Ayacucho 1785 | Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

It’s not hard to find an Italian restaurant in Buenos Aires…it seems like half the population here are from Italian decent.  In fact Buenos Aires began to accept immigrants in large numbers as early as the 1860′s and an estimated 2,250,000 Italians came to Argentina between 1861 and 1914…so you can see how the city is in love with its pizza and pasta heritage.

However, its all about finding a good Italian restaurant and boy do I have a great one for you to check out.  It’s called ‘La Pecora Nera’ (or ‘The Black Sheep’ in Italian)…a quaint little romantic establishment nestled in one of Buenos Aires ritziest areas, Recoleta.  The atmosphere is very ‘closed’ door reservation only style (I know this because you can’t just walk in, you must be greeted by one of the staff at the locked door), which to some could be perceived as quite pretentious but in actual fact it creates a very intimate setting.

The food is amazing with my wife and I ordering antipasti, platos principals, dolce and cafe (entree, main, deserts and coffee just incase  ).  With a nice bottle of Argentinian syrah coating our palates we were ready for our gastronomic adventure to begin.  We started with beef capaccio and a fish pie strudel.  Both were very well seasoned and both came with a small side salad.  Fresh crisp pastry on the strudel and tender thin slices of capacho…yum!  Next course we both had a vegetarian pasta dish.  I had the mushroom ravioli and my wife had a french onion inspired special pasta dish which also turned out to be ravioli.  Whilst I don’t normally order much pasta in restaurants, I have to say this was exceptionally cooked and well filled…more points on the main.

You know when you feel satisfied after 2 courses but not stuffed, like you’ve been force fed too many fries at a cheap restaurant?  Well here we were just right, so dessert was a given.  Boy were we glad we had that left over room because dessert was to die for!  I had a Yin Yang chocolate mousse which was super rich and melted in my mouth!  My wife however had the standout dish of the evening…Apple strudel with homemade cinnamon ice cream…IT WAS AWESOME!!!  Super crisp pastry, freshly cooked apples and the ice cream had to be the most amazing ice cream i’ve ever had…and I’ve been to Italy many times so I know a good gelato when I taste one.  Coffee was coffee, Illy an Italian coffee brand (thank god it wasn’t Argentinian – see my coffee blog, lol) and I topped the meal off with a nice desert wine.

So this place must have cost an arm and a leg right?  Well surprisingly not.  All this for 2 people cost just $488 ARS which is around £68/$100 AUD.  Anywhere you go for that quality of food is a great buy.

Overall this place is tops!  Great atmosphere, top notch super friendly service and outstanding food…what more could you want?  We will definitely be returning soon.

**This restaurant review was written by BAIN Downtown member and blogger, Joel Devenish.  For this and other reviews on everything Buenos Aires, visit his blog: http://joeldevenish.wordpress.com/.  To contribute a review or highlight your blog, contact bain.downtown@gmail.com.