well that was a no brainer...

so, i finally adapt to the argentinian dining time, venture out for dinner at 11ish and the restaurant in the hotel is shut.... they suggest i walk 5 blocks.  Cafe San Juan is also shut so I decide to go the steak, at one of the best known steakhouses, La Brigada.  It's not too far away but, given I wouldn't walk 7 blocks in Sydney at 11.30 at night, I'm certainly not going to do that here.

Pull up outside in my (radio) taxi and it looks promising.  big groups of well-dressed spanish speakers pouring in, and out.  Unfortunately (perhaps due to Frommers mention) they stick me in the front room with the other english speakers, primarily american business men.....so i rise to the challenge and decide to drink (was that convincing?).  Unfortunately (what a shame), they don't do wine by the glass, just the bottle, so I go for a 140 peso Malbec, DV Catena 2006.

the entire place is like a football mad, teenager's room - footballs, football photos, football banners, football lights. i win brownie points for attending the Racing V River match on sat.  testorone is high so i'm expecting the steak to be good.  order a vitello tonnato (can't remember the spanish), a sirloin, and, just for the hell of it, a mixed salad.  they bring  out home made bread rolls, in fact 3.  For the first time, there's butter instead of that great creme fraiche/quark type spread with pepper corns and herbs.  the bread is good (for someone who doesn't eat bread) but given it's now late and i haven't eaten since our breakfast at 9 (that seems so long ago, my god, i've done the Desigual search to no avail, MALBA, Cafe Torino, and Av de Mayo since then), my head is spinning (ps i only eat a little of 1 roll not the 3!).  entree arrives and is the size of our dining table at home.  it's an argentinian interpretation of the classic ie veal is chunky rather than the delicate slivers and, on top of the tuna mayonnaise, there are anchovies.  good if not very good anchovies (taste like ortiz) but salty.  '

the wine is opening up and i"m rising to the challenge.  it's soft, curvaceous, and just a hint of plum - definitely feminine in a dawn french, all embracing kinda way.

Steak arrives.  I wanted medium rare and this is medium but the meat is well meaty.  think this tops the Mirabel benchmark on the price flavour ratio (60 pesos - that's AUD15 for a generous 400g of steak).  a bit of chimmi churri to spice things up and i'm on my way from misery to happiness .... the salad while simple iceberg, tomato and onion is dressed well, and provides some (albeit delusional) balance to the hunka hunka gorgeous meat in front of me.  i surrender a third of the way through and retire hurt to the bar (given i was sitting in the middle of the room all by myself the bar looked more familiar and comfortable).   the staff then entertain me with wine books, tastes of different vineyards and charades. 

in summary, well worth a visit and ask to sit with the locals not the tourists.....  ps great tango music!