travelswithalice

February 04, 2017

Three Hotels in Buenos Aires

Monday, January 23

This is our balcony at the Hotel Anselmo in San Telmo. It's overgrown with jasmine bushes and overlooks the atrium.

This is the third room we've had here in two weeks. A previous one we liked had a balcony overlooking Plaza Dorrego but we really needed more space.

We now have lots of space, a huge balcony, and more privacy and quiet. I miss having the world outside my window though. I miss the music.

The Anselmo is not the best run little hotel we've ever stayed in but we like being here despite its many little failings. The staff make the difference: Giselle, Juan, Jose, Francisco, Diana. They take good care of us.

* * * * *

Saturday, January 28

We've just moved to the Alvear Palace in Recoleta, reputedly the number one hotel in Buenos Aires. Very olde worlde, it reminds me of the Maria Cristina in San Sebastián.

It's beautiful. The street it's on is smart and lined with tony shops. It doesn't have Plaza Dorrego at its doorstep though.

Well, the butler's just been, asking if we need any clothes pressed. I think I'm gonna like it here. 😉

* * * * *

Friday, February 3

We're ending our Buenos Aires experience in Puerto Madero, as far removed from a Buenos Aires experience as Buenos Aires can get.

The Hilton sits on the riverbank across from miles and miles of identical red brick warehouse conversions with more bars and restaurants than we care to check out or even hear about before we fly back to Santiago on Monday.

It has an executive lounge and is only thirty minutes from the airport.

I yearn to be back in the luxurious embrace of the Alvear Palace and the gritty excitement of San Telmo but sadly, at the end of a long adventure, convenience tends to be a more urgent consideration than luxury and local color.

Labels: Alvear Palace, Anselmo, Hilton, hotels

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # February 04, 2017

February 01, 2017

The Food Report III

When it's four o'clock in the afternoon and you're still not ready for lunch, there's La Panera Rosa, a pretty bakeshop on the square, across from Nuestra Señora Del Pilar, very old fashioned, very pink, straight out of a poster of a 1950s small town USA ice cream parlor. Open all day until late. Best salad I've had in Buenos Aires.

Or Zaccaria Snack Bar.

At Ayacucho 2052, around the corner from Alvear Palace Hotel.

It's a friendly bar where you meet some of the gentle people of Recoleta, very understated, hospitable, and full of old world charm.

Sottovoce in Recoleta

As in Puerto Madero, the welcome drink set the tone.

Wonderful restaurant. Great food, great service. There's food on your table within minutes of being seated. Smiles all around and they keep pouring drinks your way.

After tango lessons last night, our tired legs led us to El Sanjuanino just around the block from our hotel. We couldn't have walked any further, and the still untried Fervor next door was full.

Seeming like a temple to empanadas, this is as local as it gets, right down to the pingüino wine jug. The place was full; probably mostly tourists, all those people occupying every table and streaming in and out until very late in the night.

We didn't try the empanadas, which we soon discovered the restaurant is known for, meriting a mention in a 2000 New York Times article on the subject.

We opted for the tried and tested milanesa and lomito de cerdo and were not disappointed. Good, home-style cooking, just like your grandmother's, if you had an Argentine grandmother that is.

About those empanadas...

South America, a hotbed of empanada aficionados, where comparisons ignite debate and national or regional pride.

I have my own opinion of course.

Whether baked or fried, suave or picante, the empanadas I've tasted in this part of the world can't hold a candle to our very own Filipino variety: the Ilocos Empanada, a version of which I had only recently discovered. It's neon bright, bursting with flavor, and filled with pretty little quail eggs!

I've also been feeling nostalgic for the empanadas of my youth: the forty-centavo ones (Bretton Woods era prices, before the invention of inflation) served in the old Grade School canteen at St Theresa's. Tasty and moist, stuffed with sautéed ground beef and raisins. Perfect for those mid-morning snacks at Recess time!

Labels: Ilocos Empanada, Recoleta

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # February 01, 2017

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