Wine Tour in Mendoza

There are hundreds of reasons to visit Argentina, the scenery, the meat, the music and the tango to name but a few. One of the main draws for us was the famously excellent wine, particularly the Malbec. We drink a lot of Malbec at home (how else are you supposed to get through an English winter?) and were looking forward to trying some in its home country.

So, we made a beeline for Mendoza, a city on the eastern side of the Andes, where the main industries are olive oil production and wine making, so predictably, the people enjoy the finer things in life. The city itself is pretty and vibrant, with fabulous restaurants and chic wine bars. There are numerous fountains that spurt red water to look like wine, and pavement cafes line the streets. The surrounding area is the largest wine producing region in Latin America, and it was here that we went on a wine tour.

We organised the tour through Trout and Wine, a brilliantly named and professional company. We were in a group with just one other couple and a friendly and knowledgable guide. We travelled towards the Uco valley and made our first stop just outside it, at Pulenta. It is a small winery with a 135 hectare vineyard. We were shown around whilst enjoying a glass of La Flor Sauvignon Blanc, which was crisp and grassy and thankfully available in the UK. The winery is beautiful, very stark and minimalist. In the  tasting room, we passed round glasses of coffee, grass, vanilla, rose petals and more, which we had to blindly smell and guess the contents. We were good at this game. We were less good at picking out the individual aromas in the La Flor Malbec, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Gran Reserve Cabernet Franc, but we were good at drinking them. They were all delicious, especially the Cabernet Franc which is a new grape for us. We've had it a lot in combination with other grapes at home, but never 100% as this one was. 

Next we went to La Azul, a tiny family-run winery with three different lines of wines.The production is all done in one room, as is the tasting. We tried glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and lastly were given a taste of 100% Malbec straight from the barrel. This wine will not be bottled until 2015. All the wines were delicious but the last Malbec was our favourite. 

By now we were feeling a little giddy and a lot hungry. Our last destination was Salentein, an enormous winery with a concert area in the middle where the audience sit against barrels. We ate a fantastic lunch at their restaurant. To start was a mozzarella and tomato salad followed by empanadas (Argentinian Cornish pasties). A huge, beautifully cooked piece of bife de chorizo was next, served with hand-cut chips and mushrooms. For dessert there was a Malbec muffin which was warm and fluffy, with white chocolate and berry ice-cream. It was all delicious and perfectly matched with Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Malbec. Our memories of these wines are a little hazier, but we definitely enjoyed them all!

Good food, good wine and spectacular views of the foothills of the Andes. A great day. How could it not be?


Kate

Fish Head Curry in Singapore's Little India

We had heard good things about the fish head curry before we arrived in Singapore, so we made it our mission to seek it out. We were staying in Little India so it wasn't too hard to find, most of the bigger restaurant offered a version, so we opted for the restaurant who apparently pioneered the dish, the Banana Leaf Apolo.

The dish is of South Indian inspiration, and bears a close resembelance to Kerelan currys but with an classicaly Singaporean twist. As with many of the dishes of the Malay peninsula this dish is a product of the fusion of different ethnic groups brought together by the massive trading hub of the east British Empire. Here a classic south indian dish is altered to appeal to the Chinese, who view the fish head as a delicacy.




The Banana Leaf Apolo has a very authentic Indian resturant atmosphere, in that although nicely decorated it still can't quite shake off the canteen feel. Meals were served in large bowl with a strip of banan leaf as a plate. As with all the places we ate in Little India the lassis were fantastic, and a good substitue for the exorbrantly priced alcohol.

The first thing that hit us when the dish arrived was the fantasticly rich curry smell, the second was the sheer size of the dish. A huge bowl  contained a single red snapper head bathed in a rich curry sauce, and this was a 'medium' portion. The snapper must have been a monster in life as it was one of the biggest heads I have ever seen. Around the neck and cheeks there was plenty of tender flesh to be had, and the rich and well spiced sauce was one of the best I have tasted. Having grown up in Birmingham and made several trips to India, this is a huge commendation.


