Cabaña Las Lilas

Walking into Cabaña Las Lilas for the first time is a small piece of theatre, and that is before any food has arrived.

The room is exactly what you want it to be: polished tourist temple, but the beef holds up. We were seated near the back, given menus we hardly needed, and brought a small bowl of olives without being asked.

We started with a small dish of marinated white anchovies, which set the tone — generous, unfussy, and confident enough not to crowd what was coming. With it we ordered a Chianti Classico Riserva I wrote down in my notebook, and were glad of both.

Then the main event: bife de lomo, the dish that puts Cabaña Las Lilas on every short list. The crust was the colour of dark mahogany, and the inside was a confident, even pink the whole way through. The signature touch — Puerto Madero waterfront views and confident service — is not a gimmick; it is the reason to come.

For sides we asked for buttered haricots verts and skin-on fries, twice-fried. Both arrived hot, both arrived early, both were exactly large enough to overdo it. We overdid it.

Dessert was panna cotta with stewed cherries, mostly because the waiter raised an eyebrow when we hesitated. He was right to.

I paid the bill, walked out into the Buenos Aires evening, and put the address back into the notebook with a star next to it.