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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires nightlife > Casa Brandon Casa BrandonLuis Maria Drago 236 (@ Julian Alvarez); Tel. + (011.54.11) 4858.0610
Casa Brandon flouts generalisations: a quiet club for pre-bar drinks one evening, a fashion runway the next, a cinema the following day. Topping it off, on every second Saturday Brandon creates the epicentre of Buenos Aires gay and creative youth with the popular Brandon Gay Day– a meeting that embodies activism, art, alcohol and amor (entrance $15AR; check for locations). While a centre for gays and lesbians, Brandon is just as welcoming to any sexual orientation, as long as visitors show the same tolerance. What a refreshing change it is to have couches lathered with frenching lesbians, rather than the usual cat-and-mouse games of hetero Argentines. The interior is a pastel assault on the senses: stripes, swirls, circles and the odd square. The bombastic spectrum of colours focuses on the warmer side of the rainbow, with a distinctive lean towards reds, oranges, and yellows. And unlike many of Buenos Aires more popular bars, Casa Brandon appears to have actually had the help of an interior designer who was given an appropriate budget. Each of the three (or is that four?) levels offers a different setting, from the traditional bar on the ground floor, to the sparse lounging space on the second, to the removed and tranquil hideaway on the third. Off the main second floor space are three separate balconies for privacy and smoking - this has the feeling of sitting in a box at the theatre where the stage is the street below. A litre of Heineken goes for $10AR, Quilmes for $8AR, while a smart selection of appetisers and deserts leaps from the children’s book like menu. Check their website for occasional evenings which include a full meal and drinks, starting at $AR55. —Casa Brandon review by Murdoch Stephens
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