A Los Bifes! A restaurant with traditional cooking in San Telmo, Buenos Aires

In the midst of visiting a famous craft market deep in the heart of San Telmo, we took a break by stopping at A Los Bifes! (http://www.alosbifessantelmo.com.ar/home.html), an old-fashioned restaurant which offers traditional dishes from the Argentine.  It is not surprising that Argentina's beef is front and center throughout the extensive menu.  When we arrived (c. 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon), there were but several small tables recently vacated.  Otherwise the establishment was packed.  We find this level of popularity to be the best indication of quality.  The ambient noise levels may be higher, but so will the quality of food.  The locals know best, and wise tourists follow their example.

Our attention was quickly drawn to the parrilladas on the lengthy menu.  We finally settled on the selection called "Argentiniana".  There being two of us, we selected The Chica, a meal ostensibly designed to satisfy a twosome. It more than satisfied!

My plate looked like this (early on), loaded with a nice piece of grilled chicken breast, assorted root vegetables, some blood sausage (delicious) and several cuts of grilled beef.  This represented but half of my share of the meal; the rest now resides in our fridge, awaiting our pleasure.

This shows what we could not eat, but instead took home:

The selection of wines was splendid.  As I recall, this list featured primarily wines from the Argentine, which is only natural.  I have found that in Buenos Aires, one can count on the table wines being fully pleasing, and indeed, often charming, yet easy on one's budget. 

I decided to order the restaurant's table wine, seeing that it was a Malbec, one of my favourite grapes.  I got but a glass--what a mistake!

Once patrons finished and started to leave (for by now it was nearly 4 p.m.), I felt free to take a few photos inside while still seated at our table.  I did not photograph the birthday party of 12, but the extended family was having a lot of fun, and the restaurant joined in with rhythmic clapping while they sang some appropriate celebratory song unknown to me.


The lights briefly went out when circuits overloaded.  I took advantage of the all-natural light none too soon; lights quickly resumed.