GSM and compiled list of restaurants in BA
 

Victor,
As for GSM, it is available all over the city. Me and my friends never had a problem getting a signal. We're T-mobile customers, so we were always roaming on one of the Argentine networks.

Regarding restaurants, Park Plaza is in the La Recoleta neighborhood, so any of the previously mentioned restaurants in La Recoleta would work. Many other neighborhoods are easily reached from your hotel though, for example, a taxi ride to Palermo from La Recoleta will only cost a couple of US dollars. For my own convenience I created a compilation with phones and address of them all, maybe some others will find this list useful:

• Millsn between Paraguey and Santa Fe on Parana. If your facing Santa Fe it's on the left side of the street about in the middle.
• Central 5644 Costa Rica cross streets are Fitz Roy and Bonpland in Palermo. 4776-7374
• Lomo 4661 Costa Rica cross streets Gurrachaga and Armenia in Palermo. 4833-3200
• Club Del Vino 4737 Cabrera in Palermo between Armenia and Malabia 4833-0048, 0049, & 0050
• Te Matare Ramirez 4062 Paraguey in Palermo, 4831.9156. ematareramirez.com/
• Sucre Sucre 676, close to River Plate Stadium, 47829082 - very nice place with Spanish cuisine, also for people watching.
• Cabaña Las Lilas – Parilla located in the Puerto Madero area: AV. ALICIA MOREAU DE JUSTO 516, 4313-1336
• Oviedo - BERUTI 2602 In Barrio Norte, 4822-5415, a traditional old-Buenos Aires style restaurant, with a serious kitchen (Spanish cousine).
• Lola in La Recoleta, R. M. ORTIZ 1805, 4804-3410 & 4804-5959
• Pata Negra, Spanish cuisine, Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 3096, 4805-9957
• La Catedra - International, 4699 CERVIÑO in Palermo, 4777-4601
• La Fornarina - Italian, in Belgrano at Arcos 1855, 4783-4904
• La Parolaccia - Av. Del Libertador 5836, in Belgrano, 4787-2478. Italian food
• El Salvador, located at El Salvador 5567. Tel 4776-1144. Quiet atmosphere, with Frank Sinatra and some jazzy tunes in the background. Its a semi-formal atmosphere, where chef Charlie Beccar Varela serves a trendy fusion menu, including influences from asian & french orientations. The menu is not large, but features excellent salads and specially prepared deserts. I recommend the chocolate pyramid (its well worth the 20 minute wait). Also features a mostly complete wine list. The service I experienced was excellent, which is uncommon for relatively new places with very young staff. Try having dinner in the main lounge and then moving on to the upper patio for dessert, capuccino and complementary champagne while you wait for the bill.

Fine dining

• Nectarine - Vicente López 1661, 4813-6993, French cuisine. Check with your concierge, the place is well known
• Sinclair - Sinclair 3096 at Demaría, 4899-0283, go there for dinner, and make sure Ramiro (the Chef) is there... “This formal country inn restaurant boasts fresh seafood, particularly shellfish, and game dishes. Early booking is advisable as large crowds are drawn by the superb cuisine both day and night. Formerly known as Catalinas. Opens Mon-Fri lunch & dinner, Sat dinner only”
• Christophe - FITZ ROY 1994, Palermo, 4771-1155, French cuisine

Steaks

• El Pobre Luis - Arribenos 2393in Belgrano, 4780-5847 For a steak place that is 100% local. They recently moved, but they are well known enough for you to ask your Concierge for directions. They are located in the Nuñez Neighbourhood, quite close to River Plate Stadium.
• Rio Alba - CERVIÑO 4499 in Palermo, close to Le Parc Tower. 4773-5748
• El Novillo Alegre - GOROSTIAGA 1833 in Belgrano, 4772-4458 For something even less touristy and cheaper. This place is in Belgrano, and is right across the street from a nice (small) shopping mall called El Solar de la Abadia.

