Restó - Montevideo 938 (near Paraguay)

[StrayLight]

This is a gem of a place, and no matter how you might classify it, it is definitely best of class (at least in BA). Wikitravel calls it "maybe the best restaurant in Buenos Aires."

I found it when I was in Vatel one day for lunch and lamenting with the manager, Alain Auneveux, the lack of good French food in Buenos Aires. He said that in his opinion the best table in town was at this little place around the corner, and he walked me over to take a look.

The place is located on the ground floor of the Sociedad Central de Arquitectos. You will not see it from the street; you need to know it's there, and go into the building's atrium to spot it. It's not big; only about 8 tables.

The menu I saw was very small, but totally excellent. There are about 5 first courses (pork terrine and a squash soup are the only two I remember) and I think 4 main courses: stuffed grilled quail, a beef tenderloin, a white salmon, and an unusual lamb dish (the description of which escapes me)

I had the pork terrine, which was very good, and the stuffed quail, which was one of the top four or five dishes I've had in Buenos Aires. A nice pinot noir pulled it all together. I didn't have dessert, because with coffee came a little tumbler of pure delicious chocolate. It was a seriously good meal.

Nice art on the wall and a tall, slender, wholesomely attractive waitress topped it all off.

Three things you need to know before you head down there:

1. It's very popular, and you'll need reservations (tel 4816-6711)

2. They don't take credit cards.

3. They're only open for lunch M - F, and dinner on Thursday and Friday.

Enjoy.

[BadMan]

After hearing this review I decided to give this place a try. The words " maybe the best restaurant in Buenos Aires " really got my attention. I checked out the local guia oleo and it had very good reviews. If I recall it got 26/30 in food the same in service and only about a 20/30 in ambiance. Well I called and made a reservation. They told me the kitchen closes at 11:30 at night so I wouldn't get there later than 10:30, which is the time we arrived. There were three of us. There is parking about half a block away and the honest truth is I walked right by it the first time. You would never know there was a restaurant there. I only found it looking at the street address building by building.

We arrived and were quickly greeted by the female host. And we were given an option of two tables. We sat down and they quickly brought us bread and a fish appetizer and a couple glasses of champagne. We were then told that the way their menu works is they have 4 menus including entree, a main course and a dessert. As stated below, they offer a tenderloin menu that costs about 50 pesos, then a quail menu for like 60, a fish menu for 70 and a roast duck magret for 80, but they didn't have the duck last night, they had the lamb. I chose the Lamb with a chicken terrine and a jasmine ice cream with fresh candied strawberries, my first guest had the tenderloin and the chocolate souffle and he skipped the entree, my other guest had the langostino salad with the stuffed quail. To drink we had water and orange juice that is made from blood oranges.

On to the food, everything was excellent. I must be honest, I rarely have lamb and I can sometimes forget just how fatty it really is, well the lamb was tender and the gamey flavor was well controlled, not at all overpowering. Though I ended up trimming a good amount of fat off, I know it is there to be eaten but I just wasn't digging it. The chicken terrine was delicious and the light mustard sauce, stewed and pickled plum tomatoes and chickpeas it came with really tied it all together quite nicely. The jasmine ice cream lasted about two seconds on my plate, I was actually a little embarrassed by the speed with which I ate it:)

My first guest who had the tenderloin said it was good, nice mild flavor and nicely cooked, though he said for his taste he wanted it maybe with a little more umf, maybe a nice glaze or something, nevertheless he said it was very good. His chocolate souffle was delicious and came with ice cream, I forget which flavor, (PS, if you will order the souffle, order it in advance, it takes 25 minutes to cook) it also had some coconut shavings. And the blood orange juice was a nice surprise.

The quail that my second guest had was delicious, I just had to try it, the stuffing was supurb, though I would have wanted two of them, one is just two small:D. She told me the Langostino salad was the star of the meal. It really looked great, it came with these tiny little baby carrots and a wonderful lemon vinaigrette. She also had a jasmine and fresh strawberry dessert.

The service was excellent. The waitstaff was very intuitive, so very french in that sense. The place is very small 8-9 tables at the most, and the average age of the guests was about 40, most being in their mid to late 50's. The place is small and quaint but the food and service could easily keep people coming back for more.

I also forgot, you don't have to have the menu as is, you can pick and choose from their menus. Though it is a very small menu overall. In total the cost came out to 180 pesos, or just under $60 US, which for fine French cuisine is a steal. I rarely eat french food, but the last time I had french food in california the bill came out to almost $400 US for 3 people and the food is pretty much just as good.

I would be hard pressed to call it the best in BA, I personally really like Osaka (although it has become rediculously difficult to secure reservations without calling a day in advance or early on in the morning, which I never do) and Sinclair's and have started frequenting Moche quite alot. But if it isn't the best in BA, it is certainly up there with the restaurants that should really be must tries while in town and at those prices you can brag to your friends how you had a 300 dollar dinner for 50 bucks. PS, the tall slender waitress IS very easy on the eyes and the hostess speaks perfect english.

Definitely Enjoy,

Bad