Hostel Colonial Buenos Aires

In the year 2004, a rainy Saturday, opened after 40 years, the “Almacén and Restaurant Suipacha “, a gourmet proposal in the Buenos Aires Downtown, a few meters from the famous Obelisk which from that moment again become a classic in Buenos Aires.
Memories from the Tango golden years , objects and special things, furniture, sheet music, lyrics, corners which were visited by Tango legends such as Carlos Gardel , Alfredo Lepera, Anibal Troilo, Tita Merello and many more, musical instruments, old advertisements, large rooms spread over 2 floors and excellence multitarget gastronomic proposal.

“Almacén and Restaurant Suipacha” is a magical place in Buenos Aires and and one of the sites chosen by Hostel Colonial to fall in love with this city, there are other places on those who write in coming notes , but this is the first. Here, all Hostel Colonial visitors can feel at home and enjoy special benefits.

Where is it located? 425 Suipacha St. and Corrientes Ave., only five blocks from the hostel.

1 – The ceiling frescoes at the spectacular Galerías Pacifico shopping mall. One block from Hostel Colonial.

2 – Patagonic Lamb at the Almacén Suipacha restaurant. 425 Suipacha street, 6 blocks from Hostel Colonial.

3 – The view from The Woman Bridge in Puerto Madero, 8 blocks from Hostel Colonial.

4 – Tenderloin steaks and desserts with Dulce de leche at “Parrilla El Gaucho” restaurant. The best charcoal grill in Downtown. 876 Lavalle pedestrian street, 5 blocks from Hostel Colonial.

5 – Stencil art and graffitis. Buenos Aires walls.

6 – Ice cream from Volta. 10 minutes in taxi from Hostel Colonial.

7 – Cowboy culture at the Feria of Mataderos. 30 minutes taxi trip from Hostel Colonial.

8 – A “choripan” from one of the vans on the Costanera Sur, 9 blocks from Hostel Colonial.

9 – “A la Gorra” street artists on Florida pedestrian street, 1 block from Hostel Colonial.

10 – Homemade pasta at “La Casona del Nonno” restaurant. 827 Lavalle pedestrian street , 4 blocks from Hostel Colonial.

Top tip: Malbec wine, cold Quilmes beer, alfajores with dulce de leche (milk jam) . In Buenos Aires, every day, every time.

Ayer, sábado 24 de Marzo, un grupo de chicos norteamericanos (TN), comía en nuestro local “ALMACÉN SUIPACHA“, www.almacénsuipacha.com.ar cuando uno de ellos le preguntó al encargado si yo era el dueño (J), ante la afirmación solicitó me acercara a la mesa y se produjo este diálogo desopilante, desconcertante y realmente para los que trabajamos en turismo, bastante frustrante, vacíos de políticas de estado que nos ayuden a posicionarnos y a crecer más allá de una diferencia cambiaria (lo reproduzco en español). Igualmente, ríanse, si lo miramos sin ningún espíritu crítico, es una gran humorada.

TN - Qué hermoso lugar, no imaginé que Argentina y toda Sudáfrica tuvieran cosas tan hermosas, lugares con tanta onda.

J – Muchas gracias por el elogio, pero estás en Sudamérica.

TN - Oh, si claro, Maradona, Tango, Obelisco, además me gustan Os Paralamas.

J – Todo eso y mucho más, pero Paralamas, si bien son muy queridos aquí, son brasileros.

TN – Claro también rugby, los Wallabies son fantásticos ¿ Cómo que Paralamas son brasileros, si ellos son de Río Uruguay y eso es Argentina?

J – Sí, sin dudas pero ellos son Australianos, nuestro equipo de rugby son Los Pumas, y te aclaro Río de Janeiro es una de las principales ciudades de Brasil y Uruguay es otro país limítrofe.
TN - Claro nuestro guía dijo que en Cataratas había pumas.
J – Bueno, gracias por venir.
… y me retiré.

Cuando terminaron la comida, enviaron una nota a la caja que decía lo siguiente:

GRACIAS POR SUDÁFRICA, TIENEN USTEDES UN GRAN RESTAURANT. EL CORDERO PATAGÓNICO ES LA MEJOR VACA QUE HE COMIDO. WONDERFULL.

