Despite Argentina’s fame for steaks, my favourite restaurants in Buenos Aires served amazing seafood dishes. Below are my top three.
Oviedo in Recoleta is a lovely neighbourhood restaurant, offering great service in an upmarket setting. I loved the octopus starter dish and their impressive selection of fish for mains. It feels a bit old fashioned but in a cute way. Find the restaurant at Antonio Beruti 2602, 1425 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires.
Octopus dish with gnocchi
Hake fish with pak choi and tomatoes, a main dish at Oviedo restaurant
For the most hip atmosphere and superb dishes, Proper in Palermo gets my vote. From the outside it’s hidden when closed and looks more like a garage than a restaurant, but once open, it’s buzzing and quickly fills up around a large communal table. All food are prepared in the open-plan kitchen at the back of the restaurant. Everything is beautifully put together and served by cool staff. If you haven’t got a reservation, get there when it opens around 8pm. Find it at Aráoz 1676 in Palermo, for reservations call + 54 11 4831-0027.
Delicious squid at Proper restaurant in Palermo
Devine chocolate mousse served at Proper
Another restaurant with great ambience is La Mar in Palermo Soho offering several different ceviches. I loved their garden courtyard, which is a great evening spot to enjoy a pisco sour to start your meal. Find it at Arévalo 2024, cross road with Nicaragua.
Ceviche with mixed seafood at the La Mar restaurant in Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires
Oh and by the way, all of the above restaurants are also offering meat dishes. And of course, I had some amazing steaks in Argentina, the quality of the cuts are fantastic, but I was getting very frustrated by the lack of ‘rare’ done steaks. I am yet to discover rare cooked meat in Argentina. For now, my advice is, always order ‘rare’ or ‘raro’ and you might end up with a medium cooked piece of meat.
