THE NEW YORK TIMES: Argentina’s financial crisis has a surprising side effect: a flourishing dining scene in Buenos Aires, as residents rush to spend pesos before they lose more value.
Wine glasses clinked in an Art Nouveau culinary gem basking in its restored splendor. It was tasting night in the more than century-old coffeehouse turned restaurant at the old Buenos Aires zoo, as beet tartare, pan-seared squid and a perfect rib-eye floated out of the kitchen, chased by a velvety chocolate mousse.
“As you can see, we are betting hard on the opportunity of the food scene in Argentina,” said Pedro Díaz Flores, on a tour of the restaurant, Águila Pabellon, that he co-owns — the 17th food venture he has opened in Buenos Aires in the past 18 months.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital, a world-class culinary scene is flourishing. That would not necessarily be news if it were not for the fact that Argentina is in the middle of an extraordinary financial crisis.
Inflation is at more than 114 percent — the fourth highest rate in the world — and the street value of the Argentine peso has crumbled, dropping about 25 percent over a three-week period in April. » | Natalie Alcoba | Photographs by Sarah Pabst, Reporting from Buenos Aires | Monday, June 19, 2023
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