Tres Monos ★ 4.8
Buenos Aires' top cocktail bar; #10 in the World's 50 Best Bars 2025. Open Tuesday to Saturday until 03:00; standing room at the bar past midnight.
Try: Cocktails and bar snacks
Argentine national mixed drink: Italian bitter Fernet Branca poured generously, topped with Coca-Cola over ice. Bittersweet, herbal, and the default order at almost every porteno bar.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Fernet Branca arrived with Italian immigration in the late 1800s. The mix with Coca-Cola was popularised in Cordoba in the 1980s by students cutting the bitter Italian amaro with the cheaper local cola, and spread nationwide through the 1990s. Argentina is now the world's largest market for Fernet Branca and the drink remains the bar-default of porteño nightlife; Branca operates an Argentine bottling plant.
Tip from the editors. The Cordoban tradition is one part Fernet to three parts Coke. Hardened drinkers go 1:2.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Buenos Aires' top cocktail bar; #10 in the World's 50 Best Bars 2025. Open Tuesday to Saturday until 03:00; standing room at the bar past midnight.
Try: Cocktails and bar snacks
Tato Giovannoni's subterranean cocktail bar behind the cold-room door of a Retiro flower shop. World's 50 Best Bars list; menu themed by immigrant origins.
Signature drink: Princeps gin and tonic with Principe de los Apostoles yerba mate gin
Food: Tapas, grilled meat, fish
The original Buenos Aires speakeasy: phone-booth door, access code, cocktail room behind it. Palermo Hollywood since 2011; many copycats, original remains.
Signature drink: Classics with Argentine twists
Food: None
Palermo Soho speakeasy hidden behind a coffee bar; walk through Victoria Brown coffee, find the sliding door. Vintage room, Argentine craft spirits.
Signature drink: Modern signatures and tea-infused cocktails
Food: Small plates
More cities are in research. Want fernet con coca covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.