How can the food here be so bad ?

[Uncle Wong]

I never ordered Milanesa here because a couple of times that I did, it was always dry. I never liked empanadas so much until probably this past year that I found one or two places that make them better than what I previously had but each empanada or canastita costs around 2000-3000 pesos and that is rather expensive. Where I come from we eat extreme flavors (think ceviche with loads of very spicy chilis) so pretty much everything here is bland for me That's why I cook almost every day. I say almost because once in a while I get tired of cooking and have to eat out. This photo was dinner last night 😋

I think Milanesas are hit and miss. I went to a few places where it was very very dry and not too much flavor. Then I had it at a few higher end restaurants and it was night and day. Empanadas are I think Argentina's best dish but those too you can go to some places and they aren't good or they use really cheap ingredients.

Food here is very bland as you mentioned @Jakoval. You must be a good chef by now if you cook every day. That would be affordable too. Dining out can get very expensive in BA and prices are higher now than when I was there. That food looks good. Did you ever think about opening up your own place? The Asian places in BA I didn't like.

 

[MickMolloy]

The food here is so awful I'm glad to see my viewpoint vindicated

 

[Digital Nomad]

The food here is so awful I'm glad to see my viewpoint vindicated

I don't know if I would go so far to say it's awful. But I think many locals perception of it being great is wrong. It is funny because my girlfriend thinks the pizza here is so great and I don't think so. Can come down to different tastes but I think besides a few things the food can be bland here. With so many Italian immigrants the pastas area good.

Even though there is a reputation of fabulous steaks here and there are in many places, many places are mediocre. I went to Brazil and actually think they have tastier cuts. Picanha was excellent! I wish they used more spices and seasoning here. Even salads here are very blah. They don't use many dressing here besides oil and vinegar or balsamic.

Many countries have so many flavors. I'm surprised there isn't more authentic Spanish food here. Go anywhere in Spain and you have lots of rich flavors but I don't find that here. Go anywhere in Asia and lots of flavors.

It's not the worst food in the world but I understand about the complaints. I don't think it would be as bad if locals didn't always say their food is so great in Argentina.

 

[Vince]

I never ordered Milanesa here because a couple of times that I did, it was always dry. I never liked empanadas so much until probably this past year that I found one or two places that make them better than what I previously had but each empanada or canastita costs around 2000-3000 pesos and that is rather expensive. Where I come from we eat extreme flavors (think ceviche with loads of very spicy chilis) so pretty much everything here is bland for me That's why I cook almost every day. I say almost because once in a while I get tired of cooking and have to eat out. This photo was dinner last night 😋

That looks incredible @Jakoval!

The food here is so awful I'm glad to see my viewpoint vindicated

I don't think the food is awful here but it depends where you are going. Where do you typically go to eat @MickMolloy? Are you cooking at home or dining out? There are a lot of good restaurants here so you can't be hitting all bad places. But the decent ones are not the cheapest. To give me an idea, what is your favorite meals here? What are your favorite restaurants?

 

[Betsy Ross]

I never ordered Milanesa here because a couple of times that I did, it was always dry. I never liked empanadas so much until probably this past year that I found one or two places that make them better than what I previously had but each empanada or canastita costs around 2000-3000 pesos and that is rather expensive. Where I come from we eat extreme flavors (think ceviche with loads of very spicy chilis) so pretty much everything here is bland for me That's why I cook almost every day. I say almost because once in a while I get tired of cooking and have to eat out. This photo was dinner last night 😋

This is a common thing if you eat something bad at one place and then just assume it's bad in many places. Same thing happened to my friends when they came down here. I gave them a list of places that are good but they didn't make reservations and then it was full so they went somewhere else and had a bad meal. One ordered Milanesa at Casa de Milenesa and they assumed it would be good but it was all dried and burned so they thought it was like that everywhere.

Generally my friends that come here rave about the food but they are going out to nicer places

That looks incredible @Jakoval!

I don't think the food is awful here but it depends where you are going. Where do you typically go to eat @MickMolloy? Are you cooking at home or dining out? There are a lot of good restaurants here so you can't be hitting all bad places. But the decent ones are not the cheapest. To give me an idea, what is your favorite meals here? What are your favorite restaurants?

I was wondering the same thing. It would help if you mentioned where you find good meals. I will agree lots of meh places but there are enough great places where you won't get any complaints. If you can't find a great meal in BA you're doing something wrong.

 

[MickMolloy]

I need help my mental health is in the gutter. Just trying to lend some support to others

 

[MickMolloy]

I need help my mental health is in the gutter. Just trying to lend some support to others

Sorry mi don't want to seem like I'm sorry for myself. There are billions of people inn. B a d positions

 

[Wally]

I need help my mental health is in the gutter. Just trying to lend some support to others

You should talk to someone in Buenos Aires. There are lots of good therapists here. It is affordable too. For about the price of a meal in a restaurant you can see a therapist. Recommend if your mental health is in the gutter.

 

[MickMolloy]

You should talk to someone in Buenos Aires. There are lots of good therapists here. It is affordable too. For about the price of a meal in a restaurant you can see a therapist. Recommend if your mental health is in the gutterT

Thankyou for always trying to help I recognise your username as a good person

 

[Blockchain]

You should talk to someone in Buenos Aires. There are lots of good therapists here. It is affordable too. For about the price of a meal in a restaurant you can see a therapist. Recommend if your mental health is in the gutter.

I was in BA for a month. Met many locals and they all had one thing in common and that is they had therapists. I never saw anything like that. It is very normal there @MickMolloy. I don't know the cost but some of the people that I met did not make much money so I don't think it can be expensive. Buenos Aires has more therapists than anywhere in the world.

