On my next trip to Argentina, I will definitely go back to Siga La Vaca, an excellent, inexpensive all-you-can-eat restaurant with several locations in central Buenos Aires and the suburbs (see map). For US$20 per person you can indulge in appetizers, excellent beef, chicken, and/or pork, salad bar fare, sides and dessert. Your first drink (wine, beer or soft drink) is also included. Stop by for lunch on a weekday, and you pay less than US$15. Incredible!
I visited their location in Pilar, a suburb of Buenos Aires. The restaurant was spacious, warmly lit and had a fun, informal ambience. It’s family-friendly and can get a bit noisy. The food was great – fresh, high quality meat grilled to your taste. My favorite part of the meal was going up to the counter for seconds. The asadores (grill cooks) display the meat, fresh off the grill, and you just point to what you like. You’ll see familiar food like steak, beef kebabs, chorizo (sausage) and chicken breast, along with some cuts and parts that may be new to you such as morcilla (black pudding), mollejas (sweet breads) and chinchulines (small intestine). I really recommend that you try anything new. “Just take a small bite,” as your mom used to insist. If you don’t like it, you didn’t waste your money and you can move on to something else you might like. When else are you going to get such a great opportunity to discover new foods? I’ll bet that you become a fan of at least one of these adventurous foods andthat you find yourself back at that counter.
The other nice thing about SLV is that you’ll dine among regular Argentinean families. This may be the closest you get to a traditional family asado – the food, the laughter, the easy-going mood, the amped-up protein levels. This is less true of the Puerto Madero location where half the clients are tourists, but on the other hand, this particular restaurant is open continuously from noon until 2am, accommodating both American and Argentinean dining schedules. The restaurants are popular, and although they can take in over 400 diners in some locations, there may be a wait during peak times.
SLV locations in Central Buenos Aires. They also have a take out place in Belgrano and restaurants in Pilar and San Isidro
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When you think of all-you-can-eat, the term “wine choices” doesn’t immediately leap to mind. Unless you are in Argentina!
Born in Argentina, Paula Crerar moved to the United States as a child. She continued to visit Argentinean relatives every year in Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Córdoba and Salta. With the seasons reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, most of her stints in Argentina were spent in Patagonia skiing, and soon her shelf space was filled with ski racing trophies.
She has also lived and traveled extensively in the Caribbean and Latin American countries. Paula is currently a marketing executive in the technology industry and lives in Boston.