Predictably with Asian cooking we couldn't finish our medium serving between two. We probably ate far too much as it was so tasty. Without a doubt it was one of the meals we wil remember most of our trip.


Tom

Roti Canai

Malaysian cuisine has influences from China, India, Indonesia and Europe, making it one of the most varied cuisines that we have come across. My favourite dish that we discovered is Roti Canai, which is traditionally eaten for breakfast or as a snack.

It consists of a round Indian flat bread, less dense than naan and fluffier than chapati, served alongside a small portion of curry or more frequently sambal. The bread is made by spinning dough into a thin sheet, and then folding it over in itself before lightly frying it. This method gives lots of little pockets of air to the bread, making it light and fluffy. You eat it by tearing bits off and dipping it into the sambal. It's a perfect size meal for breakfast, and completely delicious.

Kate

Brunch at Bill's Sydney

Brunch is one of the 'must do' things when visiting Sydney, and we chose to have ours at one of the three Bill's restaurants.

After inevitably drinking too much Australian wine the night before, we had a leisurely brunch at around 11am. The restaurant itself is bright and airy, with piles of fresh fruit lining the shelves and tables both inside and out. The menu is varied, with traditional brunch options alongside more unusual dishes. There is a long drinks list of coffees, teas, and Bloody Mary, Bucks Fizz and champagne if you really can't shake off your hangover.

I chose ricotta hotcakes with banana and maple syrup. The two hotcakes were huge, deep and fluffy, with large chunks of banana scattered over the top. I was given a little jug of syrup to pour over. They were light, delicious and very very moorish.

Tom had crab and chorizo fried rice with kimchi. This dish is a western variation on the classic South-East Asian breakfast and the flavours worked beautifully. 

The coffee (flat white and Americano) was of course delicious, and both dishes were beautifully presented. It is easy to see why Bill's has become a Sydney institution.

Kate

The Last Pisco Sour

Our last stop in South America was Santiago, and we had done so much coming and going from this lovely city that it was starting to feel like home. The day we left Santiago for Sydney was a bank holiday, and our plans for stockpiling Pisco were thwarted by closed duty free shops at the airport. The bars were open thank goodness, and it seemed appropriate that our final drinks in South America should be Pisco Sours, in the
aptly named bar, 'The Last Pisco Sour.'

Chorrillana

Chilean food isn't great. Aside from the excellent sea food (which you'd expect with one of the largest coastlines in the world) Chilean food mainly consists of meat unimaginatively paired with some kind of carbohydrate, usually bread, corn or potato. Even the Chileans tacitly acknowledge that Peruvian cuisine is better by the plethora of Peruvian restaurants that line the streets of Santiago.

The mixture of meat and stodge does come into its own when it comes to drinking and hangover food. The king in this genre is undoubtedly the Valparaiso specialty of chorrillana. Chorrillana is essentially a plate of chips (or fries if we have any North American readers) with a huge pile of fried steak, chorizo sausage, onions and egg dumped on top. This is not finesse food. It is however bloody amazing.

It's usually shared between at least two,  and as far as I can see it is always accompanied by a beer (one area that Chile does have Peru beaten hands down). Our first chorrillana we ate fittingly in Valparaiso. Having not seen one before we weren't sure what to expect.  Should we have ordered two? When it arrived all fears of leaving hungry were put firmly to bed. We had another one in Santiago on our second to last night in South America.

The picture below doesn't make it look very appealing. It was taken in poor light on a compact, but even with the best light in the world it's still just going to look like a pile of grease. The taste however more than makes up for its looks.

Tom

Caipirinhas

Caipirinhas, not routinely found on the menus of British cocktail bars, are the national drink of Brazil. They are found everywhere from classy cocktail bars to beachside huts with plastic chairs, and can cost anything from £2 to £20 accordingly. They are made by muddling chopped lime with cachaca (a sprit distilled from sugarcane) and shaking the mixture over a glassful of crushed ice.