Re side-trip by "buquebus" to Colonia
 

I did that daytrip at the end of Dec. 2001. The boat was lightly air-conditioned and it was around 100 humid degrees outside. Boat ride fine. Then my friend and I found a tour bus on the Uruguayan side for a short "city tour" with lunch in a modest restaurant. Don't recall the price, but not bad. Fortunately we didn't even have to change Argentinian pesos while there. We simply wandered the old streets and admired the colonial arquitecture. Very compact town. We ended up buying lots of soft drinks because of the heat. Returned after a few hours the same way. I enjoyed the excursion.-- Simcha

Thanks Kurt!
 

Kurt thanks for this Information, another good reason to stay in the forum. I will forward this to the partners that will go on the trip with us.

Regards! ^

Kurt knows his EZE........ ^ :D

Rates / SIMS
 

:cool:

Does Gaucho knows the rates for Roaming in EZE in GSM
Ah! maybe I'll call cingular and they will tell me 2.00 dollars per min.! can I buy a GSM SIM locally in EZE and Installed in my Phone! If it is Unlocked of course!

Thanks!

^

You can buy a pre-paid SIM in Buenos Aires now, but a few months back it was hard to find.

Roaming rates vary depending on your plan/carrier. T-mobile's World Class Rates for roaming are not that cheap for extended calls. And don't forget that if you let a call go to voicemail that you pay for the call to get to you plus for it to go back to your home country voicemail. 2 minutes of international roaming per voicemail call adds up.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/argentina.html

Thanks again for the help on this matter!
 

Very helpfull!

A few more thoughts on restaurants
 

I have been able to try Oviedo & Lola on this trip so far, both are wonderful. The seafood at Oviedo is top notch.

I have a couple of other places to suggest:

La Parrillon de Recoleta, in the 1721 Junin, near the Vicentee Lopez intersection, its in the Recoleta neighborhood, across the plaza from the famous cemetary & church. I like the Parilla becuase I always get great service and delicious food. The Monumental is their best salad: mixed greens with parmesan, their best entre is the Pamplomo de Lomo: a steak stuffed with proscuitto, mozarella, and a mild pepper. 4804-7771

Puerto Cristal, Av. Alicia Moreau de Justo 1082, Puerto Madero, www.puerto-cristal.com.ar. Its a little pricey for BA, but the food is excellent, the view is pleasant, and the wine list is good. I love the seafood here, my wife likes everything!

And finally, I wonder why when people talk about the food & culture of BA we talk about steak houses, European cousine, theaters, and museums, but we skip over one of the cornerstones of middle-class life in the city. I do it too, I nearly always forget to tell friends about the inexpensive but tasty coffee shops that permeate every neighborhood. They are called all sorts of things: confiterias, cafes, restaurantes, pizzarias, and so on. Although most seem to be unique and individually owned nearly all share a few common characteristics: great coffee, fresh pasteries, a variety of sandwiches, breakfast round the clock, cocktails, beer, wine, and a large selection of entrees, salads, and soups. Most also sell pizza. I've never had a bad meal in one of these cafes, but the quality definitely does vary, when you find a really good one remember its name and how to get there!

Ive said it before.... and I say it yet again. Kurt knows his EZE.... ^ :D Now that someone impartial has said it.... I will also jump on this bandwagon and recommend a couple of places. First though, I will do my homework and write down some addresses and street corners, so that the EZE visitors can find their way properly....

4 weeks and counting!
 

You're all getting me very excited about my first ever trip to South America next month! :D

You'll love it. :)

Amen!!!!! :D ^ :-:

FYI: Take Pata Negro off of your list
 

We took a cab into Palermo last night and found the restaurant, but it was all closed up. It appears to have gone out of business very recently, there wasn't a note or anything to indicate that they would be moving the business.

Maybe the lease was up and the owners of the premise were hiking the price too much. That's been the case on more than a rare occassion since the Argentine peso's de-dollarization.

Thanks for the update.

Good Reading material?
 

I am looking for links to some good web pages with background information about the city of Buenos Aires (the city only, not Argentina in general).

Something that I can download and print, to read on the plane (long flight!), about the city's history, culture, attractions, people, etc. I am not looking for information about hotels, restaurants, tours, maps, glossy pictures or the like. Old fashion plain text with solid, authoritative information would be great.

Any recommendations, links, book titles? (english or spanish).

Many thanks in advance.