Meraviglia, Buenos Aires: Cafe of the Week

Meraviglia, Palermo Hollywood Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a cafe city. It's also a steak city. And a pasta city. And an outrageously large ice creams city, but more of that in later posts. Right now, it is also a full 33 degrees hotter than London. I'm so glad our jaunt in South America is over (*sobs into keyboard*).

We stayed in Palermo Hollywood, a neighbourhood full of TV studios, graffiti, dog walkers, fashionistas and  bars, restaurants and cafes on every block.  Think Shoreditch, but with palm trees, instead of rain and ironic Victorian facial hair.

Unlike the grand, European-style cafes of downtown Buenos Aires, with their red leather booths and ceiling fans, the caffs in Palermo Hollywood are contemporary, airy and laid-back. And, in many cases, serving up vibrant, healthy food that wouldn't look lost in Sydney or LA.

Our favourite cafe in Palermo Hollywood is Meraviglia (which means 'delight' or 'wonder' in Italian).  This organic cafe became a regular pit stop during our week in Buenos Aires. With its huge windows, whitewashed walls, wooden tables with green placemats and wheatgrass plants, it's a really bright welcoming space to recover from a night of meat-bingeing.

Indeed, Meraviglia's colourful health food gave us a welcome break from steak. Eating big slabs of delicious cow everyday doesn't make you feel so good. Who knew?

So most mornings, the sun already high in the sky, we'd grab a table outside Meraviglia to the refrain of 'hola chicos' from the friendly waiter. Breakfast was wholesome and delicious but not especially original: scrambled eggs with freshly-baked wholegrain bread, sesame granola, yogurt and fresh fruits with mini bran muffins. All washed down with carrot and ginger juice. The coffee wasn't nearly as bad as most in Argentina, which is a compliment (a resident explained to us that most Argentinian coffee is made with Robusta beans from Brazil, cheaper and rougher than the smooth Arabica.)

Meraviglia, Palermo Hollywood Buenos Aires

But it was at lunches that Meraviglia that really showed imagination. Just check out the salad of lentils, wild rice and toasted nigella and sesame seeds above. It's topped with a bright orange carrot puree and served with a cheese and avocado green salad. Don't you feel healthier just looking at it?

There is one caveat to all that nourishment: the green salad was concealing some crunchy toffee nuggets - bizarre, but not entirely unwelcome.


That Argentine staple, the giant pizza, also gets a healthy makeover chez Meraviglia...

Meraviglia, Palermo Hollywood Buenos Aires

A nutty, wholegrain base is topped with a mound of roasted tomatoes, fresh leaves and seeds. But there's also a reassuring inner circle of melted cheese. This is health-food as an affirmation of the good things in life, rather than an exercise in denial. We need some cafes like Meraviglia in London, pronto.

Meraviglia.com.ar
Meraviglia, Gorriti 5796, esquina Carranza, Palermo, Buenos Aires.