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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires > Waiting Room Waiting RoomJuan Manuel Blanes 78 (@ Caboto); Tel. +(011.54.11) 4300.4672
Waiting Room is the Argentine equivalent to a 'greasy spoon'. This restaurant is so far off the beaten track the arrival of foreigners still provokes looks of startled interest from its cluster of regulars. A steady trickle of local mechanics and Uruguayan truck drivers flow through its doors at all hours of the day and night to get their bottle of beer and choripan on the way into Buenos Aires. Even for those not unwinding at the tail end of a long journey this is about re-fuelling - your cup of coffee, empanada, bife de chorizo and no messing about. The restaurant itself is more extended kitchen slash garage than eatery. A scattering of plastic tables and chairs outside stand under an unsteady-looking corrugated-iron roof and the bright red Waiting Room sign looks alarmingly like it might light up at any minute to haul you grudgingly into the dentists chair. Do not be put off by this though, nor the lurid lime-green paint job with which some unfortunately colour-blind person chose to decorate the interior. For there are charms here well hidden to the naked eye. Inside, more often than not, can be found a smattering of some of the friendliest people in Buenos Aires. The clusters of young truck drivers sit at the bar sharing a laugh over a beer at the end of the day are only too delighted to talk to visitors regardless of any linguistic limitations. Old men sit quietly at one of the few tables drinking coffee and smiling the odd toothless grin. This is very much the working mans parilla and its charms as such are all those of simplicity. The three-page menu (there’s just the one) offers your basic selection of empanadas, milanesa, parilla- pasta if your being fussy - and prices reflect the basic nature of the setup. Mini bife de chorizo will set you back $9AR, pasta dishes are around the $5AR mark and empanadas go for a peso apiece. Though just four blocks back from Avenida Almirante Brown – the major La Boca thoroughfare – Waiting Room might just as well be in a different city. Long-haul trucks and stray dogs line the streets. Occasional cars rattle past run-down workshops and children kick footballs in the street on their way home from school. Though perhaps not to everyone’s taste, for a real glimpse of life on the other side of the tracks - away from the glitz and the glamour – this is the place to go. Munch on a cracking choripan, wash it down with a cold cerveza and settle in for a chat with the regulars in this refreshingly genuine atmosphere. —Waiting Room review by Tessa Pettman
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