Sunday, 08 February 2009

• Dining out in Buenos Aires

  by Molly
  

  

  Buenos Aires was once described to me as the Italy of South America. It is elegant, fun and offers amazing dining, parks, museums, and a culture much different than the rest of the continent. When I arrived in the city, after months of backpacking around Central and the northern part of South America, I was happy to see that the rumors were actually true!

  When we arrived in Buenos Aires, I was shocked by how much it reminded me of New York City. Full of people, buildings, cafes and excitement. It is also similarly divided into neighborhoods representing certain aspects of the city's culture. There is Recoleta, one of the nicest areas of the city, which resembles uptown neighborhoods in New York City. You can get a fancy cup of coffee at any of the cafes lining the streets or take a stroll down the nicely groomed streets. Then there is Palermo, which is separated into Palermo Hollywood, Palermo Soho and Palermo Chico. This area is full of bars, restaurants and young people - much like you would see in the Village in New York.

  The main difference is found in the dining/drinking culture. Primarily, the Argentinians from the city do not eat before 10pm, and will often start eating their meals at midnight. The night is spent talking over bottles of wine or beer and taking in your meal very slowly. The first time we went out to dinner with some of our friends who are from Buenos Aires, we were shocked by how late it was before you actually had food in front of us. We were starving! We hadn't eaten since lunch, as our normal dining hour was around 7 or 8pm. By the time we made it into the restaurant, had our first bottle of wine, and became acquainted with everyone, I was exhausted and a little intoxicated due to my empty stomach. But, the food did finally come, and it was amazing!

  After a month spent getting used to the different eating hours and drinking culture, I became a pro at sitting and talking over a bottle of wine for hours and hours....and having coffee at 2am. That's another to note - if you are to go to Buenos Aires, you literally have to be willing to drink coffee more than you ever thought was humanly possible. It is like water to the locals. They love to stop at least every hour to grab a quick cup, which is not hard to come by with the hundreds of gourmet coffee shops lining the streets.

  The culture in Buenos Aires is truely something to see. You could sit at dinner for hours, just talking and slowly enjoying your meal and your wine. It was something that I had to get used to, as in the states, it is definitely not the norm to sit over a dinner and take such a long time with every course. In BA, you could sit at a table until 5am in a jam packed restaurant, talking and eating and drinking. I have to say, I'm glad I'm not a waiter in Argentina with those kinds of hours!

  Have you ever been to Buenos Aires? Have you ever experienced a similar dining culture in Europe, or in your home country? How did you like it?

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