If there’s one thing Buenos Aires does really well, it’s ice cream. And obviously meat. And, of course, wine. And, yes, I should also mention cocktails, too. But, if I really think about it, there’s a certain realm that has truly shown oven-baked excellence over the last few years. I’m referring to buttery, warm, decadent, delicious fresh baked goods at cafés and bakeries – most of which are run by a new generation of bakers and pastry chefs.
If you’ve spent any time in Argentina, you probably already know that breakfast wouldn’t be truly considered breakfast without facturas (pastries) making some sort of an appearance on the table. Confiterías (bakeries) line almost every major neighborhood block, and if you ask your Porteño friends, they probably have a longstanding barrio favorite that holds a special medialuna in their hearts. Many of these bakeries were opened by immigrant groups that arrived in Argentina long ago – like British, Spanish, Italian, French, and Danish – and you’ll notice those influences in the types of pastries that are made.
Today, we are seeing a new type of bakery. Bakeries that are inspired by Argentina’s sweet past, but that are breaking baking traditional rules and forming their own paths. These bakeries tend to be run by a younger generation of bakers or pastry chefs who focus on quality, creativity, and nostalgia while respecting their heritage and the confiteria legacy. Sure, some may refer to them as a hipster trend: Unlike their traditional café or confitería counterparts, instead of opening first thing in the morning, these spots generally open later (bordering lunchtime) with unconventional hours, they sell café de especialidad flat whites instead of cortados en jarritos, and most often, they tend to make a daily limited stock of their best-selling masamadre products. So, if you get there late, you’re shit out of luck.
The other day a “suggested” album popped up on my cell phone entitled: Croissants. I spent about an hour scrolling through every croissant-looking image on there. With pastries on the brain, I googled “mejores confiterías y panaderías de Buenos Aires”, and came across a blast from the past article I wrote back in 2013. Names like Hausbrot, Le Ble, Le Pain Quotidien, and La Panaderia de Pablo made my list, bakeries that don’t come to my mind when considering BA’s bests today. It got me thinking about Buenos Aires’s love for baked goods and how confiterías have changed over the last decade. I started to make a list of my favorite bakeries around the city, dozens of spots came to mind, so I decided to share some of my findings.
F5 Cantina Atelier Fuerza
Fran Seubert started baking sourdough bread at home after watching how-to videos on YouTube which he sold outside coffee shops. Fast forward a few years, now he’s the co-owner of Atelier Fuerza, which in 2021, one of their (many new) locations took over Mamma Rosa bodegón on the most perfect Villa Crespo corner.
“We wanted to take everything that defines Argentine pastries and value that,” Fran once told me when I visited the kitchen early one morning to see what a day in the life at AF was all about. He told me that AF is on a mission to put Argentina’s beloved bakery culture in the spotlight, honoring traditional favorites – ricotta cake, pastafrola, palmeritas, alfajores, coquitos, and chipa – which, Fran says, have disappeared from many bakeries.
While I’m a fan of the pastries and bread from any AF location for takeaway, the Villa Crespo confitería and cantina is the place to visit for a relaxing sit-down breakfast or lunch. Keep in mind that during the evenings it transforms into a totally different pasta restaurant run by chef Rodrigo Sieiro (kind of like a restaurant timeshare).
Jufré 202, Villa Crespo || Mon-Sat: 9am – 6pm; Sunday: 12pm – 5pm || Average price: $-$$
Cruasán
It was a cold and rainy Monday in June 2021 and I was having a bad day. The type of day when I looked up, a Charlie Brown rain cloud followed my every move. I was supposed to fly to the US that week, but I just received an email from the airline saying that all flights out of Argentina would be canceled for the unforeseeable future. I hadn’t seen my family and friends since 2019, and wouldn’t be going back any time soon. I’d miss a family reunion, a wedding, I wouldn’t meet my beautiful little niece for the first time or play with my nephews who are growing up too fast. I’d have to tell my future apartment subletter that the deal was off, unpack my suitcases, take my things out of storage, and face the reality that I wouldn’t spend the summer in Chicago. That homesick feeling began to creep deep into my stomach. I slowly wandered from Villa Urquiza to Chacarita and on the way my umbrella broke, a colectivo swooshed through a puddle and splashed me with street juice, and I gambled and lost with the BsAs callejero roulette game guess-what-sidewalk-tile-is-slippery-and-loose. A pity party for one. But then my mom’s advice popped up in my head: What’s the best thing you can do for yourself so that you feel just a little less bad right now? Aha!
A little beam of sunshine shone a light on a tiny hole-in-the-wall window with the word CRU AS AN written on a blue awning. I stepped up to the kiosco window and a waft of freshly baked croissants infiltrated my nostril. Naturally, I ordered one, with a flat white, and perched on a tiny stool outside the front. I took one bite of the croissant and instantly wanted to honey-I-shrunk myself to take a deep dive into those flaky layers of dough, and get all comfy and cozy inside. I’ve had a lot of croissants in Buenos Aires, but the one from Cruasán remains my favorite because for a few minutes it made me forget about my problems. And that’s what the power of emotionally eating our feelings is about, right?
