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Steaks and Tango - Suggestions Please

Hi, Just 48 days to go until we arrive in Buenos Aires. Please share what are some of your favorite steakhouses in the city. And also who puts on the best tango show? I'm looking for authenticity, although being made for tourists is fine.

Thanks.

Posted by
11156 posts

A disclaimer- we are not big beef eaters. However we knew should have steaks in Buenos Aires. We went to Cabrera and loved the setting. We were advised to order” para competir”, to share as the steaks are really huge. It was very good and the taste reminded us of how steaks tasted when we were children, more natural we assume.
The wonderful surprise was that Buenos Aires is heavily ethnically Italian and their were many excellent Italian restaurants. We especially enjoyed Sottovoce .
We looked at offerings for Tango shows and they started quite late at night so we skipped them. However, we did see people tango dancing on sidewalks!
We left Buenos Aires and flew to Bariloche to do the “lakes crossing” into Chile, a wonderful and very unique trip. From there we started our exploration of Chile.
When choosing where to stay in Buenos Aires I recommend the Recoleta district. We started our trip downtown and quickly fled the area due to constantly bring hassled on the streets. And follow our hotels’ advice to always have a radio cab called for you. Do not just get into any cab., not any radio cab. Lesson learned.

Posted by
6532 posts

When we were there in 2016 we stayed in the more working class San Telmo neighborhood. We were never hassled and always felt safe. We did need to watch out for dog poop since most people didn’t clean up after their pets. For steaks, we ate at Gran Parilla de la Plata and Desnivel. For historic restaurants we went to Bar Federal and Plaza Dorrego. We also stopped for churros at Bar Tortoni (1858), the oldest cafe in the city. One historic hotel we visited was the 1929 Castelar hotel that was frequently visited by poet Federico García Lorca and writer Jorge Luis Borges. A historic pharmacy is the Farmacia de la Estrella that looks much like it would have when built in 1835. If walking along Calle Defensa between Chile and the Casa Rosada we enjoyed looking at the sculptures of the cartoon characters, such as, Susana, Mafalda and Manolo. La Boca area was nice and safe during the day. The only Tango we saw was a street performance right at Plaza Dorrego. The couple was a mismatch; young woman and older man, so it seemed contrived and lacking the tension one might get if the dancers were closer in age.