53 editor-picked argentine restaurants across 13 cities.
Argentine cuisine is shaped by two huge facts: the Pampas, the grassland that made the country one of the world's great beef producers, and the late-19th-century Italian and Spanish migration that, in some neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, made Italian the lingua franca. The result is a national kitchen that runs on grilled beef, fresh and stuffed pastas, milanesas (the Italo-Argentine breaded cutlet), pizza in a thick fugazzeta style, and dulce de leche in everything sweet.
The asado, Argentina's wood-fire grill, is more than a cooking method. It is the social unit. Weekend afternoons across the country are organized around an asador (the home cook running the parrilla), a few cuts of beef, chorizo, morcilla, sweetbreads, and a long table. The fire is built with wood (lena) or hardwood charcoal, the parrilla bars sit high above the coals, and the meats cook slowly over several hours. Salt, sometimes chimichurri, is the entire seasoning kit.
Buenos Aires, where roughly a third of the country lives, is the cuisine's center, but Mendoza (malbec country), Cordoba, Salta (with empanadas saltenas), and Patagonia (lamb on a stake) all hold their own traditions. The country's Italian heritage means that pizza, pasta, and gelato are eaten with the same seriousness as steak: a Buenos Aires Sunday is often pasta at the family table, not asado.
The center of beef culture and Italian-Argentine cooking. Parrillas, pizzerias, pastas, and the cafe culture of Cafe Tortoni and the city's notables bares. The cuisine that travels best as 'Argentine.'
Malbec country. Cuyo cooking pairs with wine: parrilla, locro (the national stew of corn, beans, squash, and pork), goat (chivo), olive-oil-based cooking shaped by Spanish heritage.
Andean influence, closer to Bolivia and Peru. Empanadas saltenas (smaller, juicier, with potato), tamales, humita, locro, llama and goat. The most-distinct regional cuisine.
Cordero al palo (whole lamb on a cross-shaped iron stake roasted next to a fire), Patagonian trout, king crab (centolla), Welsh-Argentine tea cakes (torta galesa) in Gaiman, and the wine country of the Rio Negro valley.
At a parrilla, the diagnostic order is tira de asado (cross-cut short ribs) for one or two, plus a side of vacio or entrana, provoleta to start, and a green salad. Don't order the steak well-done in Argentina; medium-rare to medium is the local norm and the kitchen will be slightly horrified by a request for more. At a pizzeria, fugazzeta or mozzarella-and-anchovy (fugazzeta con anchoas, the historic Buenos Aires combination); pizza is sometimes ordered by the meter at large tables.
Meal times run late: lunch from 1pm, dinner from 9pm minimum, asado lunches go from 1pm well into the afternoon. Tipping is 10 percent at restaurants, not built in. The Argentine restaurant scene divides into bodegones (family restaurants serving milanesas, pastas, asado, large portions, fixed-price lunch menus), parrillas (steakhouse specialists), pizzerias (pizza and empanada specialists), and cafe-bars (the notable bares of Buenos Aires that serve light meals all day). Pick the format that matches what you want; don't expect parrilla-quality steak at a bodegon.
Malbec is the national wine, with Mendoza producing the great bottles (Catena Zapata, Achaval Ferrer, Nicolas Catena Zapata, Bodega Norton). Cabernet sauvignon, bonarda, and torrontes (the white grape of Salta) round out the lineup. Beer (Quilmes is the national lager; craft beer has exploded since 2015) is the parrilla-pairing alternative. Fernet con coca, fernet branca mixed with Coca-Cola, is the Argentine working-class digestivo and one of the country's most-drunk cocktails. Mate, the national drink, is shared rather than ordered.
Buenos Aires is the obvious capital, with the deepest parrilla scene (Don Julio, La Cabrera, La Brigada, El Pobre Luis), the city's pizza culture (Guerrin, El Cuartito, Pin Pun), the historic cafes (Cafe Tortoni, El Federal, La Biela), and the contemporary fine-dining cohort (Aramburu, Mishiguene, Don Julio in its modern parrilla form, Tomo). Mendoza for wine country and the parrilla-and-wine pairing. Salta for empanadas saltenas and Andean cooking. Patagonia for lamb on the cross. Outside Argentina, Italian-Argentine food appears in Miami, New York, Madrid, and Barcelona (which has the largest Argentine diaspora in Europe).
Argentine cuisine took its modern shape between 1880 and 1930, when 7 million European immigrants (mostly Italian and Spanish) arrived in a country of 4 million people. The Italian influence transformed the country's everyday cooking: pasta, pizza, milanesa, and gelato (helado) became staples. The Pampas grassland and the late-19th-century refrigeration revolution made Argentine beef a major export. The asado tradition descends from the gaucho cattle culture of the 19th-century Pampas.
It is among the best, particularly grass-fed (pastura) beef from the Pampas. The breeds (Aberdeen Angus and Hereford crosses) and the grass diet produce a specific flavor profile (beefy, mineral, less fatty than US grain-finished beef). It's not necessarily better than top US Prime or Japanese wagyu; it's different and excellent.
Argentine pasta tends to be softer, more thoroughly cooked, with heavier sauces (often tomato or cream-based). Italian pasta is al dente, often dressed lightly. The Argentine Italian-Argentine pasta tradition descends from southern Italian immigration and is its own family-cooking tradition.
Milk and sugar slowly heated together for hours until the milk caramelizes into a thick, sweet, light-brown paste. Argentina considers it a national invention (disputed by Uruguay and Chile, who also claim origins). It's used in alfajores, ice cream, churros, on toast, and as a dessert sauce or filling.
