Posh Vegan

In which I check out one of the city's more expensive, and creative, vegetarian spots.

A friend of mine is headed this way in a couple of months and was concerned that his vegetarian husband was going to be stuck with eating vegetable pastas, plain pizzas, and salads in a meat-centric capital like Buenos Aires.

Now, when I moved here twenty years ago, that might have been a real concern. There were very few dedicated vegetarian restaurants. In fact, I was a regular contributor to a local expats online forum, run by a vegetarian woman who had lived here in the late 80s, and when I posted about having found a decent vegetarian restaurant, she accused me of lying, claiming there were no vegetarian restaurants, good or bad, in Buenos Aires, and when I posted pictures, she threw me off the forum and banned me “for life”. Coincidentally, her name was Karen.

But that’s changed over the last two decades and there are numerous vegetarian and vegan spots to eat, as well as many offerings at your typical neighborhood eatery. If the online forum still existed, Karen probably still wouldn’t rescind the ban. In her mind, it’s still the Buenos Aires of mere moments past the military dictatorship.

Among my recommendations:

Martí, Recoleta - Located in what amounts to a greenhouse attached to a boutique hotel. Vegetarian, with vegan options. Creative food from one of the city’s most well-known chefs. Lunch and dinner, 7-days a week.

Mudra, Palermo - Strangely located on the second floor of a furniture store, a pastel room with plenty of outdoor space. From international raw-food chef Matthew Kenney, beautifully presented vegan food with a generally Asian flair. Lunch and dinner, 7-days a week.

Chui, Villa Crespo - An outdoor garden, with an almost picnic, cookout sort of feel. Almost everything on the menu comes out of their massive wood-fired ovens. Vegetarian and vegan offerings. Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday, Dinner only on Monday.

Donnet, Chacarita - Casual, neighborhood hangout sort of vibe. Mushroom-centric restaurant, vegan, gluten free cooking that makes liberal use of spices and preparations from around the world - Middle Eastern and Asian influences pop up regularly. Lunch and dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

But let’s look at one that I hadn’t tried out. And we’re going… fancy.

I’m in the garden in the middle of the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Hotel, Posadas 1350, Recoleta, at Gioia, their temple to vegan cooking.

The indoor dining room feels a bit cavernous and a touch too formal. Plus, it’s a beautiful day, so I opt to sit outside in the garden. On offer, a choice of a three course menu with an accompanying breadbasket, for 65,000 pesos ($55), or, ordering a la carte, where three courses without the breadbasket will add up to basically the same. I don’t need the bread, and since they won’t tell you what three dishes from the menu the chef is going to send out, I opt for the latter.

I start with a vegetable causa, an inspiration from a classic Peruvian appetizer, as I’m always curious what other chefs come up with from these traditional dishes. Here, a ring of mashed papas imillas, a yellow-pink potato that’s common in Andean cooking, colored green with a parsley puree. In the center, a corn and ají amarillo puree. And arranged around the ring, various steamed vegetables. I love the presentation, especially the two base elements, though the steamed veg atop could use a touch of seasoning. Is it good enough to justify a 23500 price-tag ($20)? Perhaps just for the ideas it kicked off in my head.

They’ve got a wide ranging selection of wines on their list, and a decent number available by the glass. I opt for a glass of the Cara Sur Pergolas Criollas Blancas 2023, still being on a bit of a criollas kick. It’s not at all what I expected - it borders on being an “orange wine”, made from a blend of Torrontés Sanjuanino, Torrontés Mendocino, and Maticha (might be the first time I’ve ever had this grape - it’s an indigenous Moroccan grape), with a deep yellow gold color, and it’s unfined and unfiltered, the bottle is filled with “floaties”, and there’s a jumble of grey-pink sediment at the bottom. Still, it’s a vibrant wine with aromas of apricot and raw almond, good minerality, dry, moderate acidity, medium bodied, and a long finish. In keeping with the location, like the food, it’s a bit overpriced, but that’s to be expected in a high end hotel. A glass comes in at 14500 pesos ($12) here - I can buy a bottle at retail for 18000 ($15).

On to a pasta course, agnolotti tinged with beet and carrot purees, filled with a puree of oyster mushrooms. The pasta a little thick, but decently cooked. There are strips of oyster mushroom that have been semi-dehydrated giving them a texture like a soft jerky. The packets are set over small mounds of sweet onion puree (there’s a lot of pureeing going on in this dish), and the whole thing poured over with an onion and mint broth. A grating of “rice cheese” to finish. It’s delicious, though a bit… cool. I don’t know if it’s intentionally served that way, or if the plate sat for a bit, of if, perhaps, the broth is cold and the pasta hot, but when they combine, it all gets a bit room temperature. Still, while I didn’t leave a bit on the plate, not even the broth, I think I’d have preferred it hot. Another 23500 ($20) for five agnolotti feels a bit steep, despite the creativity.

I had to do a little re-thinking in my mind as I ate this dessert. The waitress’ description was on point for some of it, but totally off-base for other parts. She described it, pointing out the components as a sesame biscuit base (it was coconut), topped with a sesame dome (you can sort of see it peaking out at the top, though not mentioned that it was filled with a gel that I couldn’t quite figure out the flavor of), surrounded by blobs of lemon gel and plum compote (it was poppy seed, not plum, ready to fill a hamantaschen), cubes of coconut cake (nope, the coconut was the biscuit base, these were just sort of plain white cake, maybe a touch of vanilla) and mango, and then some sesame seed tuiles over the top. The flavors were great, though the tuile was chewy in that way where it sticks to every crevice in your teeth, and the biscuit base was so hard I had to hammer at it to crack pieces off. For me, a bit of a fail, as interesting as the flavors were. 17500 pesos ($15).

The garden is lovely. I have to admit, I found it a bit humorous sitting in their vegan restaurant as the cooks from the hotel’s other restaurant were busy setting up the grill for the late afternoon asado, or barbecue. I was almost hoping they’d have a chorizo cooked and ready…. Service is friendly and relatively informative, if a couple of notes wrong. Timing of table setting wasn’t spot-on, my first course was served only to have the waitress notice there were no napkins on the table, and the second course served before the silverware was reset. I also wasn’t thrilled with the refusal to serve tap water, a practice which is illegal in Buenos Aires, though common at high-end restaurants as it’s not well enforced. (3800 pesos ($3) for bottled water.) The food is really creative and interesting, and for the most part, I quite liked it. It is pricey.

Would I go back? Yes, though only as a treat, or if someone else is picking up the tab.