We mostly drank caipirinhas in plastic cups from beach huts or street stalls in Lapa, where you got a lot of cachaca for your money, but we did have the occasional posher one, notably in Garota de Ipanema in Rio and Veloso bar in Sao Paulo. My parents even found a restaurant in Rio where they came with a lime ice lolly in the glass, but they frequented classier establishments than we did. 

They are extremely refreshing, very moorish and dangerously drinkable. The bittersweet taste masks the burn of the alcohol, and if you aren't careful things can get messy.....

Kate

Churros in South America

Churros - choux pastry dough squeezed through a star shaped nozzle into strips, deep fried, dusted in sugar and spices and dipped in hot chocolate. What's not to like? Churros are a typical Spanish snack, and on a family holiday near Barcelona many years ago, my then 2 year old brother refused to eat anything else. It is also common in Latin America, and gives you a great burst of energy when exploring a city.

Our first churros were in cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, a gorgeous elaborate cafe that is the oldest coffee shop in Argentina. One serving consisted of six sticks of churro generously dusted with sugar, alongside hot chocolate. The churros were warm and crisp and the hot chocolate was similar to what you tend to get in England, sweet, creamy and the consistency of milk. 

Next, we had churros in Ushuaia, the most southerly town in the world. We got it to take away and ate it whilst sitting on a bench overlooking the Beagle Channel. These churros were the thickest I have ever seen. One stick was plain with just a sugar dusting, the other was stuffed with dulce de leche and had swirls of white and dark chocolate sauce on the outside. The sweeter the better in Argentina. They were warm, very moist because of the thickness, and very very sweet. We had coffee with these, and while I am glad I experienced the stuffed churros, I prefer the plain ones. 

The last churros were in a cafe called Manolo in the Miraflores area of Lima, Peru. Again we were given six sticks per serving. These churros were thinner and crispier than we had had before and simply rolled in sugar. They were served alongside thick, dark hot chocolate that tasted like pure melted chocolate. This meant that you picked up a lot of chocolate on each dip, and (in my opinion) gave the perfect churro:chocolate ratio. It was also the most similar to the churros we ate in Spain. All of the churros were good, (really, how could they be bad?) but these were our favourite.

Kate

Welsh tea in Patagonia

One of the last things you might expect to find amongst the seemingly endless prairie of Patagonia is a Welsh tea shop,  but in Gaiman in Chubut (a province of Patagonia) you have a a number to choose from. In the mid 19th century a group of Welsh pioneers set off for the new world with an aim to found a colony that could keep the Welsh identity,  which had been so quickly lost in colonies in North America.

The colonists landed at Puerto Madryn, where we were based.  Unfortunately there was no fresh water,  and the whole venture almost ended in disaster.  Lucky a local tribe took pity on the Welshmen and took them to the Chubut river,  where the settlements of Trelew and Gaiman were set up. For over 50 years Welsh was the primary language of the region,  however from the turn of the century onwards Spanish made in roads and soon very few people spoke Welsh.  Luckily a small community of Welsh speakers persisted and in the 90s there was an upsurge in interest in the areas culture and identity.

Nowadays there are hints all over the region of Welsh heritage,  non so more than in Gaiman.  This little village is a little haven of Wales,  complete with a bitter wind and sheep.  The fusion of Welsh and Spanish culture can be seen everywhere down to the names on the post boxes such as Miguel Jones.

We visited Gaiman to see the village for ourselves,  and to have some of its famous Welsh Tea. There were many options to choose from,  but in the end we chose Ty Gwn. Set out like a turn of the century Welsh tea room and bedecked with Welsh trinkets such as a towel detailing the castles of North Wales.

The tea came with more cakes than I thought possible to eat,  including bara brith, or "torta negra",  which was most often translated as 'Welsh cake'.  The tea itself was the best we've had since leaving Britain, and came in a massive tea pot with a brightly coloured cosy.  When we finished one another was brought.

Despite my initial reaction,  I did manage to finish all my cakes,  only to be asked if I wanted any more.  I politely declined as I felt as though I might burst at the seams!

Tom

The Earliest Pisco Sour

Gratuitous photo of Machu Picchu. Tom forgot to smile.