Reflexión 1: Algunos turistas NO saben ni adónde vienen, ni que comen y creo que el error es nuestro.

Reflexión 2: No saben que Sudáfrica es un país, no la parte sur de un continente, claro, pero seguramente de esas boludeces no se hablan en Harvard o Yale (lástima que de ahí salen muchos de los que digitan nuestros destinos) .

Reflexión 3: Semejante país como la Argentina y sus referencias son 2 ó 3 que realmente no son ni siquiera una burda síntesis de lo que somos, me sentí burlado.

Reflexión 4: Ante una recomendación, no nos busque en Ciudad del Cabo, Almacén Suipacha y Hostel Colonial, quedan en Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sudamérica.

As two couples—one from Pittsburgh, Pa, other from Jupiter, Fl, we booked our trip through Escapes Unlimited, Tustin, Ca. This package was noted in Budget Traveller magazine as a great buy at $699- per person.
The package included RT air from Miami on LAN Argentina, 5 nights at the Hotel Regis-Orho, breakfasts, airport transfers, and a half day tour of BsAs.
The LAN flight left Miami about 20 minutes late and arrived on time. The plane was a B767 300 series. We had seats on the two side going down and back. The planes on both segments were essentially full. Food to BsAs was typical airline food. Wine was good…Mendoza red. Crew was efficient but not particularly friendly. Plane was clean and well serviced on both legs of the trip.
Arrival in BsAs was easy, immigration/customs as snap. Took advice of Dr. Dwaggy to change money at the bank directly to the right of the baggage carrousels…quick, painless, and a 3.05 rate.
Met Eduardo from SurExpress who arranged our transfer to the hotel. He provided a great running commentary during our ride to the hotel which took about 25 mins. He also arrange to switch our half day tour which was scheduled for Wed. to the arrival day in the afternoon. This is a good idea because you can’t get into your hotel room since you arrive so early (830 am). It was a great way to see the city that first afternoon, getting a good overview from a comfortable position.
We checked into the Regis, on Av. Lavalle…one of the pedestrian streets downtown. The check-in was very friendly, and efficient. They stored our bags, and we went out to explore and have lunch while waiting for our 130pm city tour. We scoped out the entire pedestrian walking streets of Lavalle, and Florida, poking into shops, and headed to Café Tortoni for a mid-morning coffee.
Despite the comments about Café Tortoni about the service being smug, not too friendly, etc, we found the opposite. Had a nice Bs.As. breakfast of medialunas, little ham/cheese sandwiches, coffee, juice, etc.
On the corner of Lavalle and Esmeralda is Il Valerio, a very clean Italian/Argentianian modern restaurant with inexpensive sandwiches, wood fired pizzas, and nice desserts. They also have very good breakfasts…ranging from Continental to full American style breakfasts…We had substantial breakfasts with excellent café au lait, and espressos for about $40 pesos including tip for two.
If you’re looking for another type of breakfast/sandwich/lunch spot…further down Lavallee one block beyond Florida is La Brioche which serves authentic French croissants, brioche, baguette sandwiches, soups, salads, etc. 10 pesos gets you a breakfast of coffee, breads, and juice. Very good quality in the French tradition.
Despite the good reviews on the Acapulco restaurant also on Lavalle, between Esmeralda and Florida, this place is a meal factory serving cheap, mediocre at best, food.
On our second day, we walked a lot of the city seeing the downtown area, the presidential palace, and the ladies started buying shoes!! Tango shoes, and regular shoes…excellent quality/value tango shoes were found at the two shoe stores on Suipacha almost across from the Confeteria Ideal. Don’t remember their names as we visited way too many shoe stores. More on the “Ideal” later.
It can be said that the value of the US $$$ goes a long way in Bs.As. We found that all stores did two things: gave a 10-15% discount for paying in cash—pesos and if you paid in US cash not only did you still get the cash discount, but all of the stores we patronized gave a 3.10 peso/dollar exchange…better than the bank. Based on this, we paid cash for everything and maximized our spending power.
We did not come across many American tourists during our stay, most were from Brazil, Europe, and Columbia. The few American tourists did stand out because of their dress. Bs.As. is a very European cosmopolitan city (we didn’t expect anything less) were people tend to be a bit dressier even though it was summer however, the Americans (not us) stood out in their shorts, t-shirts, ball caps, and sneakers. Having traveled extensively, and read a lot about Bs.As. we were already in the know concerning dress. That may have minimized the effect concerning the panhandlers, and any potential security problems as we did blend in to the local scenery.
Speaking of panhandlers, we were surprised by the large numbers of panhandlers in the downtown area, as well as the dumpster divers that particularly invade the city around 5 pm to scour the dumpster, trash bins, etc for every speck of cardboard, plastic, or anything recyclable. We learned that this phenomena came about after the economic collapse in 2001, and the government is trying to rein this in. This wasn’t a particularly pleasant image of Bs.As, but it is the reality.
The third day saw us again touring around the city, going to the Modern Art Museum, and walking from there back to Recoleta, having lunch in a corner café, poking around shops, and enjoying the Bs. As. Scene. We dined that evening at La Cabrera Norte located just a few doors away from the original La Cabrera at 5127 Cabrera.
