The best restaurant in Argentina – that’s a heavy description, I know. But I really love this restaurant, and I stand by my description. In fact, I like it so much that I went three times over a five day period. Yes, it was that delicious. And you know I like to try new places!
So what is El Banco Rojo and what makes it so wonderful?
El Banco Rojo is a small, hip, hole-in-the-wall, casual restaurant serving simple, fresh, made to order dishes.
Heres a closer look – so freaking hip.
It is located about a block down from the San Telmo Market, between the San Telmo Market and La Brigata. It opens around noon and is very small, with just a few bar seats (15 or so). As a result, you may need to wait or take it to go, although we always managed to get two seats.
The menu is written in chalk on the wall and specials are hanging behind the register. The menu has simple sounding dishes, but the food is so good! The menu also has some vegetarian options, a rarity in Buenos Aires. Drinks are served from a cooler built into the wall, including Argentinian beer, such as Antares craft beer, sodas and water. Another bonus, this restaurant is CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP.
My first visit I had the vegetarian falafel. It consisted of a pita stuffed with falafel and fresh lettuce, onions, tomatoes, tzatziki sauce and some other deliciousness. It was plenty for me to eat and cost less than $5 USD. Dan got the chicken falafel for about .50 USD more. Yum, yum, yum!
I also ordered my favorite fish on the entire trip (well tied with the open-faced pork belly sandwich on the Mendoza wine tour), the Spicy Beef Empanada! Oh, this is so, so, so delicious! The ingredients are fresh, its fried right in front of you and is very, very filling. They also have a corn empanada option. It was good, but the beef empanada put it to shame. Here’s a our empanada order. Oh, the best part, they were .80 USD each. I die.
The beer is Antares, an Argentinian craft brew.
On another visit, we split the tacos. Also delicious and so cheap. The tacos came three to a plate and with fresh cut potatoes. This was a great deal, both price and taste wise. Honestly, for the cost we expected one taco to split and were shocked when three were on the plate!
Ah, this is by far my favorite place in Argentina to date. If you are in BA, YOU MUST COME HERE AND HAVE THE BEEF EMPANADA. You can thank me later.
The cooks also have amazing T-shirts, sadly not for sale.
Logistics
El Banco Rojo, Bolivar 914, San Telmo, Distrito Federal, Argentina
+43 623177