Bi Won is the Bi-Bomb

This will, semi-sadly, be my last BA food post in a while.  I just moved back to the US for 4 months and while I'm extremely sad to have left BA, I've already been to my favorite Japanese restaurant and whole foods - so I'm in food heaven yet again.  You can expect LOTS of San Francisco food posts very soon. 

While in BA, however, I finally made it to Bi Won, a Korean restaurant in Congreso that had been on my list for years.  The atmosphere was pretty boring, but the service and food made up for it big time.  We ordered the bibimbap, a rice dish with veggies, eggs, and a sweet-spicy sauce.  The waiter mixes it all up for you and it's perfect.  Then we ordered the BBQ pork of some sort (I can't remember the name), but it was on the first page of the menu and an absolute must.  Sweet, spicy, interesting, tender, the bi-bomb.  In fact, if I go back, I'm going to have to order both of those dishes again and an additional two because I don't think I could go without them.  We also order a bottle of soju which is a Korean sake of sorts and really delicious.  Plates are aboout $60 pesos each on average, but they come with all those sides you see.  It's a great deal for all the food, and probably a more fun place to go in a big group.  Put it on the list!

Soju

Side dishes

Bibimbap

BBQ Pork

Niji - Japanese Restaurant Review

Grilled Octopus

Sushi Roll

Gyoza - looks bigger than it was.  We ate them all!

Combo Platter with Fish, sashimi, sweet potato, tofu, miso soup and rice

Niji is a relatively authentic Japanese restaurant in Belgrano.  I had read some good stuff about it and was VERY excited to give it a try.  Some things were the bomb, but it was an overall let down in my opinion.  First off, the service was a joke.  There was ONE menu to share with the whole restaurant and the waitress kept taking pieces of it away before we decided.  It's also in Japanese with no prices so it's kind of a point and hope for the best situation.  It was topped off when we ordered the 500 ml sake and she brought a small bottle, sneakily divided into 2 pitchers.  I new that it was less than 500ml so I asked her to bring the rest once we finished the original portion.  She freaked out and explain that they only had 300ml left because they had run out, and was sorry for the mix up.  The 300 peso bill came with the large sake crossed out and the price reduced.  They totally tried to skimp us and charge extra.  Not cool!

The grilled octopus was good, gyoza was pretty good.  Sushi and sashimi were great, and the fish and sides were just ok.  It's authentic and a cute place, but for the price, I wouldn't go back.

Corn Soup - had the ganas and got 'er done!

It's slightly torturous to live in Argentina and read all my cooking blogs from the US because they have summer veggies and fruit while we're in winter and can't get any of the same ingredients.  I kept reading summer corn recipes for soup and corn cakes.  I figured that that was one ingredient we had here during the winter so I threw a couple fresh corncobs in with some roasted squash and onions to make a pretty delicious soup.  It was a little thick for my taste, so next time I'll be sure to add more water or broth.  Serve with chopped ciboulette, "sour cream", and buttery toast. 

Sauteed Leek and Corn with Cobs

Roasted Squash and Onions

Nice warm bowl of soup

Ingredients:
3 Ears of corn with kernels cut off
1 large leek, sliced (only until the green part)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large onion (chopped large)
1-2 cups chopped butternut squash
3 cups chicken broth or water
Salt, pepper, and garnish


Directions:
Add the squash and onions to a roasting pan.  Sprinkle with olive oil, a touch or honey, and salt.  Roast until tender and beginning to caramelize.  Stir occasionally.  

Add leeks to a buttered or oiled pot.  Saute until cooked through, add garlic.  Add corn and the cobs.  Saute until everything is cooked a gets a little color/char from the pot.  Add the water and simmer until the squash and onions are cooked through.

When everything is ready, add all the ingredients together and put them in a blender.  Blend for 30 secs to 1 min until you get a smooth texture.  Less time if you like your soup more chunky.  Add the soup back to the pot and add salt and pepper to taste.  At any point so can add more broth to make the soup thinner.  Keep cooking on low so that the flavors continue to develop.  Serve with garnish and toast.

Randall's: American Diner in Buenos Aires

I heard quite a bit of hype about Randall's in Palermo from the expat world looking for a real diner experience.  The is nothing more "American" than greasy, soak-up-the-hangover, brunch food on a Sunday morning and Randall's didn't disappoint.  We ordered pancakes and the philly cheese steak, which I know, is quite the combination!  (Worse is that we were about to order chili-cheese hotdogs and pancakes, but they were out of hotdogs). 

The pancakes were sweet and fluffy.  The philly cheese steak had an interesting, slightly greasy sauce dripping out that I didn't much care for, but it was equally good.  An overall plus in my book and if I weren't going back to the US for 4 months in a couple weeks, I'd definitely go back to Randall's to get my US fix. 

Buttermilk Pancakes with a fried egg

Philly cheese steak

Korea Town Eating Adventure

Restaurant Mido is quickly becoming a favorite among expats in Buenos Aires, and for good reason.  Mido is a Korean all-you-can-eat BBQ in Flores that doesn't skimp on the portions (hence the all-you-can-stuff policy) or the flavor.  You arrive to a very humble restaurant with tables all set up with 20 different side dishes to pile onto your meat and rice bowls.  They bring plates of already marinated, raw pork, beef, and prawns to grill yourself on the "hotplate" at each table.  You put together crazy creations with seaweed and kimchi, drink a little too much soju, and most wander across the street after for a grand ol' karaoke sesh!  I really wanted it to be the best food ever, but it was just really good, not knock my socks off spectacular.  But we ate until we could explode and drank beer and soju without limits for $100 pesos each.  Not bad at all for what you got.  It's quite the trek and in a bit of a sketch neighborhood, but it's worth it.  Gather up the gaggle of amigos and poner las pilas because it's a unique experience in BA.

Raw meat plate, slightly overwhelming at first

Grill sesh #1

Happy customers

Sauce was the bomb and so were my lettuce wraps

And the creativity begins

Note ALL the alcohol next to Talia

And then things started getting out of control

My style pasta primavera

Pasta Primavera my style

Sometimes when I'm feeling like eating healthy I go to the verduleria and pick out one of each colored vegetable.  The food looks great and makes you feel good.  This was a simple rice noodle pasta with sauteed veggies and grated parmesan cheese.  Simple and tasty.

Ingredients:
Rice pasta
Veggies of choice: carrots, corn, onion, bell pepper, etc
3 cloves garlic
Bunch of basil
Grated cheese
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Bring salted water to a boil.  Add the noodles and boil for 5 min, lower heat and eventually turn off.  They cook fast and are easy to work with.  Just taste to make sure they are tender, and drain.

Saute veggies in a pan.  Add onion and garlic first, cook 5 minutes and then add the rest.  Add the pasta to the sauteed veggies and mix in chopped basil.

Serve with grated cheese on top and salt and pepper to taste.