Buenos Aires Tasting Menu

Alan was recently in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, where an important question was what to eat in Buenos Aires. This is the story of his personal experience of an evening of a tasting menu experience.

He writes:

Tasting menu – a lot of small “funny” dishes designed to confuse and challenge your palate. Well, that’s what I have always thought and as such they have never appealed to me.

Casa Coupage

On a recent visit to Buenos Aires I was invited to go to a seven course tasting menu, paired with wine, at Casa Coupage.

Casa Coupage

Casa Coupage is not a restaurant per se. It is in essence a dinner party where you will be served seven fine courses accompanied by specially chosen wines. The dinner takes place in the home of your hosts, sommelier Santiago Mymicopulo and his partner Ines where you are treated to a fine learning, culinary and entertaining evening.

The invitation

Oh dear I thought when I was invited!  I am a very fussy eater – I don’t eat seafood in general, I don’t like mushrooms, no interiors, gizzards and suchlike please!

I accepted the invitation and with steely determination started to prepare myself, vowing that no matter what was put in front of me I would give it a go.

Finally the day arrived. I set off on foot to my destination in the district of Palermo Soho guided faithfully by google maps. I had a little trouble finding the door as there are no signs and this added to  my trepidation and fearful visions of octopus tentacles and chicken hearts.

Ready to go!

The arrival

I rang the doorbell shortly after 8 in the evening and the door was soon opened by Ines with a warm welcoming smile. I was led upstairs an on to a patio where Santiago was chatting to three other guests already tasting an excellent chilled Torrontes. Introductions over and a glass in hand we chatted and waited for the other four dinner guests to arrive, which they did shortly.

and there was wine..

Santiago explained to us that we would be served seven different courses accompanied by a different wine. He made it clear to us that he was not there to pontificate and tell us what we should like or taste. Taste was individual and we had to discover our palate and decide what we liked and what we thought went with which dish. Basically, convention out the window and trust yourself. Hmm, this was starting to look good.

The experience

Our first dish was served on the patio and it was a tasty empanada stuffed with humita (corn). Brilliant I thought as none of those were on my banned list and even more brilliant I thought once I tasted it!

We were then led into the dining room, simple but elegant with a mismatched antique feel. Very Palermo Buenos Aires…..

Santiago gave us a small presentation on the wine areas of Argentina  and in no time we had three wines sitting in front of us. This was certainly my cup of tea.

Santiago presenting the wine regions

The next course was then presented – a breaded egg yolk on asparagus with a soy reduction – delicious.

Breaded egg yolk

The problem was which of the three wines did this go with? In my opinion all three – that’s how good my palate is…

To follow cannelloni with prawns and leeks and it was scrumptious. Prawns and tinned tuna are in fact the only sea food I would normally touch…. however I did feel that if it had been something outside of my comfort zone I would have found it scrumptious too. Now, which wine was the best match? Such indecision….

Canelloni and prawns

Then came a top notch piece of beef (I do love Argentina!),

The beef

a cheese and chutney board,

Cheese and chutney

a raspberry based granita palate cleanser

Palate cleanser

and a desert that had ice cream, chocolate and a tuile.

Desert

All matched with wines and glasses topped frequently. Heavenly.

The conclusion

Conversation flowed freely and the atmosphere developed into a cheerful dinner party. At the end of the meal, Santiago introduced us to the chef who was warmly received with a well deserved hand clap.

Meeting the chef

All in all, this was a delicious, stimulating and enjoyable evening and a great way to end my Argentine adventure. You might consider ending your Argentine adventure on a high in the same manner.