We sought out Almazen de Sabores on Ave 20 de Febrero as we thought it was a vegetarian restaurant. It was soon clear that although it wasn’t your typical Argentinian restaurant, it was not vegetarian!
The quaint restaurant presided over by the kitchen is intimate, contemporary and pleasant with an eclectic choice of background music which kept us amused. At dinner we were told that the dishes were smaller and so it was best to order a few, so we ordered three each (ranging between $11 to $17 each). I started with langostinos then followed with trout and orange salad, each dish coming out beautifully presented and cooked just right with the ideal mixture of flavours and textures. The berry fruits with lemon curd was a revelation. Each course was a surprise of cooking architecture and it all worked wonderfully. No parillas here, and what a relief!
If you are looking for a change of venue, change of menu and an opportunity to revitalise your taste buds from the normal bife de lomo, then you must seek out this hidden gem of foodie delights!
It was soo good we returned for lunch two days later and I had a fantastic zucchini tart with salad ($15, at the time around £3 sterling) and the Kiwi had a delicious stirfry ($25 – £5).
Almazen, 20 de Febrero No 40, Bariloche T: 422096 / almazen.bariloche@gmail.com
(Prices quoted $ are Argentinian pesos)