The classic Inca Trail is a four day hike from kilometre 82 (82 km along the railway from Cusco to Aguas Calientes) to Machu Picchu, the glorious ancient city of the Incas. It takes you through the spectacular scenery of the Andes, to breathless heights of over 4000 metres, to atmospheric Inca sites and to some of the coldest showers I have ever experienced. It is perfectly achievable by anyone with a decent level of fitness and some sense of adventure. We chose to go with Wayki Trek who have knowledgable and supportive guides, and superhuman porters who are provided with excellent equipment and are well paid.

On the final day, you are dragged from your tent at 3am to inhale some breakfast before queuing to get through the final checkpoint. You then walk for a final hour and a half to reach the sun gate. From here, you get your first glimpse of Machu Picchu as it is gradually lit by the sunrise. We were extremely lucky with the weather; blue skies, a few picturesque white clouds hanging in the valleys and a cool breeze. It is truly awe-inspiring. 

After some time and many photographs at the sun gate, we dropped down to the main entrance. It is around a 30 minute walk, and by the time you get here, Machu Picchu is full of people who have come by train and bus. I agree that having a train is a fantastic idea, as trekking the Inca Trail is not an option for everyone for various reasons. However, we felt that it was a bit unfair that these people get in first, when it is silent, empty and at its most atmospheric and photogenic, rather than those of us who had been walking for four days to reach it. This childish feeling of injustice may have something to do with how tired and filthy we were. Additionally the Trekkers are the only ones lucky enough to catch the sunrise at the sun gate. Still, we let ourselves feel a bit miffed for a while, and then got on with enjoying the beauty of the place.

At the main entrance there are shops, a cafe, a bar and real toilets (!) and it is here that we had Pisco Sours. No, it wasn't yet 9am, but we had been awake since 3am, we had been walking and camping for four days and we hadn't drunk anything other than water and coca tea since Cusco. And Pisco Sours have fruit in. Completely justified. They came in plastic cups and were very generous servings. Our ability to judge the quality may not have been top-notch at the time, but they looked and tasted amazing. We don't make a habit of drinking alcohol before 9am, but these Pisco Sours were most definitely worth it, and if possible, made exploring Machu Picchu even more enjoyable.

The Best Pisco Sour

If becoming a connoisseur depends solely on quantity consumed, then we are well on our way to becoming connoisseurs of Pisco Sours. I am sure, however, that other more qualified people have views on whether Peruvian or Chilean Pisco Sours are better, what Pisco should be used and on the finer points of mixing. All we can do is pick our favourite from the many that we tried.

A google or guidebook search for the best Pisco Sour in Lima directs you to El Bolivarcito - catedral de Pisco, a bar on the ground floor of Hotel Bolivar looking out onto central Lima's main square.The bar is a fairly unassuming place packed out by business lunches on weekdays, with a summary of the history of Peruvian Pisco on one wall. It has a long menu of Pisco Sours to choose from, each mixed with a different Pisco. We chose Classico first. They came in glasses a bit like old-fashioned glasses but with a short stem. It was delicious, and exactly what you'd expect from a well made Peruvian Pisco Sour, ie: smooth, uniform, no egg white globules floating in the glass and a few millimetres of froth that remains on the top as you drink it.

Next we tried the Catedral, which is the bar's signature Pisco Sour. These came in Hurricane glasses and were made using a better quality Pisco and their classic recipe. It was also delicious; fresh, smooth and beautiful to look at. We could tell that it was superior to others we had tried, although we couldn't say exactly why, and it honestly wasn't just that it was twice the volume of a standard Pisco Sour. Promise. 

We obviously need to sample more before we can detect all the subtleties of this drink. Oh well. Never mind.

Pisco Sours

The war over the ownership of Pisco Sours has been raging between Chile and Peru for many years, and both claim it as their national drink. There are distinct differences between the Peruvian and Chilean Pisco Sour, although I found they become difficult to distinguish after three or four.

