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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires restaurants > Saint Nicholas Cafe Pub Saint Nicholas Cafe PubBartolome Mite 1699 (@ Rodriguez Pena); Tel. + (11.54.11) 4372.4473
Below the YHA hostel of the same name, Saint Nicholas Café Pub, is a gem of solitude and free space in a crowded city. After the morning crowd of breakfasting hostellers have departed, the café takes on the feel of a business that once thrived, but is now dormant. Thus resembling the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Saint Nick’s is the only café I have seen in Buenos Aires where tables are not piled together to meet the demands of maximum patronage. Instead, the interior evokes the feeling of a café haplessly located in a gymnasium. The furnishings, however, are grand: the highlight being two enormous and secluded booths which could comfortably fit six. The upstairs area seems to have formerly been another seating area, but it is now closed, and piled with office equipment, and unwanted tables, and chairs. If there is one place where a quiet afternoon could be whittled away with the morning’s notes from Spanish class then it is Saint Nicholas. And if the opposite of solitude is desired, then at the least Saint Nicholas is a great spot to hustle into a group of eclectic backpackers. Accompanying the stark but resplendent décor is a menu that is solely stark. ‘It is a café, not a restaurant’ the sole employee sheepishly explains in Spanish. Considering the type of food on the menu and the difficulty with which it must be prepared the chef could be one of the backpackers with all the equipment of the hostel’s kitchen. A few types of sandwiches are available for between $3AR and $4.50AR. The infamous Argentine ‘Super Pancho’ (just a hotdog) is available for the same price as the cheapest sandwich. Alfajores and salads are also available. The price of a bottle of Michael Torino wine ought to allude to the quality of its contents: $8AR. For the same price, a litre of Stella Artois can grace your table. —Saint Nicholas Cafe Pub review by Murdoch Stephens
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