Av. Olazábal 3827, Belgrano R || Mon-Sat: 9am – 7:30pm || Average price: $
Ada Café
If you follow my personal account on Instagram (@allielazz, winkwink), you probably could guess that one of my favorite hobbies is to aimlessly wander around and explore Buenos Aires, taking way too many random and sometimes borderline stalkerish street photos of the things that I see. It’s my form of therapy. And Once is the greatest barrio when embarking on a photographic adventure. I also go to Once whenever I feel homesick. Yes, you heard me right – Once (and Flores) are the neighborhoods that most remind me of New York City. Sometimes I walk around the bustling melting pots of diverse cultures and pretend that I’m in Queens.
Taking moseys in different neighborhoods also enables me to go on café and restaurant hops, another favorite pastime, which is what ultimately led me to Ada. This café on the action-filled corner of Tucumán y Pasteur is one of the only spots in Once to get specialty coffee. They also make crazy good medialunas, cakes, cookies, and daily specials. The drink menu inclusively offers “cortado doble/flat white” (which are essentially the same thing), proving to welcome Once locals, passerby, and café de especialidad seekers. It’s rare to see this sort of eclectic clientele mingling at coffee shops in other neighborhoods, and any great spot for people-watching is a good spot for me.
Tucumán 2300, Once || Mon-Fri: 8:30am – 6pm; Sat: 9am-5pm || Average price: $
La Garage
It’s not easy to be a professional eater. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but oftentimes my stomach gets full while my brain whispers eat more, biyatch in my ear. Sometimes when I’m walking in Palermo Hollywood I need to avoid Arévalo y Guatemala streets because if I pass by La Garage, I’ll want to take every single delicious baked good home with me. Behind the small kiosco-sized counter, the talented young bakers Sol Eskenazi, Martina Schvarzstein, and Cami Malvido (who has since moved on) make an incredible assortment of sweet and savory treats like cakes, cookies, tarts, grilled cheese sandwiches, shokupan on challah bread, babka rolls, shakshuka, knishes, and while it’s not always on the menu, the best pita bread I’ve had in BA.
Okay, now after writing this I’ve tempted myself and I’m going to have to make a special trip to La Garage because in the words of the great Issa Rae: “Let a bitch eat drink and be merry.”
Arévalo 2253, Palermo Hollywood || Wed-Sat: 9:30am – 7pm || Average price: $-$$
Argot Café
Do you ever walk into a restaurant and instantly get a good feeling about the place before even trying the food? That’s what happened to me on a sunny fall morning last week. When I came back to Buenos Aires after being away for a few months, Argot was on the top of my list to try. I had a hankering for an Argie breakfast of champions (medialuna + cortado), so I ventured to Villa Santa Rita. Unfortunately, when I arrived in the morning, the medialunas were still fermenting (they aren’t ready until after mediodía), but fortunately, however, the pastry table was filled with delicious things like palmeritas, torta de ricotta, cookies, cakes, and, my choice of the day, chipa, which they popped in the oven and served it warm. (Public Service Announcement: Chipa, which is essentially cheese bread made from mandioc flour, is HIGHLY SUPERIOR when freshly made or warmed up in the oven).
Argot’s friendly laid-back vibe is inviting. I chilled there and watched the crew of young women in the kitchen baking, drinking mate, and taste testing their creations. They discussed flavor profiles and asked one another if they should make any changes to the dish, which was refreshing to witness that sort of collaboration in such a patriarchal industry where it’s so common for the leader of the brigade to bark orders at the kitchen staff.
After my café con chipa, I took a nice mosey down Álvarez Jonte street through Villa Santa Rita and the lovely Paternal, another one of my favorite neighborhoods in BA, and stumbled across some great Maradona street art. It was a lovely Buenos Aires morning that I hope to repeat sometime soon.
Álvarez Jonte 2744, Villa Santa Rita || Wed-Sun:10am – 7pm || Average price: $-$$
Bonus Track: Mel Belilos’s Pastry Box
It’s always inspiring to hear about hard-working cooks who take a leap from the restaurant world grind and start their own projects. Mel Belilo has an impressive resume staging in prestigious Michelin-starred kitchens in Spain (like El Celler de Can Roca, have ya’ heard of it?). Most recently she was working her magic at La Kitchen in Saavedra, home to the most incredible fosforitos, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and pastrami sandwiches. And now, she is making pastry boxes to order. The contents of the box change regularly, for example, my box had queso Vasca cheesecake, white chocolate and lemon cake, chipa, alfajor, and INSANELY GOOD cookies like the cookie carmelia with milk chocolate, caramel, and crunchy DDL pearls. If you’re like me and never want to turn down a great cookie, I highly recommend ordering from Mel. (You can order from her via Instagram).