Pisco is a clear grape brandy that is produced by both Peru and Chile. It comes in various strengths, but 35-40% proof is the standard in most bars. Some people drink it neat (think very light brandy) but I prefer it in cocktails.

In Peru, Pisco Sours are made by mixing Peruvian Pisco, sugar syrup, lime juice and egg white with ice cubes. This is then poured into an old fashioned glass and garnished with a few drops of Angostura bitters.

In Chile, they are made by mixing Chilean Pisco, lemon juice and sugar with ice cubes and then pouring this into (usually) a champagne flute.

There are obviously some variations, for instance in Chile, lime juice is sometimes used. The most consistent difference is the use of egg white, which makes for a smoother, more viscous cocktail.

Arguments aside, they were delicious wherever we drank them, and we will make it our mission to seek out a bottle of Pisco when we get home.

Picnics in Patagonia

El Calafate and El Chalten in Argentinian Patagonia are situated in some of the wildest, windiest and most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. Apart from the obvious attraction of the glaciers, there are lakes, estancias and dirt roads surrounded by prairie with snow-capped mountains on the horizon. Whilst we were there, our lunches were usually picnics, partly because there is little other option when you are halfway up a mountain or 20 miles from civilisation, and partly because my parents were with us for this section and there is nothing my Mum likes better than a picnic.

The content of the picnics was quite consistent, cheese and salami baguettes, crisps, apples and orange juice. The bread in Argentina tended to be quite sweet, almost like brioche, but it was usually possible to find French-style baguettes. The salami was always good, but the best we had was bought in a tiny butchers in El Chalten. The cheese was sliced mozzarella or cheddar which looked quite processed but didn't taste that way. It wasn't long before I rediscovered a childhood pleasure of putting crisps inside my sandwich, which my parents allowed, just this once, seeing as I am on holiday.

There were a few additions to the standard picnic every now and then. Sometimes there were alfajores, the Argentinian sweet treat. Two round crumbly biscuits are sandwiched together with a layer of dulce de leche, a caramel that is found in almost every Argentinian desert. Depending on the variety, the biscuits might be chocolate or vanilla and the finished product may be dipped in chocolate or rolled in desiccated coconut. They are extremely sweet, too sweet for my Dad, and so sweet that Tom had often eaten them all before we got round to the picnic. 

Once we had beer, kept cool in the boot of the car and opened between a boulder and a small stone. On two occasions we had champagne. Moet et Chandon have an Argentinian vineyard that creates moderately priced fizz. It is sweeter than most champagne, more like prosecco, and goes down very nicely. We chilled our first bottle in lake Argentino where Perito Merino glacier is, and our second stayed cold in Tom's rucksack whilst we walked.

Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina

Whilst the picnics themselves remained similar, the locations certainly did not. Our first was overlooking the Perito Moreno glacier, waiting for calvings and surrounded by tiny birds that would eat any crumbs that fell. The next was at the edge of a dirt road overlooking the prairie, lakes and mountains. We had set off in the tiny hire car to tackle the unpaved roads around El Calafate and were rewarded with beautiful wilderness, huge skies, birds of prey and guanacos. Tom and I had a picnic whilst sat on a glacier during our day ice-climbing. We could see caves, huge cracks leading to running water below and jagged peaks of ice as far as the eye can see. At the end of the day, before getting the boat, we all had a glass of Bailey's over chipped glacier ice, demonstrating an alternative use for ice axes. We also had a very welcome picnic after climbing past Fitz Roy base camp to get to Laguna de Los Tres near El Chalten. After a long walk through woodland and along rivers, it was a strenuous climb up the final ascent, with a tight, winding path and dizzying drops, but the views from the top were worth it. We ate/inhaled sandwiches whilst overlooking the lagoon, the peaks of Fitz Roy and Torres and listening to the avalanches in the distance. 

I still love picnics whilst getting soaked on a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, or whilst freezing on a beach in Silverdale, but our picnics in Patagonia are going to take some beating.

Santiago Fish Market

One of the best eating experiences in Santiago is at the fish market. It is a huge building of wrought iron that was manufactured in Birmingham in the mid 1800's, and you can see architectural similarities with typical English market halls.

