out of office - bustling out in buenos aires
san telmo, la boca, montserrat, tigre and a whole lotta sweets & steaks
Suit hung. Buttons off. Loafers shoved into a plastic bag, never to be seen again.
T-shirt. Shorts. Backpack. Sunnies.
Vamos, it’s tourist time.
It would be a complete waste for me to fly sixteen hours from Australia to Argentina, only to sit in a stuffy hotel and conference hall in the poshest areas of the country.
Alas, I’ve taken myself a few extra days of annual leave.
In this season of Out of Office, I’ll be talking about my first ever international solo trip in gorgeous Buenos Aires - two articles covering the wonderful spots I visited and one about how this short misadventure had changed my thinking.
🎠 San Telmo
I’m a determined young lad. Torrential rain would not stop me. After saying goodbye to my colleagues, I hopped on a cab to none other than the infamous Mercado San Telmo, an outdoor/indoor market that only opened on weekends.
One of the most oldest and well-preserved neighbourhoods of Argentina, San Telmo is an tourist hotspot bustling with activity, impeccable historical charm and a marvelous weekend market which acts as my first point of interest.
I was lucky enough to swindle a seat at Bar Pincos, one of the many asado restaurants in the venue. This was like… my sixth steak in Buenos Aires so far and definitely one of the best not just in texture and flavour, but the sweaty, bombastic vibe of the marketplace. Where else in the world can I get a juicy chorizo/sirloin cut topped with thick bacon, fried egg and chips in such a sardine-ly packed place?
To make the most of my San Telmo visit and also because I needed a wee, I steered off into Museo Moderno.
Honestly, I was pretty swamped following the temperature and humidity, so my museum visit wasn’t as thoughtful and introspective as I wanted it to be. I understood the gist that Museo Moderno depicts the intersection between education, occupation and art but that’s about it. I’m not sure if I’m actually a museum guy or just like the idea of it.
⚽ La Boca
Do you know what Argentina’s main religion is?
You got it. It’s soccer.
Lionel Messi is their greatest cultural export and Diego Maradona is basically a patron saint.
La Boca is a delightfully colourful suburb near the port of Buenos Aires and as such, had become a melting point of cultures when the Europeans first set foot in the country. Today, it’s known for its positively flamboyant Caminito alleyway and the La Bombonera, home stadium of Boca Juniors F.C..
I didn’t spend much time here and understandably so. It’s all charms and smiles in the daytime but every guide ever would tell you to avoid the place during sundown because at the end of the day, La Boca is a low socioeconomic neighbourhood and you WILL get mugged.
One replica Maradona jersey for my dad and I was out of there.
🌃 Palermo Soho
Finishing off San Telmo and La Boca, I returned to Hilton Puerto Madero to pick up my stuff and took a cab to the hip, cafe-culture, nightlife-centric suburb of Palermo Soho.
For the next couple of days, I called Selina Palermo Soho my hub and home.
It’s a 2-star backpacker hotel with a charming co-working space, a super helpful lad at the front desk, came with a welcome drink of orange campari and most importantly - was literally 10% of the price of Hilton Hotel. As a tourist, I’m going to spend most of my time outside anyway so as long as I’ve got a bed to sleep in and a lock on my door, I’ll be a-okay.
Since I don’t properly explore the suburb till much later, I’ll chat more about Palermo Soho in my next Out of Office article.
🏰 Montserrat
In hindsight, I should have chosen something else to do instead of head back into the city for my first solo trip day - but it was already in my schedule so I went ahead and that it.
Montserrat is a politically important neighbourhood featuring distinctive French architecture that isn’t quite like the rest of Argentina or Latin America. It touches upon the Argentina CBD (Microcentro) and Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest boulevard in the world, centrepieced by the Obelisko.
My plan was to catch a sunset at Palacio Barolo and a late-night tango show at Tango Porteno.
If only there wasn’t industrial action on this lovely public holiday. Oops.
I canceled by Palacio Barolo trip because I couldn’t be bothered fitting it anywhere else and decided to add other joints of shopping and sightseeing before any bullshit occurred.
☕ Cafe Tortoni
A notable spot that frequently popped up on travel guides was Cafe Tortoni.
Cafe Tortoni is the oldest coffeehouse in Buenos Aires, a hub of intellectualism and artistry that continues to maintain its rich history through its velvety, Parisian design.
Despite a 20-person line of tourists, I was surprised to see a ton of solo-clad tables. It seems a certain demographic, not sure whether they’re expats or retirees or authors, seem to choose Cafe Tortoni to do their daily crosswords, working or writing.
I was starving at this stage and got all the below:
Pork sandwich
Cheesecake
Dulce de leche latte
Churros with chocolate
Gravely, I thought churros with chocolate meant churros with chocolate dip, but it actually meant churros with hot chocolate - leaving me with one savoury dish, three dessert dishes and two drinks.
I did not finish the food. The food finished me.