 

[Wally]

Thankyou for always trying to help I recognise your username as a good person

De nada. I think I remember a post where you mentioned a drinking issue? Or maybe I am confusing that with someone else. My brother was an alcoholic for over a decade. It wasn't until he got some help that he kicked the wagon. It is never too late to get help.

 

[James Bond]

I love Argentina but how? Something as simple as a sandwhich de milenesa will be so dry and awful every bite is a choking hazard. Buy a simple "Milenesa con pure" and its so thin it almost doesn't exist. And this restaurant is rated 4.5 stars in google maps so Argentines actually think this is good like they all have Stockholm syndrome.

Argentina has the worst food on planet Earth, and I love this country

I'm from the UK and we aren't known for having the best food but at least in London you can find all kinds of foods since it's a melting pot. In BA they have many types of food but much of it is bland. People don't like many spices. Even the Asian places the food isn't as flavorful as other parts of the world. To me, nothing beats Asia for very flavorful food that you can taste the spices.

I don't think BA has the worst food in the world but you have to go around and look for good food. Place for fruits, place for vegetables, for beef, for chicken, etc. The grocery stores aren't high end and import restrictions and taxes make things tough sometimes for finding good brands. And the costs add up so many stores don't bring them in.

People don't eat too healthy either. People complain about the States and people are unhealthy there but there is a lot of processed food in Argentina too. People love sugary unhealthy food. Argentines like to pride themselves on having great food but more times than not it is not the norm. Even finding high quality milk and cheeses can be a chore. And it can sell it quickly. This isn't the case in many parts of the world.

Here in Spain and amazing tasty and delicious food. BA has a lot of great things about it and far from the worst place but it can be work to consistently get great food. It is one of the things I miss the least about BA. Not to mention not being able to get decent seafood which is lacking there.

 

[Surfer]

Out of the countries that I visited in South America I would rank Argentina in the middle. I think Colombia is very meh. Not too much variety there and they also don't like spicy food there. Best to me is Lima with very flavorful food. Mexico is also very good. When I was in Argentina I thought the steak was overrated. You hear so many great things about the steak and like @Blockchain mentioned, they like to overcook steaks there.

I ordered medium rare too as I like it juicy and they overcooked it. I mentioned it and the cook was angry at me. I had good meals but mostly because friends told me where to go. Lots of mediocre meals too.

 

[Vero]

I'm from the UK and we aren't known for having the best food but at least in London you can find all kinds of foods since it's a melting pot. In BA they have many types of food but much of it is bland. People don't like many spices. Even the Asian places the food isn't as flavorful as other parts of the world. To me, nothing beats Asia for very flavorful food that you can taste the spices.

I don't think BA has the worst food in the world but you have to go around and look for good food. Place for fruits, place for vegetables, for beef, for chicken, etc. The grocery stores aren't high end and import restrictions and taxes make things tough sometimes for finding good brands. And the costs add up so many stores don't bring them in.

People don't eat too healthy either. People complain about the States and people are unhealthy there but there is a lot of processed food in Argentina too. People love sugary unhealthy food. Argentines like to pride themselves on having great food but more times than not it is not the norm. Even finding high quality milk and cheeses can be a chore. And it can sell it quickly. This isn't the case in many parts of the world.

Here in Spain and amazing tasty and delicious food. BA has a lot of great things about it and far from the worst place but it can be work to consistently get great food. It is one of the things I miss the least about BA. Not to mention not being able to get decent seafood which is lacking there.

It makes me very sad as a local to read things like this. I will admit our supermarkets can't compare to many countries but I hope that changes. You can still find quality food here but it takes some hunting around.

 

[MickMolloy]

Hey guys just letting you know im all good and don't want to cause alarm

 

[Larry]

The food here is so awful I'm glad to see my viewpoint vindicated

There are some good places but overall the grocery stores here are rubbish. Cross the border into Paraguay and it is night and day. Over the years the quality in beef keeps going downhill too. Go to most verdulerias and quality is very poor. Even the milk and eggs here are a disgrace compared to Europe. You can find quality but it takes a bit of work to find.

 

[Piranha]

There are some good places but overall the grocery stores here are rubbish. Cross the border into Paraguay and it is night and day. Over the years the quality in beef keeps going downhill too. Go to most verdulerias and quality is very poor. Even the milk and eggs here are a disgrace compared to Europe. You can find quality but it takes a bit of work to find.

Agree you have to almost start relationships with each place. The butcher, fruit and vegetable stores, and so on. I miss going to Spain as there is good cheap food everywhere. BA is not the case and more difficult. I think the best foods here are the simple foods like empanadas, choripan, migas, etc.

Speaking of which, I just saw this article on the best miga sandwiches in BA. Not the healthiest but delicious.

The best miga sandwiches in Buenos Aires

What’s the best miga sandwich in Buenos Aires? We hope you find out after reading our selection of top picks.

www.timeout.com

 

[David]

People say the food is terrible in the UK too. I think they exaggerate about that. My biggest complaint here is the fruits and vegetables generally are not high quality.

 

[Betsy Ross]

Food is much much better than when I moved here 15 years ago. The number of restaurants and types of food has increased drastically. Everyone makes fair points. With the poor economy, I do believe that quality in ingredients has been suffering. Not the worst in the world but certainly not the best. Even beef here has suffered in quality over the past few years.

 

[Michel Lei]

Despite all the opinions about the poor quality of the food here, National Geographic rated it as one of the world's top culinary destinations this year.

https://www.cronista.com/clase/break/argentina-fue-elegido-como-el-pais-con-la-mejor-gastronomia-de-sudamerica-en-que-puesto-quedo-en-el-ranking-mundial/