Buenos Aires Café is the sister restaurant to the eponymously named café in Greenwich, albeit more of a restaurant than it’s coffee shop focussed older sibling. The location is, I think, pretty good, being right on Blackheath and having a nice view over the heath, especially if you’re then when the sun sets. Having said that, the spot seems somewhat accursed, there having been at least 3 restaurants on exactly the same pitch in the last few years. The Buenos Aires Café owners must be praying to the right gods, however, as they seem to be avoiding that curse for the time being, the restaurant being full on the Wednesday night that Mr H, Mr W and I visited.

The restaurant itself is rather a small affair, but whilst in some establishments this can create quite a claustrophobic effect, I thought the tables were spaced enough to make it feel on the right side of cosy. The décor consists of many framed snaps of celebrities, which have been quite tastefully presented, but only really make sense when you know that the owner used to be one of the reviled paparazzi pack.

The menu is a straightforward affair, having empanadas and the like for starters with the mains most definitely concentrated on large slabs of prime beef. We decided to share a couple of starters between us and went for the Morcilla (black pudding) and the Chorizo al Oporto. After waiting for about 20 minutes, we rather surprised to be served our mains, which were swiftly returned and under the promise they would be cooked from scratch, once we’d had the starters. When we did get our starters,. although both the Morcilla and Chorizo tasted good, I was a little disappointed that both dishes were so plain, only coming with a smear of sauce, plus a sprig of parsley and half a cherry tomato. I was expecting the chorizo to come with more of the port sauce and actually, to be a lot spicier, as it seemed to be a lot closer to an English pork sausage than any Chorizo I’ve ever eaten before. 

Steaks all round were the order of the day for our mains, with Mr H and I going for the smaller 200g sirloin alla caballa (with 2 fried eggs on top) and Mr P going for the fillet. After the earlier service debacle, I took the precaution of checking which of the sirloin’s was my rare one, compared to Mr H’s medium rare steak. After checking with the kitchen, our waitress still managed to get it wrong. I guess it must have been her first night, because the continuing mistakes were bordering on the impressive. After all that, the steaks were pretty good and the eggs nice and runny. There is something almost symbiotic with the partnership of runny eggs with meat and I did like that being an option on the menu. The accompanying French fries were faultless, although having to pay an extra £2.75 for a side when you’re already paying over £11 for the steak does seem a bit cheeky to me.

Overall, I did like both the atmosphere and the mains were good quality and value for money (although the fillet at £19 was overpriced). One of the things which makes some establishments stand out from others is how they rectify their mistakes, and this can make the difference to me in whether I return or not. The Head Waiter, when presenting our bill, scratched the service from the bill without asking, which I thought was an appropriate gesture in reconciling the mistakes made. Buenos Aires Café could do better, but I think it’s better value that the Gaucho Grill with a more pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. I will be coming back.