We couldn’t get into the original La Cabrera so we were sent to the sister restaurant, waited about 40 minutes and had an excellent meal. We went all out lomito, duck, pork, chicken, appetizers, dessert, and wine. All that and we paid about $40 per couple with fine, friendly service.
On our fourth day, we took a tour from the hotel concierge going to San Ysidro, Tigre, and the Delta of the Rio Plata. The tour cost about $15-person, and encompassed a bus ride to the Tren del Plata train station where we took the train to San Ysidro, re-boarded the bus for a tour of San Ysidro, and headed to Tigre where we boarded a boat for a trip through the Delta of the Rio Plata area. This delta island area is the weekend retreat of Portenos.
Upon returning we had dinner at the Almacen Y Restaurant Suipacha, almost on the corner of Suipacha (#425)and Corrientes. The quality/price ratio found here was the best, we felt. Dinner with wine was about $20 per couple. We feasted on roast lamb, roast veggie, and a bottle of Trapiche Malbec wine. For the same amount our friends had lomito, chicken, veggies, and Argentine Champagne from Mendoza.
The following day, we had a tango lesson at the Confiteria Ideal at Suipacha 384. The lesson cost $10 per person for a good 2.5 hours. The teachers were Romina Veron and Carlos Sosto. These excellent professionals give lessons at the Ideal every Wednesday.
Check out their website: www.nuestromundotango.com.ar. For lesson times, locations, and shows they produce and dance in each week. We also attended their tango show that evening at the Ideal. The show was about $15- per person and lasted two hours.
The Confiteria Ideal is a centrally located milonga with dancing just about every night of the week from 10 pm-4 am. Pick up a copy of the Tango Map/Guide. Free at Confiterias, and some newsstands.
After the dance lesson we returned to the Restaurant Suipacha for a late lunch. “Businessmen’s” Specials at lunch are from 8-11 pesos, depending on what you choose. It includes a first course, main course, dessert, and dirnk (beer/wine/soft drink). The wine selection at this restaurant is extensive and covers the gamut of Argentine wines. Excellent Malbecs can be had for about $8-10/bottle. Champagnes from Mendoza run about $10-14/bottle—The French producers, Mumm, and Chandon have vineyards in Mendoza, as does another called Norton. Not to be missed here is a dessert of Dulce de Leche as a mousse. Think chocolate mousse, but dulce de leche…truly delectable. One portion is good enough for two…at 9 pesos it’s a real bargain.
We spent the late afternoon visiting the Recoleta cemetery, the Church of Pilar next to the cemetery, and the surrounding Recoleta park. The heat that day was fairly hot, so we had to stop at the Café Biela for some refreshments and people watching.
That evening we went to La Bolsa restaurant next to Restaurant Suipacha for dinner and the free tango show offered there. Grilled meats are the house speciality, and between the two couples we had roast goat, pork, and lomo, all in the Argentine style accompanied by more Malbec! Excellent service, very fine grilled meats, and an enjoyable tango show…not the best, but enjoyable nonetheless, and it was free. Dinner cost about$25 per couple.
On our next to last morning we did some serious shopping, managing to acquire three pairs of shoes for my wife at the Carla shoe store 835 Lavalle, Local 3, just steps away from the Regis Hotel. Dianne was the sales person, very pleasant, knowlgeable, and patient. You know how ladies try on shoes. We ended up buying three pairs of shoes, and received the standard 15% discount for cash.
After the shoes it was belts, wallets, and purses. After looking in numerous shops we settled on Guns Leather 658 Florida where Fernand helped us select the items. Again the price/quality ratio, along with the discount, and a 3.10peso/dollar rate enabled us to buy some very nice items.
Just down the street we sampled Malbec wines at Vinos Argentinos at 565 Tucuman, just off Av. Florida. We bought 6 bottles of award winning Malbecs to take home. The store individually bubble-wrapped each bottle, boxed them up, wrapped the box in bubble wrap with carrying handle, ready for airport check-in, and delivered it to the hotel in one hour! We checked the wine as baggage at the airport, and the superb packaging arrived with not so much as a scratch in Miami.—whizzed right through US customs…
Later Saturday evening we ended up at the Billares 36 café after the original restaurant we where we wanted to go was closed. They also had a tango show that evening for an additional $10 per person. The show was fair, the food very mediocre, and the service was the worst we experienced in Bs.As. Wouldn’t recommend Billares 36.
On Sunday, our last full day before our 10 pm return flight, we visited the San Telmo flea market. As we’re not into antiques, it was an interesting visit. Visited lots of little art galleries, and shops including a hole-in-the-wall handmade shoe store with very nice quality shoes. The area as jam packed with tourists, and this is where we encountered more of our countrymen than at any other time during our stay. Everyone recommends eating at La Brigada in San Telmo, however the lines were out the door for lunch, and we were starving…so we wandered down the street and stumbled on a little corner café called Territorio on the corner of Eustado Unidos (USA street), and Bolivar. Everything in this café is home grown, and home made including the beers! We had salads, sandwiches, and desserts for about $4 per person. Excellent food, very friendly service.
To sum up, we’re ready to go back to Buenos Aires to see even more and enjoy the Porteno life. We really enjoyed this cosmopolitan city, the shops, restaurants, cafes, and the great folks of this beautiful city.

