We’ve Found Buenos Aires’s Most Intriguing Experiences

In the heart of Plaza de las Naciones Unidas, on one of Buenos Aires’ major thoroughfares, Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, stands a flower the height of a seven-storey building. Its enormous petals, made of gleaming stainless steel, are designed to unfurl during the day and fold up at night. “But it doesn’t always work that way,” says local Dan Korngold. “Sometimes the flower remains closed during the day and sometimes it’s wide open at night.” Shrugging, he adds, “You can never predict it.”

That’s pretty much the gist of Buenos Aires. The sultry Argentine capital serves up surprises at every turn.

Plan to spend a day strolling wide boulevards flanked by Spanish Baroque architecture and instead you’ll stumble upon neighbourhoods with narrow cobblestoned lanes and houses painted in vivid blues, flaming yellows and searing reds. Soak up the quiet on leafy suburban streets by day then watch them spring to life at night at a speakeasy tucked behind a sushi joint, say, or one where you need a password to enter. Find the ultimate parrilla (traditional Argentine grill), only to have someone tip you off about the city’s restaurantes a puertas cerradas (closed-door restaurants) – private residences where renowned chefs entertain locals. It’s kind of like turning up at Heston Blumenthal’s home for dinner.

The unpredictability can be intoxicating and challenging in equal measure. In a pulsating metropolis where few people speak English, how do you unravel its secrets? Well, like that flower – a sculpture by late Argentine architect Eduardo Catalano – Buenos Aires will eventually open its heart.

Eat at a traditional Argentine grill (parrilla)

Porteños (Buenos Aires locals) are passionate about two things – meat and football –  both of which converge at La Brigada, a parrilla in the San Telmo neighbourhood. Housed in a traditional three-storey casa with multiple dining rooms, it’s owned by Hugo Echevarrieta – a short, stout, moustachioed and somewhat brusque local icon – who personally receives everyone at the door.

The walls and ceilings are covered with soccer paraphernalia – jerseys, posters, flags, banners, emblems, trophies, caps – and just when you think you’ve hit the peak of Argentine fervour, the menu arrives, featuring every imaginable cut of meat from the grill plus some daredevil options (beef testicles, anyone?). But it’s not all about meat. The glossy eggplant entrée, smothered in olive oil and oregano, makes a trip to this uproarious institution more than worth it.

There are queues even on weeknights and the crowd is eclectic: paunchy taxi drivers relax with a chilled beer, couples whisper to each other in the corner and boisterous families celebrate special occasions, with the cacophony blending into one happy hum.

Find the finest dining

Two of the city’s top eateries are in its best hotels. Book a table at the Philippe Starck- designed Bistro Sur at Faena, the hotel that has transformed the once-derelict port neighbourhood of Puerto Madero into one of Buenos Aires’ most stylish quarters. The gorgeous all-white restaurant, which is decorated with crystal chandeliers and wall-mounted unicorn heads, serves a spectacular pork belly – butter-soft meat with the nest layer of crackling.

Also check out Elena, the two-storey courtyard restaurant at Four Seasons hotel in La Recoleta. It has a spiral staircase in the centre, an open kitchen with a wall of hanging charcuterie and a sophisticated crowd wearing cocktail dresses and crisp cufflinked shirts. Elena is ranked 31 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list – one bite of its hearty prawn-and-squid paella and you’ll see why.

 SEE ALSO: Try Five of the World's Best Restaurants in Latin America

Drink at the most well-hidden and exclusive speakeasies

"The problem with porteños is, as soon as they find out about a cool place, they all want to be there,” laments Andrés Rolando, Buenos Aires’ answer to Sydney bar tsar Justin Hemmes. “Hundreds of people turn up at the door each night and the place is no longer exclusive.” So when Rolando wanted to open an exclusive cocktail bar, he had to do something drastic, like hide it behind a nondescript Japanese joint.

Few guests at Nicky NY Sushi, an intimate U-shaped dining room in the suburb of Palermo Soho, have any idea what’s going on behind the frosted glass door at the back. But ask your waiter to take you to the other side and you’ll be escorted to a small cellar with hundreds of wines and a set of Narnia-like closet doors. Inside is The Harrison Speakeasy, a 1930s New York-style bar with dark leather booths and low-slung antique lamps. The dimly lit den is for locals only – and members at that. “But we let foreigners in,” says waiter Steve Tardy, “as long as they book a table at the restaurant, don’t wear shorts and ask us to show them the ‘wine cellar’.”

Just a short taxi ride away, in Palermo Hollywood, is Frank’s (Arévalo 1445; +54 11 4777 6541), where you’ll need a password to enter. It was “Agatha Christie” in our case but it changes regularly so ask your concierge to find out the current one. Say the password and you’ll be given a code and led to a phone booth; punch in the digits and a wall opens (feeling like James Bond yet?) to reveal a vast warehouse that’s been transformed into a sexy split-level lair with a long glowing bar and inventive cocktail menu. The Iced Hurricane highball comes with a sprig of rosemary on top, set ablaze “so the aroma stays while you drink it”, says bartender Rodrigo Pascual Tubert.

Discover the closed-door restaurants

Tegui is currently Argentina’s highest-ranking eatery on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list but you could walk past it without ever knowing it’s there. Hidden behind a heavily grafftied wall on a quiet suburban street in Palermo Hollywood, it’s a textbook example of the city’s much-hyped closed-door-restaurant scene, where the concept of walk-ins is unheard of. You have to book several weeks ahead to snag a table in this elegant dining room, which is bookended by a wall of wines and an open kitchen. Argentine celebrity chef Germán Martitegui is the force behind this 45-seat establishment that offers diners unexpected combinations such as duck breast with treacle and oysters with aloe granita.

There’s a more intimate and relaxed experience to be had at Casa Felix, chef Diego Felix’s house in Palermo Hollywood. A communal table runs the length of the central patio, sharing the space with snaking vines, fig trees and fairy lights. The informal house-party-style evening kicks o at 9.30pm with cocktails and canapés then evolves into a six-course pescetarian menu as the clock nears midnight. Yes, what they say about Argentines dining late is entirely true.

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