Frank's Bar - The Speakeasy

After our meal at Tô on Saturday night, we ask the French waiter where we should go next. He says there are lots of bars and clubs nearby on Niceto Vega, and in particular somewhere called Frank's Bar, which we've never heard of. He gives very vague directions but we take little notice and set off walking in the general direction of Niceto Vega.

Ten minutes later, we're lost on a dark street with no streetlamps and we're just about ready to head home when we spot a couple of bouncers outside an unmarked doorway on our left. We walk closer and see the tiny sign for Frank's, so we try to walk in, before the bouncer stops us.

"Password?" says the bouncer.

"Ummm..." I say. "I have no idea." (What kind of bar asks for a password?!)

"Did someone invite you here?" he asks, and I'm already thinking we're about to be turned away. Fifteen years worth of being asked for ID at bars in my hometown has taught me never to be ashamed of being refused entry!

"Um, Tô...?" I mutter. 

"Ah, hotel, sí!" he says, mishearing me, and moves out of the way to let us through. Simple as that! 

We walk into a dark room with what I can only describe as a Doctor Who-style telephone booth in front of us, which is the only way out apart from the way we came in.

We look back at the bouncers as we head towards the telephone box and he utters four numbers. These, it turns out, have to be punched into the telephone inside the booth before the door the other side of the booth opens up, letting us into the bar!

On the other side, we find ourselves in a narrow corridor and on the right-hand side we find a sex store, selling vibrators and all manner of kinky items. After a quick peruse, we carry on down the corridor before reaching a large, velvet-lined bar/nightclub set over two floors - the ground floor and mezzanine level. There's an old-fashioned wooden bar with mirrors, oodles of bottles of alcohol and crystal chandeliers. It's quite a discovery we've made!

Photo from gringoinbuenosaires.com - http://www.gringoinbuenosaires.com/secret-bars-buenos-aires-explore-hidden-underground/

The crowd is very young - quite a few kids that seem to be 18-20, but it seems they have another party to go to because, soon after we arrive, they all depart, leaving us with an older 30-something crowd. We order a few traditional cocktails in jam jars and have a dance before heading home.

Buenos Aires Dining: Osaka

On Friday night, after the football debacle, we decide to treat ourselves to some luxury sushi. I've heard Osaka restaurant come highly recommended and we've booked in advance, which is essential. It's a Peruvian-Japanese sushi and ceviche bar and restaurant located on Soler with Fitz Roy, a few blocks from my place. I've walked past it a ton of times but never been in.

We are greeted at the door by the hostess, who immediately compliments me on my dress, thank you very much (brownie points). She notifies us of the restaurant's policy of only accepting cash, Argentine credit cards or Amex, which is good to know because I'm sure most tourists would be carrying none of the above.

Inside the restaurant, it's dark and moody and very trendy. We order a delicious pisco sour at the cocktail bar and ask to be seated upstairs on the terrace. We get a great seat outside in the small private varanda but before long we realise this is also the smoking area and are joined by several smokers around our table. This calms down after an hour or so though and we're left alone.

I didn't take photos, so this one is from Osaka's website. This is the interior deco of the Puerto Madero branch but the Palermo one is very similar

Osaka has an extensive sushi and ceviche menu with hot dishes and salads to boot. We order a big selection of dishes, including salmon sashimi, 'Carpassion tiraditos' - strips of raw fish with passionfruit and honey and lemon marinade, teriyaki balsamic butter-seared beef fillet, and one of the house ceviches. The food is served beautifully on little white pottery spoons and beautiful plates and it's cooked perfectly. The tastes are mouthwateringly divine and the salmon in particular is some of the best I've ever tasted.

The service lets the place down a little bit as our waiter seems to be new and messes up our order a couple of times, but we have a brilliant night drinking cocktails and gorging ourselves on sushi and hot dishes until our hearts are content. It's so wonderful to be able to sit outside on a warm night and enjoy a stunningly good meal. Osaka is definitely my new favourite.

Buenos Aires Dining: El Obrero

The Irishman arrives on Friday morning - his 40th birthday - and, typically, for the first day in ages, it pours with rain. He wants to go clothes shopping in Palermo Soho because he came to Buenos Aires four years ago and remembers it as being cheap as chips. I have already assured him about massive inflation and that it's more expensive to buy clothes in Buenos Aires now than it is in London, but he doesn't believe it until he returns to the same stores he went to a few years ago and sees the price tags for himself.

We wander around in the rain for hours and get soaked but we find him a few cool shops, make a few extortionate purchases and finally head to El Obrero for a birthday dinner. El Obrero is one of the more famous restaurants and adorns the pages of every guidebook I've seen, but we've had it recommended to us by various people and we can't wait to try it. We've made a 9pm booking as it books up fast.

We get a taxi to La Boca, which is essential since the area isn't safe to walk around at night. I am way too dressed up for this place in a long, silky, colourful dress but it's a special occasion. El Obrero is packed to the seams, half with tourists and half with the locals. The walls are covered in football regalia, menus and posters and it has a cosy feel.

The photo is from the restaurant's website as I didn't take many of my own

We order celebratory champagne, followed by a bottle of delicious red, and a couple of steaks, medium. We have several enormous side orders and proceed to stuff our faces. The service is simple but the food is absolutely delicious - certainly a perfect 'Welcome to Argentina' meal for the Irishman, and extremely affordable. 50 British pounds for two steaks, one portion of mashed potato, one portion of chips, a salad, two glasses of champagne champagnes, water, bread and a bottle of wine.

First Taste of Buenos Aires Nightlife

Last night it was time for my first real taste of Buenos Aires nightlife. 

It was a school night, of course, so we couldn't go too crazy, but I arranged to meet my new British BFF, Steel Drama Queen, across the traintracks in Palermo Soho. Well, not quite Palermo Soho actually - just south of the tracks in what felt like a very dodgy area along Godoy Cruz street. We met on the corner of Godoy Cruz and Paraguay, outside a restaurant/cocktail bar called Restaurant Godoy.

It turned out, however, that the restaurant didn't open for another hour or so, so we wandered around the neighbourhood (which turned out to be very dark and dodgy indeed, though we survived). We ended up at a little café with fresh bread and cheeses. Steel Drama Queen, it turns out, likes to order champagne by the glass, so we had one of those each and then walked back to Restaurant Godoy.

The place was pretty chic. Outside was a wooden varanda with trendy lights and places to sit, and inside was a long bar with oodles of bottles of liquor, and a large seating area with round booths and high tables. Although the place was empty at 9:30pm, we were told it was booked out and we could only be seated at the bar, so we did as we were told and took our place on some bar stools.

Within the next hour, the place filled up with a bizarre mix of people my parents' age, dressed in people my age's clothing. We felt a bit out of place, to be honest.

The food was pretty standard and the service a little below standard but we kept ourselves amused by people-watching the clientele. The party atmosphere was just starting to kick in at about midnight and, had it not been a school night, I'm sure we'd have stayed for a dance, but we ordered a taxi and went on our way. 

Steel Drama Queen has a crazy, and I mean crazy Argentine boyfriend.  She tells me all Argentine men are like this. He calls her every half hour, asking where she is. He is not happy that she has come out with me but he "let her come" anyway. He doesn't let her even speak to other guys. He is insanely jealous. They have raging rows every day. But he is hot. So she stays with him.

Ah, thank god I have the Irishman...

In other news, my boiler has broken. I stupidly turned it off because of a problem with my tap, and now it won't switch back on again for love nor money, so I can't have a hot shower. I am loathe to stick my hand into a naked flame with a giant match, like I have to do with the oven, so I think I'll wait until my neighbour can come around.