Elite Traveler September-October 2015

elite traveler SEPT/OCT 2015 ISSUE 5 123

Buenos Aires was made for luxury weekends. For your first night, book into the Grand Suite at Hub Porteño ($1,195 with breakfast and including taxes), a lavish, modern 11-room boutique hotel in Recoleta. The high-ceilinged guest rooms are filled with contemporary art and sculpture. Proprietor Gonzalo Robredo will provide a private guide to show you the architecture of La Belle Époque: the Argentine capital boomed in the 1920s and 1930s, exporting beef to Europe and enabling ranch owners to build mansions across the city. Start with a stroll down Recoleta’s grand boulevards. After a look around the cemetery where Eva Perón is entombed, have a café cortado at La Biela, the grand café that was once the pitstop for Argentina’s racing crowd. Take a cab to the Bosques de Palermo parks and leafy backstreets, stopping for lunch at La Cabrera, one of the new generation of steakhouses. Start with the tira de asado (short ribs) and go for a main of bife de chorizo (New York strip) – both are classic cuts, ideal with a vintage Catena Malbec. In the afternoon, sample the city’s art scene. Visit the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires in the Palermo neighborhood, a showcase for the private collection of Eduardo Costantini. He is the man behind the giant flower-shaped sculpture in the heart of the city. Next, do the Fortabat Collection – the holdings of the late Amelia Fortabat are housed in a new dockside space at Puerto Madero. Both galleries boast contemporary works by Argentine artists, and give a sense of the talent and complex narrative that characterizes Argentine culture. Hub Porteño’s Tarquino restaurant serves gourmet gastronomy with a molecular twist. Formerly of elBulli, chef Dante Liporace’s famous tasting menu is a must. Try La Secuencia de la A weekend in… Buenos Aires

From left: Argentina’s famous Criollo horses; Eduardo Costantini’s steel and aluminium sculpture, Floralis Genérica

Vaca – an entire cow deconstructed into a series of small dishes – but there are fine fish and pasta dishes if you’re beefed out. Wrap up with a cocktail, ask Gonzalo to get you into one of the city’s closed-door speakeasies or try Floreria Atlantico, a hip flowershop-turned-drinking den that’s easier to get into. Alternatively, if you’re keen to see or dance some tango, artsy space La Catedral and the grand old Confiteria Ideal café are the best venues. In the morning, take a taxi or helicopter to the La Bamba de Areco estancia , owned by the Decaux family. Lunch will be an al fresco asado (barbecue) with wine tasting, followed by a trot around the estate, and a horsemanship show by a staff gaucho and/or a polo lesson. If there’s a match in nearby Pilar, the ranch can obtain seats. When planning a trip to BA, bear in mind the Argentine passions – polo (November 21 to December 12), opera at the Teatro Colón (March to December), and soccer – the dream seat is in a box at the Superclásico derby match between River Plate and Boca Juniors.