Cafe Tortoni The Oldest Cafe in Buenos Aires
Cafe Tortoni (1858): The Oldest Cafe in Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
Cafe Tortoni is one of the most popular cafes in Buenos Aires. If you ask around, they will ask you to visit this cafe. On top of that, Cafe Tortoni is one of the oldest cafes in the capital of Argentina and it is also featured and mentioned in many travel maps and guide books. Hence, the cafe is highly recommended and their location is near the popular tourist area, Florida Street.
Established in 1858, with the history of more than 150 years old, Café Tortoni caters both the locals and the tourists. Located at Avenida de Mayo 825 ,Buenos Aires City, the café or coffee shop is accessible by public transport such as public busses or the subway.
As I walked out of the Florida Street, I asked my way to Tortoni. Though most Argentines don’t speak English, the word “Tortoni” definitely helps as most people knew about it.
I walked pass the coffee shop, silly me.
As I realized, I stood in front of the grand “Café Tortoni” glass door. Instead of hurrying entering the cafe, I spent much time taking photos of the details of the exterior of the restaurant.
As I walked in, I was blown away by the ambience as well as the old interior design that is more than over one hundred year old.
I was greeted by a well dressed waiter who got me to a seat and you can see many other customers can't stop snapping pictures of the interior.
I went there first thing in the morning to avoid the crowd. As time passed, more customers coming in for the brunch and just minutes, the Cafe Tortoni was packed.
The coffee as I was told is good, however I ordered another recommendation, the “Chocolate con tres churros”. For the dessert, I had a simple chocolate cake.
The hot chocolate with milk came with the compliments of churros. Adding the right amount of milk, the drink was simply sinful and good. Churros was the extra and the cake was equally matched the drink. Having such a sinful breakfast mean that I had “to walk off” the calories after that.
I loved how they preserved the café but it would be nicer if Rachel was there with me. Having breakfast alone was so depressing. If you are Buenos Aires, Cafe Tortoni is a great place for the experience and probably for the food too. For this trip, I spent almost one month in Argentina without knowing Spanish and I survived. Argentina is one of the most beautiful countries I visited.
Café Tortoni Address:
Gran Café Tortoni Av. de Mayo 825 Buenos Aires
Argentina
Tel: 54-11- 43424328
Awww, I missed this place when I was there and went to Hard Rock Cafe instead! lol. Who knows, maybe next time when I re-visit B.A. By the way, the place looks really cool!
David
.-= David @ Malaysia Asia´s last blog ..Shanghai Food in Kuala Lumpur at JW Marriott =-.
Revisit BA, a wise choice indeed. I should have gone to Uruguay as well. Sigh.
How lovely! I went to a similar cafe in Eastern Europe and was actually overwhelmed by how rich the breakfasts they served were – the eggs were practically inundated in cream! Guess people in the old days knew how to really pack on the extras!!
Well, I heard so much about the beauty of Eastern Europe. It must been amazing for u to be there.
This cafe is great! If you wish to see others cafes like the cafe tortoni book a tour with BsAs4u, this tour is really good to see argentina culture.
damn cool lar u!
.-= simonso´s last blog ..Chinese Cuisine =-.
What a great resource!
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
Cafe Tortoni is indeed one of the magical coffee places that exist around all Buenos Aires, if you like a professional tour to the classic cafes of Buenos Aires we invite you to click: Cafe Tour Buenos Aires
Thank you very much for the writer of the article for this beneficial information.
Lovely place. It gives me the mafia feel (judging from your photo). Would definitely drop a visit when I’m going there (in future!) lol!
Thanks for sharing this review. I visited Tortoni Cafe too, and 36 Billares, La Biela, Grand Splendid, and Confitería La Ideal as a part of the Historic cafes Tour, me and my husband took this February. We loved the fileteado artwork, the vaulted ceilings, the gloriously beat-up furniture, the waiters in bowties, the checkerboard floors. Everything made for a perfect café environment. Some of the cafés were breathing and living museums.
We fell in love with Tortoni Cafe and especially with the sculpted trio in the corner. Over the years such talented and famous people sat right there in this same chair comfortably in literary discussion over their coffee. At the end of the tour we visited the biggest book shop in Latin America which has a Cafe inside and you can take a book and read it, taking a sweet coffe, and then return the book, for free !
This book shop used to be a huge theatre, really amazing. The tour company is Kangoo Tours: http://www.kangootours.wix.com/tours . I highly recommend this tour