Casa Coupage

Posted by Edmund in Argentina, Fine Dining, Restaurants | 0 comments

Eclectic, Fine Dining.
About 200 pesos ($55-$60) per person.
Güemes 4382 1 piso por escalera, 1425 Buenos Aires, Argentina.

One of the greatest oddities of the Argentine culinary world is that a guy can not only open a restaurant in his house, but it can be one of the best in the entire city. And that is exactly the case with Casa Coupage, a private residence that hosts two dinners every week with a maximum of 15 diners and 4 tables each night. During the other days, it engages in private catering and wine tasting classes. It has a special reputation for the latter, as both the sommelier and the wine list are supposed to some of the best in the entire city.

I do have to admit that Casa Coupage really was quite the experience if for nothing else than the quality of the ambience and the service. It’s located in an elegant (read: wealthy) home with great art on the walls, nice tables with tons of spacing among them, and even lights in the tables that can be turned on in order to look at the color of the red wine. Given that there are only 4 tables, it is an extraordinarily intimate experience. In addition, since it’s located in someone’s home, it has a nice coziness to it.

The service only further added to the experience. The waiter/sommelier actually owns the home and was just as much a gracious host as a waiter, as he really tryied to make the customer feel at ease in his home. This was especially nice since I had decided to go with 4 friends, 2 of whom were loud, rambunctious American males like myself. You know how it is with Americans. We tend to sometimes get into trouble while abroad. So even when my friend with ADD started playing with the lights in the tables and annoyed the waiter a bit (as he should have, considering it was the waiter’s house), the waiter handled it very well and just respectfully asked my friend to save the lights for the red wine. In general, the waiter was pleasant, prompt, and especially hospitable, without being intrusive at all, and he made rather good recommendations, especially with the wine.

As for the food, it’s not phenomenal, but it’s extremely creative and innovative, especially for Argentina. It’s definitely not a must, but everything is presented and prepared so well that it’s hard not to like it. Still, it is perhaps the weakest link, other than extraordinary price. As such, while I would recommend Casa Coupage very highly, it would be more for the experience of the wine and the ambience of the restaurant than for the food.

What I had, in the order it was presented:

1. Viognier Sour: Odd to find viognier used instead of pisco, but the viognier makes it a bit lighter and more fruity, with a lot less alcohol. Much better as a start. Plus, it’s creative.
2. Trout with apples and sauce: Fantastic. Well-balanced components. The trout is perfectly cooked and bursting with flavor. A little simple, but great nonetheless. 3.5.
3. Bread: Great, soft, and fluffy. The raisin and nut bread is amazing—intense flavor and rich nutty and fruity sweetness makes it great.
4. Sirloin steak with thick cheddar sauce, faina (like a mini-cake made of garbanzo beans), and beet carpaccio: Beautiful presentation, with lots of different colors, from the yellow of the cheddar and the faina, to the nice red of the beets, to the dark, smoky brown/black of the steak. Very good synergy among the elements, and the taste is interesting.  The meat is very well-cooked, but it’s a bit bland, even with the sauce. 3.0/5.0
5. Degustation of cheeses: Good concept. I always love a nice cheese plate. Still, the cheeses selected, particularly the one from Argentine, were not good. In fact, Argentina’s cheese in general is horrible in my experience. 1.5/5.0
6. Pre-dessert (palate changer), a sorbet with brown sugar: Phenomenal flavor. Fruity, sweet, light, and serves its purpose well. 4.4
7. Ice cream popsicle covered in nuts, served with a nut praline and nutella mousse, and topped with coconut strips: Very unique dessert, and kind of a fun dessert for an American. The ice cream isn’t fantastic, especially by Argentine standards, but it has a fantastic synergy with the rest of the elements. The praline especially stands out as excellent. The mousse is rich, creamy, and tastes just like nutella. The strips really don’t add anything, but I don’t like coconut. 4.0

Ambience: 4.8/5.0. Almost perfect, and about as intimate and warm as it can get.
Service: 4.5/5.0. Sommelier is one of the best I’ve ever had.
Taste: 3.3/5.0
Wine List: 4.5/5.0
Value: 3.0/5.0. Very expensive, but this is an experience you won’t get anywhere else.
Overall Score: 3.8/5.0. Recommended for wine lovers.