Imagine a restaurant in Buenos Aires where no one has ordered steak. That's asking the impossible in a city that regards beef as the staff of life. Yet there is one place where this could happen. It is Jangada in Palermo Hollywood, a restaurant that specializes in fish.
The choice is between river fish with exotic names such as pacu, boga and tararira or sea fish such as salmon and corvina. Pacu is so large that you have to share a serving with friends. The thin layer of fish and skin covers a plank garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, fat potato wedges and, what impressed me most, excellent crunchy onion rings. The fish itself is rather bland and oily.
My group started with an appetizer platter that included rabas (squid rings), fried vegetables in beer batter, fish sticks made with surubi, which is another river fish, and a bowl of mushrooms.
Our wine expert ordered a chilled Alamos 2004 Malbec Maceracion Atenuada from Catena Zapata in Mendoza. The long name means this Malbec had only 24 hours of skin contact and no time in oak. Light and fresh, it's a good match for seafood.
Jangada occupies an old house on a corner in what has become a trendy restaurant neighborhood. The burgundy and white room has, as you might expect, driftwood and seashells displayed on one wall. But there is land-based food too, including pasion de ardillas, a ground nut semifreddo on a cookie-like base decorated with caramel and chocolate sauces. It's true that ardillas are passionate about nuts, but I doubt they'll ever taste this dessert. They're squirrels.
Jangada, Honduras 5799, Palermo Hollywood, Buenos Aires. Tel: 4777-4193.
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