Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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ABASTO
Expensive
Abasto Plaza Hotel
A block away from this hotel are both the Abasto Shopping
Center and Esquina Carlos Gardel, sites dedicated to the tango crooner. The hotel takes
this to heart, with a unique tango shop for shoes, dr esses, and other
milonga
accessories.
Free tango lessons and shows take place Thursday evenings at 9pm in the lobb y. There's
also a free tango show every night at 8pm down in the restaurant. The rooms are a good
size, with rich dar k woods and deep-r ed carpets, though so-called thematic suites take
their special decor fr om tango. Superior rooms come with whirlpool bathtubs. The res-
taurant,
Volver,
named for a Gardel song, is decorated in a funky design, complete with
silver hands holding up shelves of liquor behind the bar. The small heated outdoor pool
sits on the r ooftop, with access thr ough a small gym. While this hotel does not offer
much of interest in itself to Jewish travelers, it is the closest full-service hotel to Once and
Abasto's historic Jewish sites.
Av. Corrientes 3190 (at Anchor ena), 1193 Buenos Air es.
&
11/6311-4465.
Fax 11/6311-4465. w ww.abasto
plaza.com. 126 units. From $157 (£106) double; from $266 (£180) suite. Rates include buffet breakfast. AE,
DC, MC, V. Parking $12 (£8.20). M etro: Carlos Gardel.
Amenities:
Restaurant; bar; heated outdoor pool;
small health club; c oncierge; business c enter; room service; laundry service; dry cleaning; 1 r oom for
those w/limited mobility.
In room:
A/C, TV, high-speed I nternet, Wi-Fi, minibar, coffeemaker, hair dr yer,
iron, safe.
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WHERE TO DINE
Buenos Aires offers world-class dining with a v ariety of Argentine and international r es-
taurants and cuisines. Nothing matches the meat from Pampas grass-fed Argentine cows,
the focus of the dining experience throughout the city, from the humblest
parrilla
(grill)
to the finest business-class restaurant. Empanadas, dough pockets filled with ground beef
and other ingredients, are another staple, sold almost ev erywhere.
Buenos Air es's most fashionable neighborhoods for dining ar e all in P alermo. Las
Cañitas provides a row of Argentine and N ouvelle-fusion cuisine concentrated on Calle
Báez. Palermo Hollywood has matched this with even more trendy hot spots combining
fine dining with a bohemian atmospher e in small, r enovated, turn-of-the-20th-century
houses. These r estaurants ar e attracting some of the city 's top chefs, many of whom
trained in F rance and S pain. Some of the most ex quisite and inter esting cuisine is in
Palermo Viejo. Both Palermo Viejo and Las Cañitas ar e near the D metr o line, but the
best restaurants are often a long walk from the stations, which close at 11pm. All things
considered, cabs are the best way to r each these restaurants.
Puerto Madero's docks are lined with more top restaurants, along with a mix of chains
and hit-or-miss spots. The MicroCentro and Recoleta offer many outstanding restaurants
and cafes, some of which hav e been on the map for decades. B uenos Aires's cafe life,
where friends meet over coffee, is as sacred a ritual to Porteños as it is to Parisians. Favor-
ite local meeting spots include La B iela, in R ecoleta, acr oss fr om the world-famous
Recoleta Cemeter y, and Café Tortoni, one of the city 's most beautiful and traditional
cafes, on Avenida de M ayo close to P laza de M ayo. These places w ere once ev ocatively
smoke-filled, but an anti-smoking law was enacted in 2006. If this is your first time in a
Buenos Aires cafe, you may not notice. If you have been here before, you may agree with
me that something unique has been lost to P orteño cafes—once smoky, but now sterile
as hospitals.
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