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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires restaurants > Café Francés Café FrancésScalabrini Ortiz 550 (@ Aguirre); Tel. +(011.54.11) 4857.5105
Café Francés must surely be the most bizarrely decorated nightspot in Buenos Aires. It pretty much looks like a curiosity shop that’s been attacked by a car boot sale and taken over by extraterrestrials with very peculiar ideas about interior design. The huge rectangular space is divided into three main sections. Eye-catching features include a full bath tub, a several meter long display cabinet brimming with silverware, about two hundred glass soda siphons (all blue), armies of statuettes so kitsch it borders on the obscene, and a bunch of ancient TVs that can only have been acquired at church bazaar. The whole crazy assembly is lit by the largest density of chandeliers in the southern hemisphere as well as a forest of neon signs and jumbled clusters of Christmas tree lights. Just to add a twist of the truly surreal there are also two pool tables parked in the middle of the restaurant. Oh, and an absolutely enormous adobe brick oven. It’s that kind of place. On Fridays and Saturdays Café Francés plays host to spectacular three-and-a-half-hour dance shows, featuring swing, flamenco and tango performers. The events kick off at midnight and entry is free with dinner. The menu lists an astonishing wealth of pizza variations named, for unknown reasons, after historical figures. Favorites include a sausage, parmesan and Roquefort option, or how about the Argentine classic palmitos (palm hearts) and salsa golf (thousand island dressing)? It’s better than it sounds. The pizzas, which are utterly amazing, cost between $12AR and $28AR. The exclusively Argentinean wine list offers Cabernet Sauvignons, Malbecs and more for about $25AR each, whereas bottles of Quilmes and Warsteiner cost a very reasonable $5AR. Special offers include pizza and a beer for $16AR. Why somebody would start up such a ridiculous and completely brilliant place in the otherwise sedate and uninspiring barrio of Villa Crespo is a mystery. But then there’s a lot about Café Francés that doesn’t exactly make sense. —Café Francés review by Johan Jensen
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