Buen Ayre – Broadway Market

The logo is cute, the place is cute, and the meat mind blowing. Buen Ayre is a proper Argentine Grill, hidden at trendy Broadway Market. It would be hard to imagine chef John Patrick Rattagan preparing perfect parrilladas with a name like that. But this child of an Irish mother and an Irish-Argentine father was indeed born in Buenos Ayres, Argentina, and ever since he was a young toddler, the grill was already his thing (or so it says at their website).

The empanadas (Argentine pasties) kicked off the dinner, followed by a bife de chorizo (14oz grilled prime Argentine Sirloin) for me and a bife de lomo (10oz grilled Argentine Fillet) for my girl (we were celebrating 3 years together by the way). For dessert, a lovely panqueque de dulce de leche con helado (Milk toffee pancakes with ice cream). The wine selection (only Argentinians allowed) is quite interesting, and we had a very good Gestos 2007 – F. Flichman, from Mendoza. Obviously, a Malbec.

The prices don’t suite an ordinary meal, but the meat is grand (from flavour to size) and the atmosphere that makes you forget you’re in the middle of the trendiest area of London. Let the Tango in the background resume and, please, another round of Malbec.

Picture taken from Buen Ayres website © 2006/7 O.Geibel