Rabelais

[Amantelondres]

For those who like French food, this is a great restaurant. It's on Libertad between Juncal and Alvear, 20 metres from Juncal. Nice decor in a residential area 5 minutes from Recoleta. The owner is French, bit of a miserable bugger, but service and food and wine are very good. Count on around 150 pesos for two inc wine.

[StrayLight]

Dan Perlman, who writes a food blog here, said of Rabelais that when he (Dan) was in cooking school, they were told that "there were three true tests of a French chef's skill - if someone could make a basic vinaigrette, a coq au vin, and a tarte tatin - if they can prepare those well, they can cook anything." He then went on to say that Rabelais served all three very well.

I've walked by there a million times and been meaning to stop in for lunch. Maybe your post will induce me to walk in the door next time I'm in the neighborhood.

[Amantelondres]

Great website. For those interested in exploring the BA restaurant and food scene this is a great website.

www.saltshaker.net

[StrayLight]

I have mixed feelings about this place. One the one hand, the meal and experience were better than most that I've had in Buenos Aires. On the other hand, that's really not saying much, and there were some notable flaws in the food.

I went one day towards the end of lunch. My first impression was that it reminded me of a country inn I had eaten in once in Normandy. The owner was friendly...the decor was nice...the music was sort of a "Best of the Classical Movements" tape (something from Pachelbel's Canon...something from Strauss's "Thus Spake Zarathustra"...something from Beethoven's 9th...that sort of thing)

I ordered some greens with warm camembert, coq au vin, and a cabernet sauvignon, followed by a tarte tatin for dessert with coffe, and finishing with a courvoisier.

The green salad with camembert was OK. Dan Perlman's blog had led me to believe I was going to get a good vinaigrette dressing with it, but it came undressed and I had to apply my own balsamic and olive oil. Worse, of the three hunks of "warm" camembert, two were, in fact, warm, but one was cold inside. And I mean, still chilled.

The coq au vin was more of a disappointment. The wine sauce was way too thin...they did not use pearl or pickling onions as they should have...and the mushrooms were clearly an afterthought. Plus, they served it with a side of some rather tepid steamed vegetables that did not at all go with the main course. All in all, I would say that I make a better coq au vin at home than they do there.

The good news is that the wine was nice. I forget the bodega, but it was a 2004 cabernet that opened right up within a few minutes of the bottle being opened. And they didn't skimp when they poured out a glass full.

The tarte tatin could have been better. In particular, I thought it could have had more caramelization, but aside from that, it was decent enough.

So on one level, I was disappointed in the food.

But I am so fucking sick of parillas and such that I actually really enjoyed the couple of hours I spent there. The service was excellent, and as I said, the atmosphere was nice. And regardless of the flaws in the food, it was still much better than another meal of bife de lomo and papas fritas.

I suppose I'll go back at some point to try some more things on the menu, and see if maybe I was just there on an off day. There are, however, some other restaurants to try before I do.

[Jim Mac]

I've been there 2 or 3 times for dinner over the past couple of years and I find it excellent. Good food, good service, good value. Only concern was limited wine choice when I was last there in February.

[StrayLight]

I've been there 2 or 3 times for dinner over the past couple of years and I find it excellent. Good food, good service, good value. Only concern was limited wine choice when I was last there in February.I will certainly go at least once more before drawing any final conclusions. But as I said, I was a tad disappointed on the first go around.

[StrayLight]

I said I'd go back before drawing any conclusions, and I'm glad I did. I took a porteña friend to lunch there the other day, and it was pretty much top-notch all around.

My friend had the quiche lorraine for a first course, and the leg of lamb for her main course. I had the smoked salmon and then rabbit moutard. And we both had a glass of Merlot.

Unfortunately, I wasn't paying too much attention when my friend ordered, and she ordered her lamb well done...and then complained it wasn't all that good. I tried to soften the blow by tasting it and telling her I thought it was great, but the fact is she screwed the pooch on that one and there was no getting around it. Ah well...there's only so much you can do with these people when it comes to food. LOL!

Aside from that, all the food was superb. Significantly better than on my earlier visit. We shared an orange and Cointreau parfait for dessert, and that was very good, too.

The service was about the best I've seen in this city. The waiter is Italian, and you can tell within the first few minutes of watching him that he's a total professional who knows exactly what's supposed to happen in a dining room.

At $196 pesos sin propina, it was a little more than I would spend on an everyday lunch. But in today's environment around here (and considering this was in the heart of Recoleta), I suppose it wasn't too out of line.

All in all it was a good afternoon, and I'll be going back again at some point.

[BA Luvr]

I liked this place too. Had the rabbit and the duck a la orange; I preferred the rabbit but the meal and service was generally excellent. The vol-au-vent with escabeche meat and gazpacho were very good together. My friend and I shared everything. The wine was her choice too - Clos de los 7. (Blend of Malbec, Merlot, CabernetSauvignon & Shiraz) but it pushed the bill to 25.

The waiter was very helpful and recorked the unfinished bottle for us.

[Kleinberg]

As I wanted to impress my new love. I drove her there to impress her and hoping that she will knew a little more about my horrfull and adorable country.

How dissapointed was I. Same music that was described (Pachelbel, European anthem of ludwig van. Eating did not have a lot a french look and taste, happily if sex is 0.001 in France restaurant are quiet better. Spagetti with langostinas. As you notice there is a "s" at langostinas, as you know the letter "s" is the more common way to mark plural in latin languages. So there was 2 shrimps! With spaghetti directly from the csserole, and a little tomato puree)

My true love take a mixed salad, I am quite sure this kind of salad is still allowed in universitary restaurants in France: 1/4 beetroot 1/4 salad 1/4 carrots and I don't remember perhaps 1/4 corn or cuncumber without any dressing.

Dessert almandrado with. Wallnuts (why not. As I am used to say "do it the french way." (excuse-me, I am sometimes proud to be french, not allways. Especially when we speak about our mongering hobby:(but "il ne faudrait pas éxagèrer" (we should not do it with exageration)

The only very good surprise was the white argi wine. "Un délice".

The funier was the boss, he surely noticied that I was not argentinian as my conversation with my love was realy poor. He insisted to speak to me in english, with a terrribbble frrrench accent. Lol) and I answered him in english (of courrrse with frrrench accent) but allways saying the small words (thanks, please. In french) but he never wanted to notice that I am really french. It was really amazing. Unfortunately I don't see him when we left because I would have a talk with him.