Cool benches

Patio Bullrich, Buenos Aires

The beautiful ceiling inside this popular mall. Be sure to check out the family-made cheese and meat shop on the top floor, Valenti Especialidades. For ten pesos, get incredible salami and cheese enough for two!

this is Gelato people...

This is what I'm talking about! So, anyone who knows me, knows that I hate, hate gelato. But that's only gelato in the US. All the gelato I've tried in the States have been far too light, not creamy enough to be considered real gelato, and are waaaaaay too sweet. I think it's really just disgusting. And not real gelato. But why is it so outrageously popular? Because it's less fattening? Yet somehow, isn't remotely creamy? Maybe because eggs and dairy aren't that fresh here? I don't know; I just avoid gelato in the US...

Buenos Aires has a huge Italian population though and I had the most amazing and perfect gelato there. There are tons and tons of places to get gelato, but my favorite was Chungo. I tried the strawberry banana (tasted amazingly just like the two fruits!), the mascarpone with berries (incredible incredibly incredible) and decided on the classic Argentine dessert staple dulce de leche and dulce de leche with cookies. Get it in a delicious crispy waffle bowl and add fudge and really fresh almonds and this is bliss. You can taste the extra egg yolks and how elastic and creamy the texture is and how strong the flavors are...

There's also a million different kinds of coffee and chocolate flavors and dulce de leche combinations, etc.

the menu

2 very nice and patient guys urge me to take a picture of them after seeing me take a picture of the menu

TARTINE Buenos Aires

Every city seems to have a Tartine that's much talked about (my long-time favorite - Tartine Bakery SF) but Tartine in Buenos Aires may have won my heart, not so much for food quality, though the food is really quite wonderful, but for overall charm, space, and the amazing sweetness of the lovely people who work there (super friendly even withstanding my poor, non-existent Spanish, or rather Castellano (the dialect spoken in BA). And mainly, the restroom scene - beginning with the slightly graphic symbols on the door denoting women and men and ending with Alice in Wonderland wallpaper in the women's bathroom!

As for the food (sorry for lack of photos) I had a lomo (steak) sandwich, a really great crepe with vegetables, and media lunas (like mini croissants almost but they are heavier, less flaky, and glazed on top to make it slightly sweet). Also, great coffee and orange juice and lime juice with mint (tasted like a mojito sans alcohol).