There are numerous stalls selling bass, dorado, merluza and others that we had never heard of. There is a huge array of shellfish too, including the biggest clams I have ever seen, mussels, sea urchins and huge hermit crab type creatures that poke their claws out of their shells.

Chupe de Mariscos 

In addition to gaping at the stalls, you can eat lunch at one of the many restaurants at the centre of the market. These range from stools at a bar where there is no menu and you choose what you'd like by pointing at a fish, to more formal sit-down restaurants with waiters. We ate in a few different restaurants and found them all to serve delicious food at excellent prices. We tried ceviche of bass, which was fresh, spicy and plentiful. Clams coated in Parmesan before baking (a Santiago speciality) were huge and delicious, and not to be eaten too often for the sake of your arteries! Consommé de mariscos was a clear seafood broth with chives and a floating poached egg. Paila de mariscos was a similar broth but this time loaded with mussels, prawns, crab, squid and octopus, and decorated with a huge crab claw. Chupe de mariscos was a stew of seafood and white fish thickened with ground corn and cheese.

The food was always washed down with beer or white wine, with pisco sours for pudding, and was always delicious. Being surrounded by the noise, sights and smells of a bustling market makes for a fantastic atmosphere, and if I had to choose one place to eat in Santiago it would be here.

Ceviche

Ceviche is claimed to be the specialty of various countries, Mexico, Peru and Chile included, but we avoided getting into arguments and got on with eating it instead. We were already big fans and were looking forward to ordering it without it being the most expensive starter on the menu as it is in England. The way ceviche is served differs between Peru and Chile, but the basics are the same. Fish or shellfish is soaked in lime juice and chilli until it is 'cooked' although as there is no heating involved, pickled might be a better description. The surrounding fluid turns milky during the process, and is called leche du tigre (tiger's milk).

In Chile, we were given ceviche in large portions with the leche du tigre still surrounding it, and with a few segments of lime and chilli to add to taste. In Peru, it tended to be in small portions, carefully presented and with the leche du tigre removed. We often saw leche du tigre on its own as an option for a starter, and Peruvian ceviche usually came with large grains of corn and sweet potato alongside it. The difference in the appearance of the two versions was likely to be partly due to where we ordered it (Chile - fish market stalls, Peru - restaurants) as well as actual variations across the border. Wherever we ate it, it was fresh, zingy, delicious and surprisingly filling and if you like fish and shellfish then it's a must. 

Kate

Sandwiches in Peru

It isn't something I would have associated with a South American country before I came,  but the Peruvians make a really good sandwich.  Our first meal in Peru was a sandwich,  at the popular sandwich joint 'La Lucha' in the Miraflores district of Lima. After working out how to order,  the next problem was working out what was in each sandwich.  A common theme of our South American adventure was that despite sharing a  common language (other than Brazil that is) the words for different food changed wherever you were.  For example lomo in Argentina would mean a fillet steak, in Peru it was used to refer to all beef.

The sandwiches generally were served in a basket,  cut in two and we're often accompanied by chips.  They were always big and packed with filling.  'La Lucha' also did a great selection of juices,  from the familiar to Amazonian fruit we don't have an English word for.

Another great sandwich place we ate at was 'Juanitos' in Cusco.  Again the generous sandwiches came in a basket.  Here we tried the local specialty of chicherron, fried pork belly,  in our sandwiches.  It didn't disappoint.

We had 'chicha morada' with our sandwiches at Juanitos, which is a sweet drink made of purple corn,  which tastes much better than it sounds!

So,  whilst Peru definitely had the most varied and impressive cuisine of all of the SA countries we went to, if you go don't forget the lowly sandwich,  or you'll miss out.

Tom

Chicha Morada

Completo

Just a quick one today, the completo.

