travelswithalice

December 10, 2019

A week in Buenos Aires

First meal in Buenos Aires has to be lunch at SOTTOVOCE in Puerto Madero where for less than USD15, or a little over PHP750, you get a 3-course meal and a bottle of wine.

The set lunch comes with a champagne cocktail and a bread basket with 3 dips. I’ll be happy to stop at this point or maybe go straight to dessert but the main course is usually too good to pass on.

There’s limoncello, cognac, and port on offer too but it’s really all a bit too much for me. Not for Stuart though; he almost never passes on limoncello.😊

A strange sight on the riverside. It takes me a while to realise that it’s an advert for “The Irishman”. Wow, seems like an elaborate and expensive advert for a movie!

Another restaurant we like is LA PECORA NERA, in Recoleta, not far from Alvear Palace Hotel.

Jessica greets us warmly as she unlocks the door and leads us to our table. We like that table in the inner section.

I’m happy to see that ossobuco risotto and dark chocolate ice cream with candied orange peel are still on the menu.

December 3 is our 37th wedding anniversary. How to celebrate?

Breaking out of our comfort zone, we decide to attend a “milonga”, a kind of tango party for avid tango enthusiasts. We’re helped along on this rather ambitious enterprise by two accomplished tango masters, Natalia Galain and Victor Francia, who try to make Stuart and me look good on the dance floor but barely succeed in making us not too conspicuous.

There’s another Sottovoce, in Recoleta. It’s smaller, nicer, a little more special. It’s where we were at Christmas last year for Noche Buena and it’s where we’re having our anniversary dinner this year.

They lit up the Christmas tree in the hotel lobby last night; a string quartet played carols; and a crowd of excitable children waited for their audience with Santa.