Original post:

More information: www.almacensuipacha.com.ar

Noche casi perfecta, no hay nubes, la temperatura es ideal para salir de ronda y tomarse unas birras en los 2×1 que hoy lunes abundan. Una noche así sólo puede verse opacada si me pongo a pensar en el día de hoy y retumban en mis oídos las palabras de habladores profesionales, nunca hacedores, que piensan que con una diléctica enrevesada pueden cambiar su destino mediocre por otro quizás más mediocre aún y sentirse felices por ese cambio.
La Argentina es un país de habladores por eso a los ojos del mundo somos unos fracasados. Me considero un hacedor por eso detesto a los habladores inconducentes, llevo a varios en mi alforja, pero bueno, ya está abierta y en medio de la cabalgata voy a perder a unos cuantos.
Nada es más impredecible que el clima, todo puede empeorar más rápido de lo deseado, así que a salir del Hostel Colonial, pasen por Maipú al 500 y vean el Museo del Tango, un fiel ejemplo de como podemos hacer mierda algo hermoso y típicamente argentino. Al llegar a Lavalle doblen a la derecha y al llegar a Suipacha, si es que no entraron a la maravillosa Parrilla El Gaucho, doblen a la izquierda y casi llegando a Corrientes tienen el Almacén Suipacha, un fiel ejemplo de cómo podemos categorizar algo hermoso y típicamente argentino, pueden picar algo y degustar buenos vinos.

Si todavía no se deciden a la vuelta por Corrientes a metros del Teatro Ópera, está Las Cuartetas y sus excelentes pizzas.
Si siguen por Suipacha se encontrarán con la mítica Confitería Ideal, un asco, mugrienta y abandonada pero siempre concurrida, mucha movida de milonga.

Si se animan a seguir por Suipacha hasta el 0 (estamos al 300) cosa que no recomiendo salvo que sean un buen grupo, al llegar a Avenida de Mayo, hacia la izquierda está el Café Tortoni, vale la pena y además podrán disfrutar de un espectáculo nocturno singular, ya que observando hacia el este verán la Casa Rosada y Plaza de Mayo y hacia el oeste El Congreso, ambos iluminados son imponentes.
Para regresar pueden hacerlo por Florida y verán, parece mentira que durante el día la caminen más de 1.000.000 de personas. Ojalá lo hayan disfrutado.