💃 Tango Porteno
Today’s main event was not the cafe, not the sightseeing, but a marvelous tango night scheduled for 8pm which included a three—course dinner and free flow drinks.
The catch? I was on my own.
It was outrageously nerve-wracking, having my three-course dinner across an empty seat, without anybody share a moment, conversation or glass of red wine with. It would been easier if the dinner coincided with the show itself but understandably, it was dinner first then show. Alas, I had about 1.5 hours of me haphazardly looking at my phone and trying to take in the vibe, feeling the gaze of families and couples around me wondering what this Asian kid is doing all by himself.
All intrusive thoughts that live in my head, mind you.
An incredible show, though. A steallar showing of acrobatics and valour in Latin America’s national dance. However, I’m really not sure whether it’s something I’d like to do again. I’m sure being an okay with this is a muscle that needs to be practiced, like journaling in public - something that I was not okay with until later this year, but I’m not sure it’s a muscle I’d bother training.
One of these performances are more than enough. Thanks.
(Learning tango, or more broadly dance, is something I’d be down for though!)
Getting home at 12:45am was a complete nuisance but not only did I manage to do so, I woke up the next day at 5:30am, brimming with energy.
In a fit of diet coke, I decided to pull my Wednesday plans over to Tuesday.
⛵ Tigre
After a quick cafe run, I took the Mitre line to Tigre, a small city about 28 kilometres north of the the CBD.
Lying on the Parana Delta, Tigre is apparently a popular weekend getaway spot for Buenos Aires locals looking for a splash of nature to their metropolitan lives. Following suit, I booked into a tour with Catamarans Delta for 25 dollars (which would have been 45 through the tour website!) which made the three-hour loop around Rio Sarmiento
My honest take? It wasn’t a very eventful cruise. Murky water and consistent scenery, though it was interesting to learn that there are people who buy properties on the other side of the pond and actually choose to live in the zone which Google Maps doesn’t even register as land (around $25k-150k USD, if you’d like).
The other tourist destination, Puerto de Frutos, was unfortunately closed, but it would be a waste if I traveled all this way and didn’t have a go at a restaurant so I stopped by an Italian pub for these gigantic veal milanese and provolone which I miraculously got to the end of after about an hour of banging it against my teeth. Fucking delicious, but never again.
🏮 Barrio Cinno
Finally, on the route back from Tigre sat Barrio Cinno aka Chinatown.
Outside of the conference, I counted probably four other Asians throughout my entire Buenos Aires trip and this area was no exception. I did not see another Asian whatsoever.
It’s a cool spot though, welcomed with a big red arch and a massive assortment restaurants and cafes spanning many Asian cuisines (including South Asian). Unfortunately, I was still too caked up from my milanese to have anything so I had probably one of the worst matchas I ever had and made my way back to Palermo Soho.
And this time around, I was PROPERLY spent.
🎖 Resto Rankings!
And to close out my first couple of days of solo-tripping, I have got to rank the best foods I’ve had. Almost everything I’ve had in Argentina was positively delightful but there can only be three in the top three. If you’re ever in the area for whatever reason, here are the spots I would absolutely gun for.
Juan Bautista
The last meal I had with my colleagues before CEO man had to hop on a late flight back to Sydney, Juan Bautista is a marvelous steakhouse in the modern, highrise-clad suburb of Puerto Madero. We shared a massive platter of barbecue ribs, skirt steak, chorizo steak, pollo chicken, pork cutlet and two sausages (one normal, one blood). Just one Patagonia beer for me - it felt too early to have something so sluggish - but the rest of them scoffed down at least 3-4 cervezas before closing out. What is it with Caucasians and needing alcohol with all their meals?
Choripaneira
The national sandwich of Argentina is choripan, none other than a sizzling pork chorizo between a crusty baguette, and I was blessed by one of the most incredible choripan servings at Choripaneira in San Telmo. A few stalls across the aforementioned Bar Pinco, this place is a lot more market-like selling exclusively sandwiches. My choripan had pork sausage, melted provolone cheese and cherry tomatoes alongside a creamy salsa dip. Decadent. Sinful. Absolutely delicious.
La Cholita
Being one of their primary cuisines, I had an outrageous amount of steak in Argentina. In fact, ignoring breakfast, I probably had more steaks than regular meals throughout my trip there. All in all though, La Cholita in Recoleta takes my favourite asado spot with their positively pristine ojo de bife (ribeye), marbled to perfection, served with both handcut chips and steamed rice (extra bonus points for this). Massive portions with a crusty outside, buttery inside. Steak is all about juice and texture and this one was like a ripe, bursting fruit.
***
My solo trip continues in my next Out of Office article which I am to post Saturday next week! My goal is to have two articles per week, one on Saturday that’s more comprehensive and well-researched, with one on Tuesdays with a more weekly recap, personal blog vibe.
Also, I’ve started a food account on Instagram! If you’d like resto reviews across all the go-to spots in Buenos Aires and Sydney, follow me on @nyamsociety.