and salads, with very little variety in the toppings and fillings. The good news is that these fillings are often tasty options such as spinach, acelga (Swiss chard) and ricotta. Other foods to keep an eye out for are fainá – a fairly bland but agreeable Genovese speciality made with chickpea dough, often served on top of pizza – and milanesas de soja (breaded soya “cutlets”), while milanesas of vegetables like berenjena (aubergine or eggplant) and calabaza (squash) are also quite popular.

When all the cheese gets a bit much, look out for the popular tenedor libres, which usually feature a good smattering of veggies, as do Middle Eastern restaurants. Another possibility would be to self-cater – supermarkets are usually fairly well stocked with vegetables, seasonings and soy products.

You should always check the ingredients of a dish before ordering, as the addition of small amounts of meat is not always referred to on menus. Don’t be surprised if your “no como carne” (I don’t eat meat) is dismissed with a glib “no tiene mucha” (It doesn’t contain much) and be particularly on your guard for the seemingly ever-present jamón (ham).

Vegans will have a hard time outside of Buenos Aires, as pretty much everything that doesn’t contain meat contains cheese or pastry. On the upside though, salad ingredients are sourced locally, so they tend to be fresh and tasty. Waiters will rarely be familiar with veganism but will usually try to accommodate your requests.

Desserts

Argentines have a fairly sweet tooth and love anything with sugar, especially dulce de leche. Even breakfast tends to be dominated by sweet things such as sticky croissants (medialunas) or chocolate con churros, Andalucían-style hot chocolate with fritters, sometimes filled with dulce de leche. All kinds of cakes and biscuits, including alfajores (maize-flour cookie sandwiches, filled with jam or dulce de leche, sometimes coated with chocolate), pastries called facturas and other sweet treats are popular with Argentines of all ages.

However, for dessert you’ll seldom be offered anything other than the tired trio of flan (a kind of crème caramel, religiously served with a thick custard or dulce de leche), budín de pan (a syrupy version of bread pudding) and fresh fruit salad (ensalada de frutas). In Andean regions, or in criollo eateries, you’ll most likely be served dulce vigilante, a slab of neutral, pallid cheese called quesillo eaten with sweet potato (batata), quince (membrillo), spaghetti squash (cayote/alcayote), squash (zapallo) or lime (lima). Panqueques, or crêpes, are also popular.

With such a large Italian community it is not surprising that superb helado (ice cream) is easy to come by in Argentina. Even the tiniest village has at least one heladería artesanal. If you’re feeling really self-indulgent, you might like your cone dipped in chocolate (bañado). Some of the leading ice-cream makers offer an overwhelming range of flavours (sabores). Chocolate chip (granizado) is a favourite, and raspberry mousse (mousse de frambuesa) is also delicious.

Drinks

Fizzy drinks (gaseosas) are extremely popular with people of all ages and often accompany meals. All the big-brand names are available, along with local brands such as Paso de los Toros, which makes tonic water and fizzy grapefruit (pomelo) drinks. You will often be asked if you want mineral water – either still (agua sin gas) or carbonated (agua con gas or soda) – with your meal, but you can ask for tap water (agua de la llave or agua del grifo), which is safe to drink in most places, though this may raise eyebrows. Although very little is grown in the country, good coffee is easy to come by. You will find very decent espressos, or delicious café con leche, in most cafés. 

Tea is usually made from teabags; Argentine tea is strong rather than subtle, and is served with either milk or lemon; you need to ask for milk if you want it, and it usually comes hot. Herbal teas (infusiones) are all the rage, camomile (manzanilla) being the most common. Mate is a whole world unto itself, with its own etiquette and rituals . Fruit juices (jugos) and smoothies (licuados) can be excellent, though freshly squeezed orange juice is often sold at ridiculously high prices.

Beer

Argentina’s beer is more thirst-quenching than alcoholic and mostly comes as fairly bland lager, with Quilmes dominating the market and Heineken producing a big-selling beer in the country; imported brands are fairly common in the cities, though more expensive. Regional brews are sometimes worth trying: in Mendoza, the Andes brand crops up all over, while Salta’s own brand is also good, and a kind of stout (cerveza negra) can sometimes be obtained in the Northwest. Craft beer (cerveza artesanal) is increasingly available, particularly around Bariloche and El Bolsón, often coming in a surprising array of flavours and served at dedicated bars (cervecerías), though dozens of craft beer pubs have sprouted up in Buenos Aires recently, too. Usually when you ask for a beer it comes in large litre bottles, meant for sharing; a small bottle is known as a porrón. If you want draught beer, ask for a chopp (or a liso in Santa Fe Province).

Wine

The produce of Argentina’s vineyards, ranging from gutsy plonk to some of the world’s prize-winning wines, is widely available both in the country and abroad. Many vintages are excellent and not too expensive. While many restaurants have limited, unimaginative wine lists, which don’t reflect Argentina’s drift away from mass-produced table wines to far superior single or multi-varietals, some do put great emphasis on their carta de vinos. It can be difficult to order wine by the glass, and half-bottles too are rare but on the increase. Cheaper wine is commonly made into sangría or its fruitier, white wine equivalent, clericó.

Spirits

Don’t be surprised to see home-grown variants (nacionales) of whisky, gin, brandy, port, sherry and rum, none of which is that good; familiar imported brands (importados) can be expensive, however. It’s far better to stick to the locally distilled aguardientes, or firewaters, some of which (from Catamarca, for example) are deliciously grapey. Fernet Branca, a bitter spirit, is the most popular, a demonic-looking brew the colour of molasses with a medicinal taste, usually combined with Coke and consumed in huge quantities – it’s generally regarded as the gaucho’s favourite tipple. Vermouth has also staged a comeback, with small distilleries producing batches made from malbec or torrontés.