First – for those of you who read my blog on the site rather than via email or other link, you’ll notice a fairly big change in the look. It was bound to happen, as things move forward – WordPress and the underlying structure of blogs steadily change, and eventually, the theme I was using, just had features that were no longer supported, and things started not working. This new theme may not be the final one that I go with, but it was a quick “bandaid” that had a reasonably similar structure to the old theme, let’s everything work, and even adds in a few new features (though some things, like the “featured video” box that used to grace the upper right corner of the blog, aren’t included). The two biggest visual changes are that the front page only offers the option to show all the posts with an excerpt, so the most current post no longer shows up in its entirety, and, there’s an option for a featured photo that graces the excerpts, and also shows up as a header image when you click on the post. For that latter, it requires manually choosing a photo, so I’m not going to go back through all 2731 posts I’ve made on this blog and do that – For the moment I’ve just done that for the posts from 2019 – we shall see if I do more..

It’s been a good week food-wise. We’ve got a take on Caribbean, some Japanese-Korean fusion, a bit of the sweet, and a revisit to a little Japanese spot that we’ve tried in the past.

 

In the evenings, seven nights a week, this spot is a vaguely Caribbean influenced bar – mostly in the choice of mixers for the drinks, since the food tends towards burgers, pizza, and hotdogs. But on weekend afternoons, La Olla del Caribe takes over the Barú spot at Av. Cabrera 4602 (corner of Scalabrini Ortíz) in Palermo. Here, in lieu of typical brunch dishes or an asado, you can join the Venezuelan and Colombian expats with a few bucks in their wallets and dig in to classic fare from both countries.

Now I have to admit, when someone says Caribbean food, I tend to think of the islands – Jamaica, Cuba, the West Indies, etc. – my mind doesn’t go to Colombia and Venezuela, albeit they are on the Caribbean. By that same token, all of Central America, southern Mexico, and, arguable, southern Florida ought to qualify as Caribbean fare. But, it’s not an uncommon claim for those on the northern shores of those two countries, and as numerous immigrants flood into Argentina, particularly from Venezuela, it’s nice to find somewhere offering something besides stuffed arepas, which has been the extent of Venezuelan fare here, and wiht the loss of pretty much all of the Colombian restaurants that used to be here, that as well.

Caramañolas are a great way to start – your choice of meat or cheese stuffed, I recommend the latter, and ask for hot sauce, they have a rocking good one that tastes like a blend of chilies and peanuts. A coconut infused limeade and a passionfruit soda were refreshing and delicious to accompany – neither of us was particularly in the mood for alcohol in the moment. 200 pesos for the snacks, 210 and 140 respectively for the drinks (a little steep there on the coconut limeade).

Pabellón criollo is beautifully done, with lovely spiced and shredded stewed beef, excellent black beans topped with cheese, a mound of rice and some fried plantains. Classic Venezuelan fare. Heavy on the starch, no question, and a huge portion (as all of the portions are that we saw coming out of the kitchen). I ate half and took half home for Henry. 330 pesos.

From the Colombian side of things, the national dish, Bandeja paisa, packed with everything it should be – stewed beef, pork cracklings, sausage, fried egg, rice, plantains, arepas, avocado, and really excellent red beans. My companion made his way gamely through that entire plate! 410 pesos.

All told, 1290 pesos before tip, currently just a shade over $21. For two. For an excellent lunch. Go.

---

 

We’re back to my favorite gastronomic alley, Ruperto Godoy, out in Floresta. We’ve already made our way through Chinese-Korean, Korean, and Korean Fried Chicken, and that left the shabu-shabu spot, the sushi bar (which is currently, and a change since last week, clausurado by the government, for some sort of violations), and a Korean coffee bar. There are also a quartet of bars, but they don’t open except at night, and aren’t really on my radar.

 

Downstairs, lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday, this is the spot to head to for shabu-shabu, Japanese hotpot. Shabu-Shabu 153, Paéz 3154, corner of Ruperto Godoy, Floresta. It’s Korean owned, and some of the flavors are Korean influenced (mostly in the dipping sauces), and they consider themselves a Korean restaurant, though other than those dipping sauces and some gochugaru chili paste to mix into the broth if you want, there’s little, if any, difference from classic Japanese shabu-shabu. Upstairs, at night, Tokyo Bar, which is not, as we surmised, a spot for Japanese and/or Korean folk to hang and drink expensive cocktails before or after their meal, but, according to the woman running the restaurant part, “a lot of young people being crazy and drinking too much, you don’t want to go there”. I have the feeling that despite sharing a building and an entrance, they’re separately owned.

