[19th - 25th February 2007: Express Edition!]

A dear hello to all Buenos Aires blog readers. You are my friends, bless your little cotton socks. But recently I have not been writing you very much, and for this I beg your forgiveness… please give me one more chance! I’ve been a bit snowed under in work and life for a while, but I’m hoping things will change soon, and then normal service will be resumed. Only better. And with added vitamins and minerals. Promise.
But for now, I’m afraid you’re going to have to make do with this weeks’ compact, efficient Buenos Aires blog roundup: express edition:

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• Argentina’s travel blog is doing my job for me with a couple of excellent reviews of tourist attractions in Buenos Aires: Cafe Tortoni, the cafe in a city of cafes, and also of the Barrio Chino area of Belgrano
• Karine posted up some pictures and info on Galerias Pacifico, the lovely old shopping mall on Florida street in the Microcentro
• After a successful pilot event, Diva says she will be organizing a full-scale international bloggers meeting in Buenos Aires in a few months time. Thanks for the invite Diva!
• Ken had some time off his spanish lessons and took the opportunity to visit Buenos Aires Zoo in Palermo
• Goodairs notes the opening of yet another restaurant de puertas cerradas in Buenos Aires. Soon, you will be able to knock on any door in the city and have a decent chance of finding a restaurant behind it. However, if you knock on mine, you’ll have to make do with fideos con salsa filete

Short and sweet this week. I just have so little time right now that I think I might have to stop writing now, even if it is in the middle of

[12th - 18th February 2007]

This roundup post is late, as usual, so no messing around this week folks… let’s just get straight into the Buenos Aires, Argentina linky goodness from last week…

Buenos Aires Argentina Blog Posts of the Week

• Matt Bites, who appears to be thoroughly enjoying a holiday in Buenos Aires and the general Rio de la Plata area, penned a mouthwatering review of the La Cabrera parrilla in Palermo Viejo, one of the best places to eat meat in BA. Although… drinking Torrontes instead of Malbec wine as an accompaniment to steak… don’t they kill for such crimes against Argentine sensibilities round these parts?
• Matt Chesterton, editor of the Time Out guides to Buenos Aires, has been writing a fantastic series about hotels in Buenos Aires… my runaway favorite has to be his post on classic hotels in BA, mainly for his wedding night anecdote from the Hotel Castelar.. seriously, a must read!
• I couldn’t find a third Matthew to make this a ‘Mattrick’ of top blog posts (were there any other Matts writing about BA this week?)… so we’ll have to make do with the closest I could find…a Marc. He recently announced on Asado Argentina that he has launched a new photo blog of southern Argentina. OK, so it’s not Buenos Aires… but from time to time we city dwellers need to be reminded that real life does exist outside of the metropolis, and his first few pictures provide some beautiful examples of that fact

Read the rest of this entry »

Presidente Roberto M. Ortiz 1827 (between Guido and Quintana), Recoleta

[Also has a downtown pub location at Paraguay 428]

The Buller brewpub in Recoleta is one of the few places in Buenos Aires where you can get a proper pint of beer. By ‘proper’, I mean two things. Firstly, served in a traditional pint glass. That is key. Beer just tastes better that way. But secondly, and far more importantly, the BEER MUST TASTE GOOD, and not like the mass-produced cats piss that is served in the majority of bars across the world, and is especially prevalent in Argentina, where Quilmes, high on preservatives and additives but low on any kind of taste whatsoever, prevails.

In fact, at first look it seems so difficult to get decent beer at a reasonable price in Buenos Aires, that you might just give up. I know I did… I tried for a while, then decided I would just have to forget about this great drink that is so close to my heart for the duration of my stay in Argentina. But then I took a trip home to the UK at Christmas, including a pilgrimage to the Fuller’s brewery (makers of the finest beer on the face of the planet), and reignited my passion for the real drink of the gods. And so, once back in Buenos Aires, I decided to start a series of posts that will go under the grandiose name of…

The Great Buenos Aires Beer Hunt

I mean, what would life be like without good beer? It just doesn’t bear thinking about…

Read the rest of this entry »

[5th - 11th February 2007]

Well, amazingly, I made it to ten weeks of this Buenos Aires blog roundup. Quite an achievement for me, because each one involves a hell of a lot of reading, selecting, writing and linking each week. But I enjoy doing it, and it keeps me up to date with a lot of what is going on in Buenos Aires, plus I get to read so many interesting opinions about the city, and often see some absolutely stunning photos of BA.

So, onwards I go, with Buenos Aires blog roundup number 10…

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• This week, my favorite posts are all about cool, hip things in Buenos Aires. And they don’t get much cooler than this: look at the new Adidas “I Love Buenos Aires” line - I really want the blue sneakers in the second picture! Thanks to Buenos Aires Spotting for noticing that, and for generally just being far to trendy for their own good…
• I am a big ‘indie’ music fan. Until this week, I thought there was no indie music in Buenos Aires… until Disco Shawn came to the rescue, and pointed out that a (possibly regular) indie night is starting this Friday at Club Niceto. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get to it, if any of my resident stalkers want to know where to find me this week
• Now, what could be cooler than some tips on how to pick up girls in Buenos Aires, I ask? Well, how about some crazy & funny tips from one of the girls herself? OK then, just don’t blame me or Diva when you get slapped five times in one night for trying her advice!

Read the rest of this entry »

Libertad 1078 (between Av. Santa Fe & Marcelo T de Alvear), Recoleta

Piola is an international chain of pizzerias, originally hailing from Treviso, Italy, but now with many restaurants in the USA, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Argentina. However, it seems as they spread far and wide, they didn’t lose much of the supposed stereotypical Italian arrogance on arriving in Buenos Aires. Here’s a little example from the Piola website:

“Piola opened in Argentina in April 1993, arriving directly from Treviso, Italy. It revolutionized the Buenos Aires gastronomy to such a point that the local press and industry speak of a before and after PIOLA in Buenos Aires.”

Hmmmm… Suffice to say, I’ve never heard anyone here speak of such a sea change in Buenos Aires cuisine. Yes, it’s all well and good that they are so sure about the groundbreaking quality of their food… but more pertinently, does the Pizza stand up to stringent Buenos Aires Argentina Guide testing? Stay tuned to find out, Pizza fans…

Read the rest of this entry »