The term ‘Cholita’ is not uncontroversial. A Cholo or Chola (feminine) is a mixed race person, with part of that mix being South American Indian/indigenous. However, the diminutive form (the addition of ‘ita’ or ‘little’) has been reclaimed as a badge of honour. The BBC has an article about it here.
Quite what this has to do with naming a steak restaurant by-passed me utterly. Was this maybe a fusion place, or was there a mix of ethnic foods available? Not that I could tell.
While my dear chums at the Apart San Diego hotel (chums we were not) would not check me in to my noise-infested hovel/room until after 2pm, some nibbles were the order of the day.
First impressions are pretty good – it’s a long, high room and the red and yellow colour scheme is appealing in Spanish sort of way.
Like many restaurants on this street (Rodriguez Peña), there are baskets full of crayons for anyone to draw on their tablecloth. They’re paper so it’s all good :).
There is a cubierto or cover charge of about $40 pesos (£2 / $2.50) and for that you get an enormous and very heavy bread roll with a small pat of butter. If you like doughy white bread, you’re all set.
I ordered a glass of red wine and it came in a penguin pitcher, a pinguino! Apparently it’s a ‘thing’ in Buenos Aires. They come in various sizes (enough for a glass, carafe, bottle) and are fairly charming (even if I struggled over Snapchat to work out with friends which animal was being represented!).
This is what jet lag will do to you!
Since it’s Argentina, I ordered steak. In fact, this was the only time in TWO WEEKS that I had steak. The meat was great, don’t get me wrong, but it was so overcooked…
Steaks are served as part of a carb fest – chips and rice with tiny veggies. That was the best bit, to be honest. Hmmm, maybe I’ll go back one more time?
I struggled with the waiter to have him understand my attempts at ordering a coffee so I left it to his judgment and a coffee did arrive, sans milk, but that’s okay too!
Overall… this was just OK. It’s pretty poor to overcook a steak when you have a steak restaurant. It’s kind of your thing. I say 3 stars out of 5. Sigh. I feel bad. But not that bad.
