BUENOS AIRES BAR ROUNDUP: Florería Atlántico, Tres Monos, CoChinChina

Buenos Aires is a city that's home to tons of great cocktail bars, perhaps not quite S-tier (probably only New York, London, and Mexico City truly qualify there), but certainly in the A-tier alongside Toronto, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, etc..). There are three that are consistently ranked among the world's top 50, and with three nights in BA, you better believe that I went to them all. Here's the rundown:

Tuesday: Florería Atlántico (#46 in 2024)

This iconic hidden bar (NOT a speakeasy, if the owner has any say) is located underneath a functioning flower shop that was conveniently located literally across the street from my hotel in Retiro. Descending down the stairs concealed behind an antique refrigerator door brings you to the long skinny space with a bar running down one side and tables on the other. Drinks here are supposedly inspired by historical places and events, though if you don't recognize the names on the menu you wouldn't necessarily know this (our otherwise lovely waitress didn't really give much background information when serving them).

I enjoyed the "Pachay", with pumpkin cachaça, tobacco liqueur, Antica Fórmula (a sweet vermouth), Fernet Branca, and bitters. It had an intense, slightly smoky flavor, and some sweetness from the subtle pumpkin. "Karu Hára" was made with gold rum, beer, honey, and something called avagha paste (?), which resulted in a really interesting mix that tasted like a barrel aged stout along the lines of BCBS or a Prairie Bomb. An unexpected delight! And of course I had to try the weirdest sounding drink on the menu, "Yvy Maraey", which was composed of forest earth distillate, cashew liqueur, and sage soda. It kind of reminded me of drinking a Christmas tree (in a good way), if that makes any sense. Bizarre, but really fun.

Food was solid as well. The King Crab Empanada was stuffed with crab, prawns, and leeks, and fried to golden brown perfection. The best part about Argentina is eating empanadas for basically every meal, and this was one of my favorites. We also tried some grilled Prawns in a sauce of paprika, garlic, lemon juice, and rosehip (the fruit of wild rose plants, which apparently is a thing that exists). It looked like a tomato sauce but was completely different, smoky and slightly floral. Rice With Saffron From Sea And Land was their version of paella, but with rice crispy enough to make even Bobby Flay jealous. The grilled squid (sea) was cooked nicely, but the rabbit (land) was a touch dry for me. Finally, the Catch Of The Day was a simply seared grouper, topped with roasted tomatoes and baby carrots, along with a drizzle of olive oil. Weirdly enough, in between the various bottles behind the bar was a section with these whole fish hanging on meat hooks, a strange display of seafood among liquor.

Overall this was a great bar with expertly crafted cocktails and an impressive food menu. Definitely an excellent choice if you're staying in this part of Buenos Aires, as the majority of the other notable spots are in Palermo, which can be a bit of a hike, especially during rush hour. They are opening up a location in Washington D.C., so if this sounds interesting to you but you don't want to make the journey all the way to South America, there will be a closer option soon.

Wednesday: Tres Monos (#7 in 2024)

We nearly bailed on this Palermo drinkery after a stomach-bursting dinner at Don Julio, but I'm so glad that I gutted it out (ha), because this was my favorite bar in the city. Fortunately the two block walk down Guatemala Street cleared some room, though I did not sample any of the food because I would have figuratively died. The atmosphere here is quite frankly awesome. You enter into dimly lit series of small rooms with eclectic neon (including an enchanting middle finger, see above) and various ape figurines/masks/stuffed animals. It wasn't super crowded, so even sitting at the bar I was able to enjoy the soundtrack ranging from Queen to Bloc Party (!!), and the amazing bartender seemed to do the same, as she was dancing and singing along to many of the jams.

