Campichuelo 568
Bariloche, Argentina

It was another day in Bariloche, and I was tired from a long day of hiking through mountains and forests, trekking to waterfalls and glaciers, and riding hours on buses. I really needed to recuperate with some great food that night, so I did something a little insane and decided it was a good idea to have 2 dinners. I’d done it once before with horrible results, at El Boliche de Alberto, but I hadn’t learned my lesson apparently. I was so hungry, though, that I really could fit it in, so I headed over to Naan that on a recommendation from Frommer’s that night for my 2^nd stop.

If Naan sounds like an odd name for an Argentine restaurant, it is, since I saw almost no Indian food at all during my four months there. But, it’s fitting, because Naan is just so odd in so many different ways.

First, it was located in someone’s home in the middle of nowhere and was extraordinarily difficult to locate, especially at night. There were only five tables, so it was rather small and intimate. Yet the service was still incredibly slow, since it was really run by only 2 people—1 cooking primarily and 1 serving primarily, but each involved in both aspects. They even used child labor, having their children serve dishes and clean the tables at times. Imagine being served by an 8-year-old child! I’m not going to sit here and judge that as some type of culinary sin, nor am I one to really care that the service wasn’t perfect, but it really does something to the vibe of the place when you get served by little kids. On the one hand, it’s surprisingly adorable. On the other, you just wonder where the hell you are—really? 8-year-old children? You can do that? Shoot, if I could use kids as waiters and not pay them, I’d open my own restaurant and get an army of children—talk about cutting cost! Needless to say, never have I had the odd pleasure/annoyance of being served by a child, and it just felt like I wasn’t even in a restaurant (not in a bad way, just in a disorienting one). Regardless, though, if your service is as slow as that of Naan’s even when you have your kids serving people, then you should consider getting some extra help.

As for the interior, though, it’s actually quite nice. As I said, it’s in the middle of nowhere, in a residential neighborhood, boding rather ill for the restaurant. But once you get inside, it’s a complete change of heart. While it’s just a home, it’s rather spacious, and the small number of tables gives you a nice feeling of intimacy and privacy, with a rather nice view of the surrounding lake and of Bariloche. You also get the homey vibe from it, so it’s pretty comfortable. Very simple, but very clean and well-organized.

Finally, the strangeness continues with the food. It’s an eclectic restaurant, drawing on the experiences of the owners, who have traveled the world and tried out numerous different cuisines. Thus there’s a very interesting variety of foods that you typically don’t find in Argentina—quesadillas and guacamole, Vietnamese spring rolls, Moroccan rice, stews, sautéed king crab, etc. If this variety had been executed properly, it would have been very nice, given Argentina’s monotonous cuisine, but unfortunately in Naan’s case, it takes a turn for the worst.  It’s definitely inventive but it fails too often because of an overabundance of flavors and ingredients that just don’t do much or even clash. The portions are gigantic, with numerous flavors, but the components just aren’t integrated all that well. Moreover, some very simple things are done very poorly. While the sautéed king crab was great, for example, it just shouldn’t be matched with overly salty spinach and tough rice. If you can’t even cook rice the right way, that really reflects poorly on the restaurant’s quality.

Overall, Naan, for all its recommendations, was a huge disappointment. Variety is not always better, and Naan is the perfect example of that.

Unfortunately, I don’t have detailed notes of exactly what I ate, but here are my recommendations on what to eat and what to avoid:

Hits (Recommendations): Sautéed king crag; bread with olive oil, cheese, olives, and crab; potatoes in general; the guacamole

Misses (Things to Avoid): Chocolate mousse (the whole dessert was a wreck and lacked flavor), quesadillas, rice, spinach

Ambience: 3.0/5.0
Service: 1.0/5.0
Taste: 1.0/5.0
Value: 0.0/5.0. You can get most of this food for just as cheap or almost as cheap in the US with better quality.
Overall Score: 1.0/5.0. Overpriced and subpar.

Soler 5608
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Surprisingly, Buenos Aires has a fair number of sushi places. It also has quite a number of Peruvian restaurants. Nowhere, though, have I seen the two combined, except at Osaka.

While a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese cuisine may seem odd, I found out quite a bit later when I was in Peru, that it is, in fact, very common in Peru, since the country has a large Japanese population. The fusion style emphasizes the traditional sushi and sashimi of Japanese cuisine but infuses them with Peruvian flavors or ingredients. Osaka is one of the higher-end restaurants of that merger, and its popularity has allowed it to become a chain throughout South America.