But we’re here for the one and only menu item, the shabu-shabu. In swift order, a pot of broth is placed on an induction burner and brought to a simmer. Our dipping sauces arrive, and plates of paper thin sliced meat (looks like top round, peceto, to me). But first you have to load up that broth with some flavor from the vegetable selection….

…you can make as many trips as you want and keep packing in more. And the beef is all-you-can-eat, and they just bring more as you finish off each plate. Plus bowls of really good udon noodles to add to the pot….

And then you get to the dipping – swish in some beef, grab some veggies and noodles, and off to your own bowl, with condiments to your own tastes.

While the basic hotpot is 650 pesos per person, about $11 right now (and keep in mind, again, that’s with free refills on everything), there’s an option for shellfish if you like – at 400 pesos a plate for a mix of calamari, prawns, and mussels. We tried it, but honestly, I’d skip it – the quality of the seafood wasn’t as high as the beef and vegetables – it all tasted a little frozen and mealy. Though it does add some nice flavor to the broth, have to admit.

After you’ve eaten your fill of meat, seafood, vegetables, and noodles, the tradition is that the waitstaff whisk away your pot of now very reduced broth, back to the kitchen, where rice, an egg, and sesame oil is added, and returned to your table, ready for an intensely flavored rice porridge finale. We asked if they’d be willing to let us film it, and the manager agreed and came over and prepared the porridge at the table for us!

We ate it all! We’d go back again, happily. And it really is a steal – leave off the shellfish, and the only costs beyond the 650 peso base price are beverages (100 pesos for a 2 liter bottle of water that we shared) and tip. Happy campers from the Roving Ravenous Horde’s 67th outing.

---

 

After shabu-shabu, it is, of course, obligatory to have coffee and dessert… said no one, ever… except me and the Horde. Given that we were there on the alleyway, why not check out the last remaining spot that is open during the day, the café? So, we zipped up half a block to Pan Moa, Ruperto Godoy 763, and settled in for a little postprandial moment.

Tempting, yes, very tempting…. And pretty as all hell.

In addition to the usual array of coffees of various sizes and such (not pictured, because they look like, well, cups of coffee or espresso), this place also has a selection of iced coffees and teas – an unusual sort of thing for Buenos Aires, where that concept, other than as a frappucino (which in itself has only been a part of the local coffee scene since Starbucks arrived here just a few years ago), is still seen as a bit odd. Most places if you ask for one, you either get a blank look, or someone brings you a hot coffee or tea and some ice in a bowl or cup. Here, they’re an art form, and served up very prettily in canning jars with handles. We did sample a trio of the treats as well, the standout was one of the best carrot cakes any of us have had (cream cheese or sour cream frosting would have made it better, as a true classic would be, but it worked with buttercream).

---

 

I’ve already reviewed Inoue Bistró Japanese, Francisco de Vittoria 2363, now Vicente Lopez 1825, here in Recoleta, just over a year ago. I’ve only been back once since, and I really liked it both times. Why I don’t go more often, given that it’s just five minutes’ walk away from home, I don’t know. The menu changes regularly at lunch… this time, there were a trio of stir-fries – yakitame, yakimeshi, yakisoba (respectively, vegetable rice, egg rice, and housemade soba noodles), each with options for beef, chicken, prawns, or mushrooms to accompany (350 pesos for the menú ejecutivo), plus a chirashi sushi (400 pesos for the menú).

Now, anyone who’s spent time eating sushi in BA, or read my posts on the topic, is wary about offers of “selection of fish” – not the quality, but the substance. Usually when something says surtido, or selection, you end up getting mostly salmon, with maybe one or two pieces of some unidentified whitefish, or prawn, or fake crab stick. So, I asked… is it a real surtido, or no? She started listing off what they had in house that day… got it… I ordered it… and got this beautiful bowl of perfect sushi rice topped with, from the top right… trout, sea bass, tuna, sole, salmon, mackerel, shiitake mushrooms, avocado, cucumbers, pickled radishes, and in the middle, mango, octopus, and prawns. It was so pretty I wanted to cry. And absolutely spot on. I will be back more often, you should go too.