Salmuera on Rozengracht in the Jordaan is the Amsterdam Argentinian-Mexican grill, a long charcoal asado at the back and an over-70-bottle mezcal list.
Signature: Charcoal-grilled beef, Empanadas, Provoleta
Order: Bife de chorizo from the asador, provoleta and empanadas to start.
Tip: Book the bar to watch the grill. Mezcal flights are a notable detour from the wine pairing.
Belen de la Cruz in Atlanta's Westside bakes Argentinian empanadas for $3.80 each: beef, chicken, vegetarian, gluten-free, plus dulce de leche pastries.
Try: Argentinian empanadas
Tip: Three empanadas plus a dulce de leche pastel makes a $15 lunch. The chimichurri travels well in a takeaway tub.
The defining Palermo Soho parrilla. Latin America's 50 Best #1 in 2020 and 2024, #3 in 2025; one Michelin star and a Green Star in the 2024 BA guide.
Even Argentina's LA50B-#3 parrilla keeps the grill lit late. 22:30 reservations are standard; the Palermo room runs at full noise until midnight.
Try: Bife de chorizo and provoleta
16-18 course tasting in Pasaje del Correo, Recoleta. Two Michelin stars in 2024, the only Argentine restaurant at that tier; Relais and Chateaux since 2022.
Maria Empanada in Denver is the South Broadway Argentine empanada counter since 2013, with $4 hand-folded beef, chicken and vegetable empanadas.
Try: Argentine empanadas
The Original Marini's Empanada House in Houston is the Argentine family kitchen on Westheimer in Westchase since 2007 (1971 in Montrose), with 80 savoury.
Signature: Beef empanadas, Argentine flan
Order: Classic beef empanada (baked, the original), the corn empanada, the dulce de leche dessert version.
Tip: Order half-dozen mixed (savoury) plus a single sweet to taste. The fried versions are heavier; baked is closer to the Argentine original.
The Original Marini's Empanada House in Houston is the Argentine family kitchen on Westheimer in Westchase since 2007, with 80 savoury and 39 sweet empanadas.
Try: Argentine beef empanadas
Tip: Order half-dozen savoury plus a sweet flan empanada to share. Baked is closer to the Argentine original than fried.
Beba is the Schor brothers' warm Verdun restaurant in Montreal, cooking Argentine plates through a Spanish and Italian lens on a quiet residential corner.
Order: The grilled provoleta and whatever pasta is running that night.
Tip: Verdun feels far but the metro is close; book ahead, the small room fills nightly.
Mercado 60 on Calle 60 Mérida runs 20 stalls with Mexican antojitos, Argentine grill and Italian pasta for 80 to 180 pesos a plate, dinner and late hours.
Try: Mexican antojitos and grill
Le Baratin in Paris's 20e is the Argentine-French intuition bistro Raquel Carena has cooked at since 1992. The chef's favourite chef's restaurant, locals say.
Why locals love it: Raquel Carena's Belleville bistro is the room every Parisian chef calls their favourite when no one is listening; the address is unsigned.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday, often Saturday too. Phone bookings only; no website, no walk-ins.
Gaucho Parrilla Argentina on 6th Street downtown grills Argentine meats over a wood fire in Pittsburgh. A counter-order room with a citywide following.
Signature: Wood-grilled meats, Chimichurri
Order: A grilled cut with chimichurri, plus the grilled provoleta cheese.
Tip: Order at the counter; lines form at lunch. The room moved to 6th Street downtown from the Strip.
Balvanera on Smallman Street in the Strip District serves Argentine asado in Pittsburgh. Chef Fernando Navas runs the wood grill in a 1920s warehouse.
Order: Empanadas, a grilled cut with chimichurri and a Malbec.
Tip: The dining room takes reservations; the bar and bodega are first-come.
Refucilo Winery in Pittsburgh: An Argentine-rooted winery tasting room on the North Side that few realise makes Malbecs with a family link to Mendoza.
Why locals love it: An Argentine-rooted winery tasting room on the North Side that few realise makes Malbecs with a family link to Mendoza.
Tip: Try the Malbec in the tasting room. A low-key alternative to the city's beer-heavy drinking scene.
Aratz Erretegia in San Sebastian's Ibaeta is the Zabaleta brothers' asador in business since 1989, a Guia Repsol Sol grill room of charcoal-cooked txuleta.
Order: The chuleton of vaca vieja from the custom electric grill; the wild turbot a la parrilla.
Tip: Lunch menu del dia weekdays around 17 euros is the value entry. Drive or taxi to Ibaeta; the asador is set in its own grounds off Igara Bidea.
Argentine asado on Holt Street, Surry Hills, Sydney. Hand-cut meats over parilla and pit fire, all-night low-and-slow, long-running Cumulus alumni room.
Signature: Asado-style lamb, Suckling pig, Choripan
Fierro on Carrer del Doctor Serrano in Valencia's Russafa is Argentine chefs Carito Lourenco and German Carrizo's open-kitchen tasting room.
Signature: Tasting menu, Steak, Empanadas
Order: The full tasting menu; there is no a la carte. Add the wine pairing of Spanish-Argentine wines.
Tip: Reserve through the website four weeks ahead. Two seatings per night, dress smart casual.
CAMPO Modern Grill on Podwale in Wrocław runs an Argentine wood-fired grill and a serious South-American wine list. Bife de chorizo, ojo de bife, empanadas.
Signature: Bife de chorizo, Empanadas
Order: The ojo de bife rare with chimichurri, and a glass of Catena Zapata Malbec.
Tip: Book the chef's counter to watch the parilla fire run; the grill master takes orders directly.
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