As you see with LC and I above, there can be a difference of opinion on this matter and nothing is ever 100% clean and sure no matter where in the world you are. That said, I don't really think it is that difficult or dangerous.

You can exchange dollars near the "blue" rate at exchange houses throughout the city. They are EVERYWHERE and say quite publicly on their signs "Cambio" or something similar. I've been in a few where the cop working security on the block will drop in just to shoot the **** and say hello. I don't see the market as being all that black.

Yeah, there could be scams and theft and all as is there is everywhere. I've yet to hear of a person getting scammed by a change house. As far as for a newcomer being worried about being taken advantage of; a question on this forum or on BAexpats or to people you run into at an Expat bar should be enough to put your mind at ease about what places are reliable. I won't say that all are safe, but I know of 2 or 3 that I would trust enough to recommend to others.

I've heard of more people getting counterfeit bills out of ATM's here than I've heard from change houses.

My impression of why people stopped coming here:

1) A large percentage of poker players are Americans, and banking became a top priority for them after Black Friday. Banking here is a disaster.

2) As an extension of the banking issue: Black Friday caused lots of players to suddenly need to move out of the country. These are people who weren't interested in traveling by choice. Hence, lots of Americans moving just barely over the border.

3) Cost of living was going up pretty steadily, and right up until the currency transaction prohibitions, it looked like it would have kept going up. I assume that this discouraged some people from coming here. Also, the current situation is still bad for a lot of people because there's the hassle of actually getting money into the country. (I seem to recall that xoom only serves Americans, but American poker players would still have to set up their banking elsewhere for their poker cashouts, so it's of limited help to poker players.)

4) Lack of momentum. People started going elsewhere (see #2), others followed.

the food in BsAs is also pretty ****ing terrible. That's kind of a big factor.

And dog **** everywhere.

I agree with all of this.

I don't agree with this.

True, but it is getting substantially better with time. It still is a problem but people are becoming more conscious and are bringing bags with them to clean up after their dogs. I've recently even seen a guy yelling at an old woman to clean up after her dog's mess. He was really giving her ****, telling her how arrogant she is that she would think someone else was going to clean up that mess. It made me feel real good.

you may not agree with it but it's pretty true. There are VERY FEW restaurants that are good.

There's a ridiculously good pizza place, I forget the name of it though

Plenty of good steak places and bakeries. Much like in the rest of SA, ethnic food is a pretty terrible value there.

no

they have good steak quality for cheap prices

but most restaurants have no idea how to cook a good steak

This is a matter of opinion. I wouldn't go around saying that something is "pretty true" when it is a matter that is so subjective as restaurant quality.

A page or so back I gave a long list of restaurants. I'd say they all range from good to excellent.

Please try to remember the pizza place. I still haven't found one in this country that I think is "ridiculously good." Barrio? Cross streets? Near anything in particular?

I'd agree that most restaurants don't know how to cook a good steak. However, any of the parillas I listed will give you exactly what you want. In addition to those listed, there are DOZENS of steakhouses/parillas throughout the city that do know. It is far from a majority but there are plenty.

it actually isn't that subjective

i guarantee in a blind taste test, I'd be able to pick out food that's been cooked by an Argentine.

Their methodology is really that outdated and bad.

nowhere else will you get the quality of El Baqueano at such a good price in dollars.

Edit: we clearly have different taste in food because the least favorite thing for me in BA is the pizza, except for maybe the tiramisú.

actually that's not true

cape town has way more amazing food at cheaper prices.

He's talking about Siamo nel Forno.

Food isn't one of Argentina's strong points but I'd rate that more as just something I can bitch about rather than something that really bothers me. Even though the lack of good pizza does annoy me a fair amount.

edit to add: Aside from the bad pizza, the main irritant with food in Buenos Aires is that if you're just out doing something and decide you want to grab lunch, you're going to have basically no choice about what to eat. Every street corner has a cafe with the exact same limited menu as the others. But there are certainly some restaurants around with good food, and there are websites that can help you find them pretty easily.

edit again: I might be being too generous. I'm not much of a sushi or coffee person, but pretty much every foreigner I've ever talked to has agreed that both the sushi and coffee here are pretty bad. So as I said originally, food isn't one of Argentina's strong points.

Really? Get over yourself...

Are you a food profiler? Can you also tell if he/she is a man or woman? Black or white? Age?


What about their methodology is outdated and bad?

You can get something " way more amazing" than the 7 course tasting menu at El Baqueano with that level of sophistication and variety for under $30 USD in Cape Town? I'd like to know where as I have several friends that are going before the end of this year.

Chairman Wood, I'll propbet you any day that if you take a good chef vs an argentine chef, any foodie (for the bet), and really any person with a decent palate, will be able to pick out who cooked what.

I'll put my money on the line and for 1k I'll do the tasting myself.

They're that bad. Stop getting offended. I wouldn't rip on the food if it weren't awful, but it is. The majority of restaurants in BsAs objectively make awful tasting food and awful cooked food.

Sushi is ****ing god awful in BsAs. Cream cheese in everything...that's raping good sushi, oh wait they don't get good quality fish.

