Having lived in Australia all my life I had thought we didn’t do too badly in terms cooking up a nice juicy steak on the grill but having been in Buenos Aires in Argentina recently my perceptions of a
good steak changed somewhat. The venue that changed my opinion on Australian steak was located in the trendy Buenos Aires suburb of Palermo-with it’s designer shops, leafy streets and many restaurants. It was called ‘La Cabrera’ and has become so popular in recent times that a second La Cabrera opened a mere 5 metres down the road on the same street. As you would expect, if no reservations are made the wait for a table can be a hefty one but at La Cabrera, this is half the fun. Waiters pour out free champagne and serve little samplers as a mixture of locals and tourists mingle creating a real outside bar atmosphere. Our table was then ready at the rather early dinner time of 11 30 pm, early for Buenos Aires they tell me, and we were seated and greeted with a menu offering the biggest selection of steaks I have seen, all at very reasonable prices. Without having too much idea, I decided to go for the dry age beef steak accompanied by a fine local bottle of red of course. As I was trying to not fill myself up with bread the anticipation was building until, a lot faster than you would think, a giant mouth-watering piece of steak was placed in front of me served on a giant metallic and wooden board. It was without a doubt the thickest steak I had ever seen but once my huge steak knife slid through the meat like butter it was obvious that this had been cooked to perfection-something which I never thought would have been possible with a steak so thick. The taste, as had been hyped by many people, did not disappoint. It’s a real cliché in the culinary world but it really did melt in your mouth. It was so soft, so succulent and so tasty that the dinner table conservation died off and everyone was too busy being taken to steak heaven to talk. What’s equally as impressive as the meat is the huge accompaniment of sauces they bring you, all included when you order a steak. There was no less than 8 special home-made sauces to try and little side-dishes like garlic mash potato and asparagus, making each bite a unique experience. After being full to the brim with steak and wine from one of Buenos Aires’s finest steak houses it was time to retire, very satisfied and not that badly out of pocket.
All in all, Buenos Aires and La Cabrera is a must for steak and wine lovers. The only issue is that your perception of a good tenderloin steak may change forever.
Chimu Adventures offers a fantasctic stopover tour to Buenos Aires and many great tours to Argentina as well. Visit our website for more details.
