What to Eat in Buenos Aires: Parrillas, Empanadas, Cafes

The short answer to what you should eat in Buenos Aires: beef from a parrilla, empanadas as a snack, a slice of thick Italian-style pizza, and something sweet with dulce de leche, all stretched over long meals that start later than you are used to. The city eats like a blend of Spain, Italy and the Argentine countryside, and once you understand the rhythm of the day, ordering well becomes easy.

The rhythm of eating in Buenos Aires

Porteños, as locals are called, have a light breakfast, a proper lunch, a merienda (an afternoon coffee with something baked) and then dinner that rarely begins before nine in the evening. Many restaurants open for dinner around eight, but a room that is half empty at that hour will be full two hours later. Arrive early if you dislike crowds, or accept the late schedule and make the afternoon coffee your second meal.

Tables are meant to be occupied. Nobody will rush you, and the bill usually has to be requested. Many places add a small cover charge called cubierto for bread and table service, which is normal and not a trick, and a tip of around ten percent is customary when service was good. Prices change quickly with the exchange rate, so treat any figure you read online with caution and check the menu board outside.

Beef and the parrilla ritual

A parrilla is both a grill and the restaurant built around it. Meat is cooked over embers and usually served with little more than salt, and sauces such as chimichurri are optional extras rather than a disguise. The classic cuts are bife de chorizo (a thick sirloin), ojo de bife (ribeye), vacío (flank) and entraña (skirt). Many people also order a mixed grill, a parrillada, to share.

Cooking temperatures work differently from what many visitors expect. A point called jugoso is pink and juicy, a punto is medium, and bien cocido is well done. If you want it medium-rare, ask for jugoso and trust the grill master. Offal such as molleja (sweetbread), chinchulines (small intestine) and morcilla (blood sausage) is a traditional starter, and provoleta, a slab of melted provolone, is a safe and popular first plate.

Don Julio and La Cabrera

Two names come up in almost every conversation. Don Julio is regularly described as one of the best parrillas in the world, known for carefully aged beef, and the dinner hours fill up, so reserve ahead. La Cabrera is famous for generous plates of bife de chorizo and ojo de bife that arrive with many small side dishes, which is fun for groups and gives you more tastes than you will finish. Both sit in the Palermo area, so you can pick one and wander afterwards.

If a destination dinner is not your style, a simple neighbourhood parrilla serving a choripán, a chorizo sausage in a bread roll, is cheaper and just as authentic. Many locals eat one standing up on a Sunday afternoon near a park or a football ground.

Empanadas, fugazzeta and the Italian side

Roughly half of Argentina has Italian ancestry, and Buenos Aires shows it on every corner. Pizza here is thick, cheesy and often topped with onions rather than a tomato sauce. The local classic is fugazzeta, a double-crusted pizza stuffed with mozzarella and sweet onions, and fainá, a chickpea flatbread, is traditionally eaten on top of a slice of pizza.

Pizzería Güerrín on Avenida Corrientes is a classic for exactly this style, known for thick-crust fugazzeta and for slices eaten standing at the counter. It sits in the theatre district, which makes it a natural stop before or after a show. Pasta is just as serious: ñoquis (gnocchi) are traditionally eaten on the 29th of each month, a habit with a long local tradition.

Empanadas are small baked or fried pastries. Fillings differ by province, but in the capital you will see beef (carne), ham and cheese, and humita, a sweet corn filling. Ask for them baked (al horno) if you prefer less oil. Three or four of them make a good light lunch, and they are easy to carry to a park bench.

Markets and old-style cafes

The Mercado de San Telmo, a covered market from 1897 with iron roofing, mixes antique stalls with empanadas and local food, so it works well if you want to browse before you decide. Sunday is the busiest day in the neighbourhood because of the street fair outside, and early morning is better if you prefer space. Eat at the counters inside and then walk the cobbled streets nearby.

For cafes, the most famous is Café Tortoni on Avenida de Mayo, open since 1858 and known for hot chocolate and churros. The interior is beautiful and the place is touristy, but it is a legitimate part of the city's history. Order a submarino, hot milk served with a chocolate bar that you melt into it, or a cortado with medialunas, the small sweet croissants that locals eat for breakfast.

Then there is El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a famous bookstore cafe in a former theatre where coffee is served on the old stage. Go at opening time to avoid the crowds. It is more a place to look and linger than to eat a serious meal, but the setting alone justifies a coffee. If you enjoy this mix of food and culture, our guide to the best museums in London shows a similar approach in another capital.

Traditional bars and neighbourhood food

El Preferido de Palermo is an old-style grocery-bar serving traditional Argentine dishes and charcuterie boards. Such places, called almacenes or bodegones, are where the older side of Buenos Aires survives: tiled floors, shared bottles of wine and big portions of milanesa, the breaded cutlet that is practically a national dish. Order a milanesa a la napolitana, topped with ham, tomato sauce and cheese, if you want something to share.

For a complete change of pace, visit Barrio Chino de Belgrano, a colourful stretch of Asian groceries, noodle shops and bubble tea stands. It is not an Argentine classic, but it shows how many communities have shaped the city and offers a lighter, cheaper alternative after several heavy beef meals. Go in the afternoon, when the shops are open and the streets feel lively.

Sweet things, drinks and a sample day

Dulce de leche, a milk caramel, is in alfajores (sandwich cookies), ice cream, pancakes and pastries. Ice cream itself follows an Italian tradition, so try a heladería and ask for dulce de leche granizado. Mate, the herbal infusion drunk from a gourd, is more a social ritual than a drink, and you will see people carrying thermos flasks everywhere. If someone offers you a turn, take it and return the gourd only after you finish the whole serving. For wine, the country's famous red is Malbec, and a bottle shared at dinner is the default.

A simple eating day could look like this. Start with coffee and medialunas at Café Tortoni, spend the late morning browsing the Mercado de San Telmo with a couple of empanadas, take a long walk, and have a late merienda at El Ateneo Grand Splendid. In the evening, sit down for a long dinner at Don Julio or La Cabrera. If you want another food day, swap the dinner for fugazzeta at Pizzería Güerrín before a show.

Practical tips for eating well

• Reserve the big-name parrillas a few days ahead and ask the restaurant how long the table is yours.
• Eat dinner late, or use the afternoon merienda as a lighter second meal.
• Tell the server your preference for cooking temperature: jugoso, a punto or bien cocido.
• Check opening days before you go, because many places close on Mondays or have split lunch and dinner shifts.
• Vegetarians can manage with provoleta, empanadas de humita, pizza, pasta and salads, but ask at traditional parrillas.

Food shapes how you will experience the whole trip, so build the days around meals rather than the other way around. Our Buenos Aires food guide lists all the places mentioned here with their category, best time and booking tips, and you can create a day-by-day plan that puts them in a sensible geographic order.

Keep exploring South America

If this trip is part of a longer route through South America, the next stop is probably in Brazil, and our guide to three days in Rio de Janeiro will help you plan it. If you are heading to the Andes, the best things to do in Cusco is the natural continuation. For everything about the country as a whole, start from the Argentina page.