There is always some incredible build up when you’re trying a new spot of whatever your soul food is in a new country… in my case I have such a mix that at this point I’m practically unflappable. You can replace the cheese, add another type of chili and if it’s good I’ll still enjoy it. This is not the case for my husband and Argentinian Asado, his normally loose nature starts pinpointing the tiniest details regarding the ambiance, the asador and whether or not they have 5 cows cooking at all times. There’s no negotiation when it comes to this so every time we try a new place I know that we’re sorta passing a test…
Every time we were driving around the airport we would drive through this huge place called Fonda Argentina that for some reason he was attracted to, possibly because for him, grilled steak is not a fancy affair but a hearty one. His idea of happiness is literally having HUGE pieces of meat slow cooking on the grill for hours, with a rich and fatty flavour, quite different to my idea of a nice New York steak and even farther away from a fancy Wagyu dinner.
I am unfamiliar with the area so I started looking for options closer to home, and to my surprise this place has a lot of locations one literally 15mins away from home at the Colonia Nápoles. We had to give it a try, and after trying a lot of Fancy Schmanzy steak houses that claim to have Argentinian asado (I’m not naming and shaming but stay away from Masaryk and Lomas and any place that has an Argentinian city name…) this place came as closest as we have found. (We will obviously continue looking tho).
Let’s start with the ambiance, don’t expect elegance but more of a chic comfort from an Argentinian steakhouse, red bricks, a simple setup and smashing front and centre an Asador. A cackling fire and lots of meat pieces on it is what you’re looking for. (I have tried reasoning that no restaurant in the world will just throw unordered meat and hope for the best but there’s no logic in matters of the heart…) . Obvs, there were not 50kgs of meat on the asador but they did have strategically placed the Asador at the entrance so you could see the meat cooking and they also had an Asado al Asador (google it, it's literally how the cook an entire cow) the restaurant had no frills, it was nice and comfortable but not overly elegant. Things were looking good.
As usual, we already knew what was coming, on my end, a meat empanada that was incredibly satisfying, the dough was crispy and the meat was savoury, dripping a bit of fat and with some hard boiled egg that added that extra layer of texture. The morcilla, that Alan had been obsessing about was not as expected… it was not bad but it had more of the Mexican flavour than the Argentinian that tends to be more bloody. We also noticed they do have an Argentinian delicacy that is hard to find abroad: Mollejas (Some kind of gland… don’t ask) but since I don’t eat that we didn’t try.
Entrée was easy for me, I am obsessed with Bifes de Chorizo which is close to Rib Eye and Fonda offers a portion to share that was absolutely perfect for us. Baked potato as a side and some mixed salad was enough to let the bife be the star of the show. I looove Argentinian salad, lettuce, tomato and onion, drizzled with cheap vinegar it’s a great way to better absorb the fat from the meat. Another fabulous surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed: the Bife normally has a lot of fat and they offered to cut it from our meat, and put it back to the grill to make a beautiful piece of chicharron that was delish (and came in a swan shape) that we ate with handmade tortillas. There needed to be a Mexican twist of course.
Meat normally is best with wine but the restaurant had a great promotion of 2x1 cocktails. A gin lover like myself, I had two very refreshing g&t's with grapefruit, orange and rosemary. Alan tried two different cocktails the first a bit too sweet but the second with passion fruit & mezcal was refreshing and felt oddly healthy. With the second cocktail and the huge piece of steak we again had no space for dessert… we left happy and on my end a bit relieved, yes, this might not have been a full Argentinian Asado but it’s the closest we have found yet!
Authenticity: 85%
Ambience: After work crowd because of the cocktails, there were lots of dates tho!
Service: 75% (the service was erratic but courteous)
Taste: Good!
Day to go: Thursdays-Sundays
Take me there!: https://www.fondaargentina.com/
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