On my last day in Argentina in 2018 I finally made it to Barrio Chino (Chinatown) in Belgrano. The (relatively short) trek from the central neighbourhoods stopped me going before (barrio map here, my city map here).
It’s a fun area to walk along with a few nice pieces of street art dotted about…
…and some other bits of eye candy. The main strip was bustling on the Saturday I went.
I was a little disappointed to find that there aren’t that many Chinese businesses around, certainly in comparison to Sao Paolo or London where there is street upon street.
But it didn’t really bother me as I’d actually come to tick off another famous steakhouse from my list…
El Pobre Luis (Intermediate B), 2393 Arribeños, www.facebook.com/elpobreluisparrilla
Pobre Luis has a classic steakhouse interior with lots of wooden fittings and dozens of football shirts hanging from the ceiling.
I sat at the bar around the open kitchen where I could watch the parrilleros at work on their old-school grill.
It was also the first time I’d seen a jigsaw used in a restaurant (video here).
My waiter Vito bore a striking resemblance to Mussolini, and behaved like a tyrant as well.
Unfortunately I was too scared of Vito to write any notes or take photos but I had a butterflied Bife de Chorizo steak, which was good but not amazing as I recall (B).
Vito’s homemade limoncello was the real deal though (A), although he wasn’t best pleased that I had three glasses. I told him to charge me but it seems these are supposed to be complimentary, and therefore not chugged by a philistine like me!
It was still a fun experience though! Goodbye Argentina, till next time x