Gran Bar Danzon + Palacio Duhau

(Katherine) Our intention was to head to Uruguay for a day trip, but the overcast sky, Robert's slight head cold, and a final walk-thru with our landlord prompted us to stay local. After a lingering brunch at Placerme, the cafe across the street, we decided that we would make the evening a night of decadence, visiting two of the 5-star venues on our BA list.


The first, Gran Bar Danzon, was just a couple of blocks away, and we had already been in for a cocktail once before. However, we really wanted to go in and take advantage of their “Sushi Happy Hour” which is a glass of white wine and a plate of sushi. We had very low expectations going in because the place is so hip, sleek, and modern that we assumed there wouldn't be much of a value in the $33 peso offering. I'm very pleased to say were were wrong! The white wine was quite nice (a Santa Julio Chardonnay) and the sushi offering was fairly generous and GOOD. I think we ended up with 9 pieces each, a combination of nigiri and rolls. I would highly recommend taking advantage of this deal, which is offered between 7-9:00pm M-Th, and 8-10:00 Friday. You definitely feel like you are sitting in one of the hippest bars in NY while at this venue!

Our second adventure took us to a building which we had walked past numerous times in the neighborhood, but it looks so daunting that we had to get up the courage to go inside. The venue looks like a huge white mansion from the outside, and is located on the nicest street in Buenos Aires. It is actually a Park Hyatt which is called Palacio Duhau, and it is famous for having an art gallery and a section of their restaurant which is just referred to as The Cheese Room. It was rather intimidating approaching the mansion, as it has 3 men in dark suits who look like the secret service standing at various posts. But once we walked up, one approached us and kindly escorted us to the appropriate doorway. Once inside, you immediately felt that your shoes and handbag weren't worthy of being in the same room as the fine bottles of wine which were prominently displayed in built-in wine racks. Another series of wine racks were built in the center of the room, but all in refrigerated cases. A few lounge chairs sat before us, along with a huge community table with two couple on each end – we opted to sit in the middle and quietly began to peruse the menu.

We had read a few reviews on TripAdvisor that people had been pressured to purchase extremely expensive bottles of wine, but our experience was just the opposite. We were greeted by Fabio, who was very friendly, spoke perfect English, and was extremely knowledgeable of both the wine and cheese, I delicately explained to him that we were on an extended honeymoon (budget) and he was able to make several recommendations from the pages I had open (i.e. lower prices.) We settled on a Grand Malbec, which is a term for a more premiere kind of Malbec. The one we choose was about 85 pesos, which was more than we had spent at any restaurant, but it was completely worth it for the atmosphere (bottles were listed to over 1000 pesos). There were dozens of cheeses in their offering, and Fabio helped us to select a goat cheese for our first one, and then a pungent blue cheese for our second. Quick note to BA travelers – we did not notice this at first, but although they list $40 pesos per cheese, you can actually get 2 cheeses for $55 pesos. We ordered one, and upon completion ordered the second. I would not recommend getting the 4 cheese sampler for $185 as we saw both of the other couples turn in their plates with quite a bit of cheese left over – it is extremely filling!

Our server was quite taken with the concept of our honeymoon, and as we noshed on cheese and wine we struck up a great conversation with him. It tuned out he was from Iguassu town, and gave us advise about the falls. We told him about SF and our wine country, as he is planning to have the Hyatt send him there next year to learn about our wine. He even let me inside their prized cheese room for a photo (above) which the NY Times ranks as one of the top 10 cheese rooms in the world.

We departed the room and walked out of the restaurant, only to realize that we had forgotten to walk through the art gallery. One of the “secret service” agents noticed our confusion, asked us where we wanted to go, and proceeded to escort us through part of the gallery. He even offered to take a photo of us in front of a piece that was painted by a famous BA artist – such wonderful service!

Overall, the 5-star atmosphere, classical music, fine wine, beautiful artwork and some of the best cheese in the world made this a truly memorable and classy experience.