FOOD IN BUENOS AIRES

 


The first thing we learned about dining out in Buenos Aires is that people eat dinner between 9 and 11 p.m.! Most good restaurants don't even open until 8 or 8:30, and they are not full until after 9. These two photos are of one of our favorite restaurants, Rio Alba, just down the street from our apartment. The first photo I took when we arrived at 8:30 p.m. The second photo was taken at 9 p.m., when most people came to eat.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
The most popular dish in Argentina is steak. They are well known for their excellent beef. This particular restaurant advertises that their steaks are so tender, they cut them with a spoon. When they bring steaks to your table, they look like a small roast and then they CUT THEM WITH A SPOON, and put them on your plate. They are delicious.

























Another favorite dish in Argentina is pizza, but it is very different than the pizza we are used to in the U.S. They usually have a very good crust, and then they have 1/2 to 1 inch of Mozzarella cheese with some toppings on the cheese. You very seldom see any tomato sauce or any other kind of sauce. The toppings are not chopped up. It might be a whole tomato slice or whole pieces of ham and one whole olive on each of 6 slices. The toppings are added after they are cooked, as in these raw onions.

Empanadas and milanesa are staples of most families here. That is what the young missionaries are fed most days at the homes of the members, who so faithfully feed them every day. I have learned to make empanadas with left overs. I buy the wrappers in a package like tortillas and fill them with meat and vegetables. We always have some in the freezer for a quick meal or for lunch.

Desserts are to die for! I ordered a four part dulce de leche (caramel, which is my favorite flavor) and this is what I got. Dean ordered a fruit parfait. They were both delicious. It's good we just stopped for dessert and had not eaten dinner.








Ice cream (helado), can be found on every block, usually two or three shops. Everyone has their favorite. Ice cream is quite expensive, but it is something most people sacrifice to have often. The Senior Missionaries took a day trip on the train to San Isidro. We spent the day in museums, cathedrals and a feria, but it was capped off in the evening at this wonderful ice cream shop famous for their very "tall" chocolate dipped ice cream cones. They had a huge selection of flavors and then they would dip it. Everyone had a drippy mess before they could finish the whole thing, but it was worth it. They were wonderful!

We go to food fairs of one kind or another almost every Saturday. Most of them are at the Hipodrome, which is within walking distance of our apartments. The Wolds are in this photo
 and we are all at an International Fair, celebrating the diverse heritage of the people of Buenos Aires. There was food from all over the world. Dean and I actually got sick afterward because we tried too many different things. We did not have food poisoning, just too much. We will be more careful in the future to make up our minds and just try one thing.


If we are missing food from home, there is always KFC, McDonald's, Subway and Burger King. KFC and Burger King taste exactly like at home, but Subway and McDonald's are quite different. The menus are the same, but they use different ingredients. McDonald's uses an oil for frying that I don't care for, and Subway does not use sauces. So every once in awhile, we visit either KFC or Burger King. We found a Burger King that is known as the most "elegant" Burger King in the world! It is an old mansion that has been refurbished and has the original amazing ceilings and moldings from the old house. It has a beautiful split staircase and each room upstairs has an awesome ceiling.









See the tiny Burger King sign on the top left of the building.
































We love the food here. We love to eat at all the different restaurants, and I love to cook with all the fresh ingredients they have here. We buy fruit, vegetables, breads and meat at different shops in our neighborhood every day. They do not use preservatives, so we buy fresh often.

Asado at Estancia Susana

Typical Parilla (BBQ)

Yum!!