I'd tell you a place in Cape Town but you're getting pissy so go google it Or just tell your friends to stick to baqueano.

Siamo Nel Forno is AWESOME.

Guido's is great to hang out, he's got a nice collection of alcohol there and a good vibe going.

Let's not kid ourselves about any propbet of this nature ever happening.

Anyway, your statements here are completely preposterous. You can pick out a chef and know that he is a worse chef for just being Argentine? What is your reasoning? Is there something in the water here? Are you saying Argies are just born lazy and stupid? Has too much mate devastated their palate so that they mix up sweet and bitter?

So you take two 18 year old males, one from the US and one from Argentina. You send them to work in the same kitchen at a two star Michelin restaurant in Paris. After 8 years of learning the trade, doing the same jobs and under essentially the same circumstances why would one chef be expected to be able to out Iron Chef the other?

Who's getting offended? You're being questioned because your statements are ridiculous, they make extreme claims that are refutable and lack support. I'm not a restaurant owner or part of a BsAs tourism board. I have no horse in this race. I just disagree with you.

You've really eaten over 50% of the restaurants here and deemed enough of them awful? Impressive!

As soah said, if you are just looking for lunch and need to pick up something to eat and are left with only cafes that serve medialunas, milanesas and miga sandwiches, yeah, you're ****ed. But there are plenty of good restaurants here and there are resources to find them. You said there are very few good restaurants here. I disputed that with the list I wrote a while back. There are even more I didn't list.

I'd say in my lifetime that if I when I pick restaurants throughout the world without knowing anything about them before going in I would average a mediocre experience. Why not use available resources to avoid them and make sure you are going to places that cook your steak right?


Yeah and Paris has really crappy pizza. Is its reputation as a culinary capital ruined just because of that?

Really man?

I've had mediocre pasta at Guidos before.
I think Siamo Nel Forno is the best pizza in BsAs. I wouldn't say Awesome. There are a half a dozen restaurants that serve very similar styled pizza in New York that I think are much better. But, as I would hope you can see, this is all subjective.

Syous, just curious if you have been to any of the below. I don't even think any of them are particularly famous or BA musts but they were three places I happen to go to recently that I thought were all very good and two of them were seafood based. Your rants sound insane to me. I think average cafes and stuff in BA are generally bad. I think average parillas in BA are not fine dining but cheap qulaity meat that is not cooked to perfection but tastes pretty solid. Then there are a few really ones and places with a ton of character. BA isn't a foodie city, but there are some really good places at great prices for their quality ratio such as the below. I've lived in many famous food cities and was plenty happy in BA. I wouldn't want it to be the place I lived for the rest of my life because of food, but if you do your research and go to good places, you can eat very well. For casual stuff, pretty much stick to the better parillas.

http://www.unik.pro/LACARTA.pdf
http://www.timeout.com/buenos-aires/...1%3A7848/sipan (has spotty service but some really good food).
http://oviedoresto.com.ar/

CW - I said Guido's is a cool place to hang out, I didn't say anything about the food. Siamo is awesome, you probably have a bland palate.

Test Kitchen and Pot Luck Club in Cape Town are owned by the same people. Reserve far in advance or you're going to have a bad time.

Insideman - i haven't eaten at any of those restaurants. I liked Baqueano and Aramburu is kinda cool for molecular gastronomy. Points to them for actually trying and caring about food.

My friends and I would search online a lot for good restaurants. Nothing's ever amazed me in BsAs besides Siamo. Mostly everything else has been pretty sub-par and bland, including the parillas.

I've been to Siamo nel Forno more than 5 times and its got the best pizza in BA.

I still don't think its thaaaat good.

Syous, your claim to be able to be able to identify and Argie chef in a blind taste test is interesting. Are there any other nationalities you can identify? Do you have any other superhuman abilities we should know about, you know just so we know who we are dealing with here? Can you see me right now? How many fingers am I holding up? ****ing idiot.

Syous, some more places I'm curious if you've rejected or just never been to?

http://www.bodegonelobrero.com.ar/ classic place and cheap so no expectations of fine dining but good and great atmosphere.

http://www.astridygaston.com/web/fotos.php?pidscw=5 didn't end up there but friend said it was quite good.

http://www.treintasillas.com/imagenes_treintasillas.php was a good small restaurant with a well trained chef.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran..._District.html random and cheap korean but surprisingly solid.

http://www.felixclasico.com/ good fish place.

And just out of curiosity, are you living in Tokyo or Paris right now or something on par with that for food?

Is anyone going to the Boca v Corinthians game this Wed? I forgot my carnet but am interested in going if anyone has an extra ticket. Been a few years since I went to a Libertadores game, but they are special.

can anyone recommend a decent place to buy good chairs that dont fk up your back if you sit in them for hours at a time (MTT grinder here)? possibly in/near palermo.

also, anyone know a place around palermo where they have good variety of monitors? how much higher are prices compared to US or europe?

computer monitors? I have a couple of old ones that I'd like to get rid of. 1600x1200 for one and the other is smaller.

looking for higher res, any good shops where they have at least some variety?