Food & Drinks

Life in Argentina starts later than in Europe or the USA. Lunch is usually served between 1.00 PM and 2.30 PM and dinner starts earliest at 9.00 PM, in the provinces or at weekends even remarkably later. There is no problem to go for dinner at midnight or at 1 o’clock in the morning. So, don't be surprised when the restaurant is still empty and the waiters just only start to prepare the tables when you arrive hungry at 9.00 PM! Only a few restaurants, which are used to foreigners or some hotels, serve dinner at an earlier time. National dishes are mainly based on plentiful supplies of beef.

Many dishes are distinctive, excellent and cheap; the Asado, a roast cooked on an open fire or grill. The “bife de chorizo” is the most typical cut, a tender and long piece of beef. Don't miss the “bife de lomo” which is a beautiful and certainly unforgettable fillet steak. A Parillada is a mixed grill mainly roasted meat, chicken, kidney, offal and sausages. The meat always comes alone and you have to order all side dishes separately.

Another typical dish is Locro; this is a stew of white sweet corn with pork's trotters, tripe, beans and pumpkin.

In the entire country you also have a wide variety of Italian restaurants with their typical tasty food.

In Mesopotamia and Iguazú you will also find excellent river fish such as grilled Dorado, Surubi and others.

In the Patagonian cities like Bariloche, El Calafate or Ushuaia you can find Trout or Salmon. Patagonia offers excellent lamb meals, also prepared at the open fire.

Argentina has become a top producer of wines. The best wine region is Mendoza, but excellent wines are also produced in Salta, San Juan and La Rioja. Try one of the excellent Malbec, for which Argentina is famous.

Argentina is the principal consumer of "Mate". It is a tea from a herb whose leaves are dried, processed, and put into the mate, generally a gourd. It is sipped through a tube, the "bombilla", which usually has a silver mouthpiece. The herb is grown in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes in the Northeast of the country.