The completo is basically a hot dog topped with a any number of ingredients, and is extremely popular in Chile. A completo will set you back between 500 and 1000 pesos (about 70p to £1.50) and is ready without about a minute of ordering. Most come with at least sauerkraut, and many come with loads of other ingredients. A personal favourite is the 'italiano' apparently named as it ingredients, tomatoes, mashed avocado and mayonaise resemble the italian flag. I don't quite see it, but it certainly tasted good.

Needless to say, I was the main eater of completos in Chile, mainly using them as snack to keep me going until the next meal. The only picture I have of one isn't particularly good, but does show off our weird lit up table we had in two of our Santiago apartments!


Fittingly, the last thing I ate in South America before departing for Australia was a massive italiano completo!

Tom

Parrilla

Taking about breakfast in Buenos Aires is all well and good, but we all know what people to come to Argentina to eat.

Meat.

Meat in Argentina goes alongside football as a national obsession, and when it's this good you can see why. Throughout Argentina you are hard pressed to walk along a decent sized street without seeing several restaurants offering grilled meats, from small cheap places looking like greasy spoon cafes, to expensive restaurants.

When it comes to beef, Buenos Aires is probably the best place in Argentina (and therefore the world) to eat it. Located in the north of the Argentinian Pampas (the vast flatlands where the nation's cattle are kept,) the beef that flows into Buenos Aires kitchens is fresh and succulent. Elsewhere in Argentina the lamb gives this beef a run for it's money, but in BA beef is king, and there are plenty of restaurants dedicated solely to the cooking to excellent steak, the parrillas.

We went to two parrillas whilst in BA, Don Julio and Gran Parrilla del Plata.

Don Julio

Don Julio is located in well heeled Palermo, and was our first parrilla in BA. The restaurant is decked out in wood, with customer signed wine bottles lining the walls and leather coverings on the tables. As it was out first steak we both opted for the classic - Bife de Chorizo, or sirloin steak.

Bife de Chorizo

Succulent and tender do not come close to describing these massive steaks. Melt in your mouth is a bit of a cliche, but in this case I'm going to have to use it, as I think these steaks may have been what the phrase was invented for. To top it all off, the wine (a Malbec that unfortunately I can't remember the name of) was excellent.

Our second parrilla, on our last night in BA was Gran Parrilla del Plata. Set in lively San Telmo, this parrilla again opted for a very traditional, warm atmosphere. We were determined to try some unusual cuts, and out waiter looked at us funnily and told us we should go for the good cuts (lomo or bife de chorizo, sirloin or fillet). Instead however we opted for entrana and vacio - skirt and flank. Entrana is a tin cut, which is quite tough, but full of flavour.

Entrana

Vacio or flank is an unusual cut with a layer of fat on one side. When grilled the fat melts into the meat, making it a very tender and flavourful cut, and not one I've ever eaten before. We enjoyed them both, washed down with a bottle of Fin Del Mundo Gran Reserva blend.

Vacio

As a meat lover I was very much in my element in Argentina. Kate loved every minute of it, but by the time we left BA for Santiago was getting meat fatigue, and was very thankful of the fish soups and cerviche of Chile!

Tom

Mote con Huesillo

The streets of Santiago are lined with mobile stalls selling the specialty drink, mote con huesillo. A plastic cup is partially filled with dried corn, and then peaches in syrup are ladled on top. The corn soaks up the peach syrup, and becomes soft and moist. You are given a spoon and a (much needed) napkin. If you don't like tinned peaches, this is not for you. It is tooth-achingly sweet, and the corn and huge chunks of peach make it more of a snack than a drink. I have only tried the smallest size (250ml) but you can buy a whole litre! This is only to be recommended if you have a large group to share it amongst, or an excellent dentist. That said, I love them, and they provide an excellent base for pisco sour consumption!

Tacaca

Manaus is a huge working port and provides the base for many trips to the Amazon. In addition to banana chips, which are sold from every stall in town, the specialty is tacaca. You can get it from all over Manaus, bit the best place to try it is Giselle's tacaca stand in the beautiful main square.