The drink menu here is tight, with only eight cheekily-named signature cocktails, but they will make you whatever you want if you desire to go off-script. I started with the "Chimi Hendrix", a play on a whiskey highball, with scotch, ginger ale, Britvic (a British soft drink), pineapple, honey, and chimichurri. The interplay of sweet, acid, boozy, fizzy, and herbaceous flavors made for an elevated version of the oft-boring highball that I really dug. More of a dessert cocktail was the "Bananita Mona", with Argentinian sherry, white rum, banana, vanilla, and chocolate. You could really taste each individual flavor, with the fortified wine and cocoa notes coming through the most. It was sweet but balanced, and cute banana candy placed atop the full ice cube was a whimsical touch. Lastly we have the "Apelmatini", their version of an apple martini, with house Tres Monos gin, Carpano Bianco vermouth, Hesperidina (an Argentine orange peel aperitif), green apple, and yerba mate. It was tart but boozy, and the herbal notes of the mate really transformed this into a stunning beverage.

I loved this place so much from the drinks to the immaculate vibes, plus their logo is so awesome that I bought a T-shirt, only the third time I can recall doing that while visiting a drinking establishment on a trip, though this was the first time that I didn't screw it up (after buying basically a child's size tee at Heart of Darkness Saigon, and accidentally crossdressing Michael Scott-style with a women's shirt from Anchorage Brewing Company). If you can only visit one bar in Buenos Aires, this would be my recommendation. But why are you even going if that's the case??

Thursday: CoChinChina (#22 in 2024)

Another Palermo hotspot in a very New York-y area on Armenia Street (side note: I love how so many streets in BA are named after countries), this is an Asian-themed bar that you would be forgiven for thinking is Chinese, but is actually more Vietnamese oriented, as Cochinchina was a historic term that Europeans used to refer to South Vietnam. Not only can you learn about food and drinks here at Adrian Reviews (new name coming soon), but also exonyms and 19th century colonialism! We arrived shortly after opening, as we had a very early flight the next morning, and were literally the only patrons at first. It started to fill up a bit as the night went on, but definitely a different vibe than the other two. The interior had a central square-shaped bar with tables around the perimeter, and numerous cartoonish signs depicting the names and pictures of Vietnamese dishes, very similar to the decor at Phat Eatery in Katy (this is technically a Houston site, after all).

We'll start with the food this time. There are small, medium and large dishes, though the sizes didn't necessarily always match up with their category. The Steak Tartare (which longtime fans of me will recall as my third favorite food) was done well, with the usual egg yolk and bits of pickle, but the carbohydrate accompaniment was the best part: wonderful buttery brioche crisps that made the meat taste even better. Something I hadn't really tried before was the Duck Roll... tender duck meat in a thin wrapper and fried to a light crisp, topped with jalapeño, green onion, plum chutney, and huacatay sauce (a Peruvian black mint puree). It was sort of a hybrid spring roll/enchilada, with the richness of the waterfowl balanced by those lovely sweet and cool condiments. More of a familiar comfort food was the Bao x 3, where soft fluffy buns encased unctuous glazed pork belly with cucumber, peanut sauce, and coriander aioli. I've eaten dozens of baos in my time, and while this one wasn't the best ever, it certainly held up, especially in a country that isn't necessarily known for its Asian cuisine.

Drinks! "Coco, Cilantro, Y Lima" (my Oxford comma) was an extremely unique but really tasty cocktail made with sake, lime, coriander juice, coconut milk, and egg white. If you are one of those people who think cilantro tastes like soap this is definitely not for you, because it had such a deep coriander flavor, but somehow the other ingredients did some alchemy to impart acidity and sweetness to make this absolutely delicious. "Se-Sa-Hattan" was basically a Manhattan infused with sesame oil, so there were more nutty notes than you'd expect, amongst the usual booziness. I had almost an identical cocktail in Rio de Janeiro, so I guess this is a popular thing down here. Last but not least, "Ke Reine El Penicilin", their version of a Penicillin, but with horseradish?! It wasn't too strong, but added another layer of spiciness to the usual honey-ginger syrup in the classic version.

If I was forced to rank all three places this would probably be third, but the food and drinks were all still quite good. Perhaps if I had gone later in the night when things were poppin' off a bit more it might have been rated a little higher, because I can't say much for the ambiance (though a DJ showed up at some point to slam some house music).

NEXT UP: Does Peru really have the best restaurant in the world? We'll find out!