La Cabrera

Posted by Edmund in Argentina, Argentine, Restaurants | 3 comments

Parrilla/Steakhouse.
My cost: 360 pesos (About $105) for 4 young college students, with a ravenous appetite.
Cabrera 5099, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In terms of Argentine cuisine, you really can’t do much better than the meat, which you can find fresh and cheap throughout the city. Very few steakhouses, however, have the reputation of La Cabrera, which is both a tourist haven and one of Buenos Aires’s best culinary deals. La Cabrera is THE legendary steakhouse, the one that is supposedly not just the best in the city, but a historic landmark that any tourist must try. Needless to say, I had to try it out, and it was in fact my first expedition into Argentina’s culinary scene.

[provided by and posted with permission of La Cabera]

La Cabrera is oriented more towards the tourist, like a lot of the finer dining in the city (finer dining here should be interpreted very loosely. This verges on the casual). You can readily find Americans throughout the restaurant, which has a very charming, friendly, yet somewhat touristy vibe to it.  So if you want a true Argentine experience, you really won’t find it here. Still, the restaurant was charming and the service so friendly that you feel rather comfortable, especially if you can’t speak the language. And there are lots of nice little touches that add to experience. The meal even ends with complementary lollipops, presented on a large rack, hearkening back to your youth. And as far as higher-end dining goes, this is quite the casual place, avoiding formalities to create an inviting atmosphere. The service is slow, but rather friendly and very accommodating to foreigners.

La Cabrera, however, also delivers on the food. As far as value goes, it’s quite possibly the best deal in town for a premium steakhouse, offering all of Argentina’s best cuts of meat for much lower than you’d find in some of the pricier tourist areas, like Puerto Madero. 500g of perfectly cooked Kobe beef, for instance, goes for about 80 pesos, or $23.The portions are so huge, moreover, that you’ll be hard pressed to finish them. In fact, just 3 entrees fed myself and 3 of my friends, all of whom have large appetites.

As for the food, I can’t say that La Cabrera is quite as legendary as all the myths say, but it is nonetheless quite good. The meat was always cooked extremely well, better than at most places, and the sides were fantastic. The ribeye probably can’t be beaten, either. Though it was slightly overhyped, it is still a must for the price, even if it’s not the best meal I had in Argentina.

Suggestions:

Hits: Ojo de Bife (Ribeye, specialty of the house), Scrambled eggs with sausage, dulce de leche pancacke, chorizo, complementary limoncello and lollipops, bread, wine list, and service. Note that the ribeye was perhaps the best in all of Buenos Aires, which is an extraordinary feat considering how stiff the competition is in Argentina, since ribeye is one of the nation’s favorite cuts.

Misses: Stuffed tenderloin, chocolate volcano, Kobe beef
Service: 4.0/5.0
Ambience: 3.5/5.0
Taste: 4.0/5.0
Value: 4.3/5.0
Overall Score: 4.0/5.0