A ladle of thin, clear broth is put into a bowl, followed by a blob of gelatinous substance that we think is some kind of manioc flour. Greens are stirred through, and lastly a few handfuls of shell-on prawns are added. You are then presented with a napkin and one chopstick with which to attempt to eat it. We sat on benches among the locals, and imitated their method, which was to drink the soup straight from the bowl, stab the prawns and scoop the greens up on the chopstick.

The gelatinous blob dissolved to give the soup a smooth texture. It tasted of the sea, in the same way that oysters do, and it certainly didn't need extra seasoning. It was more filling than we expected, and while we thought it would just be a starter, we didn't need to eat anything else that evening.

Kate

Veloso bar

Whilst in Sao Paulo we stayed with a couple called Antonio and Ellen. They rent out rooms in the their apartment just of av.  Paulista, the main street in Sao Paulo. One of the great things about staying with people that live in the city is their recommendations.  One of the places they recommended was a bar called Veloso,  near the Santa Ana metro stop.

The bar was on a quiet street,  and we would never have found dead it if it weren't for the directions, but the bar itself was packed. We later found that the barman has been named best in Sao Paulo for several years running, and certainly his caipirinhas were some of the the best we had.

The thing Veloso is best known for though is it coxinha. Coxinha is a population snack though out Brazil,  and is often sold from many of the stalls around Sampa and Rio.  It is chicken, with onions and spices,  covered with potato and deep fried.  They are perfect beer food,  and we're well washed down with several glasses of 'chopp', or draught beer.

Veloso was an excellent bar, from the drinks, the people, to the Brasil shirt signed by Pele on  the wall,  but the coxinhas will be what I really remember it for.

Tom

Breakfast in Buenos Aires

I know that not everyone gets quite as excited by the prospect of breakfast as I do, but when faced with the array of cafes in Buenos Aires, even people who normally skip this glorious meal must surely come round to my way of thinking.

Every street has one or more cafes with tables and chairs spilling out onto the pavement. In morning, people are invariably having the same thing; cafe con leche, freshly squeezed orange juice and 3 medialunas (croissants, but smaller, denser and sweeter than the traditional French pastry).

 Any cafe you choose will serve this in the morning, from tiny, scruffy places with menus on whiteboards, to the grand cafes of the city such as the beautiful Cafe Tortini with it's high ceilings, elegant decor and suitably snooty waiters. We ate this for breakfast every day in Buenos Aires, in a range of cafes. It's delicious, filling and does wonders for malbec induced hangovers!

Sao Paulo Cafes

Sao Paulo is seen by most people as a 'workhorse' in contrast to Rio, but it is also a massive foodie destination. Aside from some of the best restaurants in Brazil (and the world) and a varied nightlife, it has a huge number of cafes, especially in Jardins. They range from tiny rooms with plastic tables and chairs and no menus, to big airy cafes with posh snacks, wifi and an intimidating list of coffee choices.

Two cafes that we visited really stood out. The first was Suplicy. It's big and modern, with minimalistic decor and (welcome) air conditioning. The coffee was strong and delicious and they had lots of cakes and biscuits to chose from. The coffee was available to buy, either ground or as whole beans, and you could also buy t-shirts and mugs. It was recommended to us by the couple we stayed with in Sao Paulo, and we liked it so much we bought them a bag of coffee before we left.

'O melor bolo de chocolate do mundo' translates as 'the world's best chocolate cake' and is the name of a tiny cafe in Jardins. It is part of a chain of cafes opened by a Portuguese chef. The original is in Lisbon, but it did so well that there are now branches in Brazil, New York and Madrid. The cafe serves only coffee, tea, hot chocolate, chocolate cake and, appropriately, port.

The cake itself is a flourless, no-cook dessert, with thin layers of chocolate meringue (think honeycomb texture) sandwiched together with rich chocolate mousse and covered with dark chocolate ganache. It comes in traditional (53% cocoa), dark (73% cocoa) and low-sugar. We went for traditional. The textures were perfect, it wasn't overly sweet and it went beautifully with coffee. I probably need to taste a few more slices of this cake, and others, before I pass judgement on whether it's the best in the world, but it certainly gets top marks for now!

Kate