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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires restaurants > Vincente Resto Bar Vincente Resto BarGral. Juan D. Perón 1307 (@ Talcuhuana); Tel. +(011.54.11) 4374.2029
On a quiet little street, a few blocks across the highway that separates the micro-centre from the sprawling barios is a café-bar dedicated to a man who cut off his ear. Vincente Resto Bar lives in a different Buenos Aires: Parisian street scenes of cobbled roads and starry nights, deep yellow lights and sidewalk cafes. Only a few places in Buenos Aires live up to the Parisian café culture to which it is so often compared, and at first appearance Vincente Resto Bar is not one of them. Instead it is burdened by the city’s economic reality and the tight industrial streets of the eastern borders of Once. But what it cannot change on the outside is thoroughly vexed by the scene created on the inside: a soulful ambiance of surrealist imagery beginning with Van Gogh ambiance and veering towards Salvador Dali. The intimate air-conditioned space delivers basic wooden furniture to a mixed crowd of young intellectual types, contrasted with a few aging clients who seem like just the type of grandparents any of the youth would love to share an afternoon with. With the assistance of friendly and attractive bar staff the crowd maintains a semblance of intrigue and exuberance not often found in the downtown area. The selection of food is Argentinean, loud and proud, with equal space on the menu accorded to Carne Roja (red meat) as it is to the combination of chicken, fish, and soy products. To round it off, pastas sneak in near the menu’s rear, where Noquis plus bolognaise will cost $8AR. One of the cheapest litres in town can be had here, with a Quilmes coming in at only $5AR, although don’t bother asking about the Cerveza Michael Jackon which is advertised strictly in the interest of humour. —Vincente Resto Bar review by Murdoch Stephens
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