When I entered Osaka, I was immediately taken by the ambience. This place just oozes class, making you know that it’s going to cost you an arm and a foot. The restaurant is modern, colorful, vibrant, with great lighting throughout, and a very nice bar area. Yet it doesn’t lose sight of its Japanese heritage, incorporating the traditional Japanese-style tables and sushi bar—just  making them ultra sleek and clean. Moreover, there is enough spacing among the tables that it feels intimate and possibly romantic, yet the restaurant as a whole is classy enough that it would also be ideal for formal outings or business.

But that’s about the best part of Osaka, with everything else failing in some regard. First, the service was okay, but it was rather slow and unhelpful when it came to explaining/recommending dishes. Second, Osaka doesn’t really integrate its two cuisines very well. Rather, it seemed to me that Osaka served mostly Peruvian fare with some Japanese dishes, particularl sushi and sashimi, tacked on. In that sense, I was a bit disappointed that what I got really was just some simple sushi that I could have gotten at any Japanese restaurant, including the ones back home. Finally—and this is really the worst of all—the prices that Osaka charges are almost criminal. It was the first and only time in any Argentine restaurant that I had to actually pay more for a certain cuisine than I’d have had to pay back home—and I’m talking Los Angeles prices here!

Overall, then, this is a tough restaurant to recommend. While the ambience was stunning, that doesn’t justify paying outrageous prices for mediocre food. I would not go back.

What I had:

1. Sashimi and sushi: Just sushi and sashimi. The fish is surprisingly extremely fresh and of very high quality. Still, nothing out of the ordinary.
2. BBQ shrimp: probably the best of all the dishes. BBQ flavor with a tangy twist to it. Just kind of an odd flavor combo.
3. Inca Gyoza (Duck): Great sauce, finely cooked meat.
4. Thai Rice and Oriental Risotto: Both very good, especially the rice. Great for mixing
5. White Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate sponge cake/brownie: Excellent mousse, great sweetness. Cake is a bit bland. 3.0/5.0
6. Chocolate Volcano—not to my liking. A bit too dull and bitter. Pisco ice cream only makes it worse, adding to the bitterness and acidity. Flavors don’t match at all.

Ambience: 4.5/5.0
Service: 2.5/5.0
Taste: 3.0/5.0
Value: 0.0/5.0. Much more expensive than sushi in America!
Overall Score: 2.0/5.0. Horrible Value.

Avda Corrientes 1368
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Just like Americans, Argentines love their pizza. In terms of style, though, we couldn’t have two more different pizza pies. While the American version is very saucy, cheesy, and can be topped with tons of toppings, the Argentine version is much simpler, often  having either sauce of cheese (typically cheese) but not both, and the toppings are often far fewer in between. For example, if a pie has red peppers, it might have just one on each slice. The focus, then, is much more on a pie that’s fluffy and flavorful in its own. In general, the pizza is very fluffy and the cheese is gooey. It’s somewhat similar to deep dish Chicago-style pizza, as the pies are rather greasy, thick, and heavy, but it doesn’t sicken you—good balance in the dough and cheese.

Anyway, I decided to try out this foreign style at one of the famous pizzerias of Buenos Aires, which Salt Shaker recommends very highly for pizzas and which has been serving pies for decades.

While the pie was rather unique and interesting, I can’t say it was one of the best I’ve had. One reason may be that I had it at night, so it was cold and needed to be heated, rather than fresh. It would be great during the middle of the day, without a doubt. Still, the flavor combinations don’t always go well, and often what you’re left with, because of the simplicity of the flavors and the scarceness of the toppings, is a doughy pie with some at times overly greasy cheese. It’s a very heavy pie, and you really need a lot to be able to stomach more than a couple, if for nothing else than the oiliness. Without the sauce, moreover, the pies tend to be on the salty side.

As for the flavors, they are very hit or miss. My favorite flavor, and one of the classics in Argentina, is the fugazetta with jamón, a pizza with cheese, grilled onions, and ham. The grilled onions really bring out some sweetness in the pizza and complement the ham very well. This is also one of the few pies where you can really taste each of the components, especially the onions, which are provided in ample quantity. The other flavors weren’t so spectacular, though. The Napolitana (cheese, onion, and tomato), for example, was okay, but the tomatoes overpowered the other flavors, and you really didn’t taste much onion.

Overall, the pie isn’t bad, but I will say that I’d take an American pizza any day.

Ambience: Not important
Service: Not applicable
Taste: 2.5/5.0
Value: 2.5/5.0. Same price as most pizza in the city, but not a great value for the quality.
Overall Score (for the pizza): 2.5/5.0, but depends on the flavor and time of day.