Exploring Palermo Soho

Thank God today is a bank holiday. I can barely walk, for all the post-marathon stiffness, so getting to work might be a bit problematic. 

After a long and well-deserved lie-in, I decide a walk around the area to ease a bit of that lactic acid would be a good idea, while getting to know my neighbourhood, so I set off for a wander.

I head towards Palermo Soho, which is on the other side of the train tracks. It turns out the area sometimes known as Palermo Viejo is divided into two zones - Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. Palermo Soho is the bit south (hence Soho) of the tracks, and Hollywood is north of the tracks, where I live. Hollywood has a huge concentration of incredible restaurants and lots of tiny supermarkets, while Soho is home to all the trendy, expensive clothes shops, cute little cafés and chic bars and nightclubs. 

A few years ago, when I first visited Buenos Aires, I found a great little roundabout surrounded by market stalls, restaurants and bars, but I don't remember exactly where it is or what it's called, so I set off walking, map in hand. It turns out you can cut across the train tracks on Honduras, which is just a couple of blocks from my flat - meaning I could have saved myself a bit of a walk when I was lost in the rain the other day. Doh!

It takes me about fifteen minutes walking along Honduras before I hit Plaza Serrano (also known as Plaza Cortázar) - the roundabout with all the cool restaurants and bars. The stalls are all still there and I spend the afternoon perusing and doing a little shopping. This place is a shopping paradise. The only bad thing is it is so expensive compared with four years ago when I first came. Brazil isn't the only place that's been hit with inflation!

I go for lunch at a place called Maleva, where I went with my friend Michelle in early 2008, almost four years ago. I seem to recall we popped in on the off chance and ended up paying £5 each for an amazing three-course meal complete with wine. So when I walk in today, I'm expecting similar. I'm dying for my first steak after four days in Argentina and I order the Ojo de Bife Maleva - a rib eye steak in barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce is by no means my favourite way to enjoy steak, but after wandering past better-looking restaurants and feeling reluctant to sit in a posh place all by myself, I settle on Maleva, where I think I'll feel more comfortable.

Sadly, the Maleva experience just doesn't compare with what I had in 2008. The steak is average and is smothered in thick, gloopy, sickly barbecue sauce. And it sets me back much more than it would've done four years ago. I walk out feeling greasy, over-full, yet still unsatisfied. I won't be going back there.

I head home via the supermarket and settle down to rest my legs for the rest of the day. Bank holidays rock!