Kokochi

Peruvian-Japanese restaurant, Osaka

On Tuesday, we went to Osaka, a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant (Soler 5608 y Fitz Roy). I was very curious, and excited. This place came highly recommended, and was the type of place you had to get reservations days in advance. I read about it in Time Out:

After hitting it big in Lima, the chain established residence in BA in 2005, and the expert kitchen staff has been winning porteno admirers ever since, with a fusion menu featuring truly eclectic creations like duck confit-stuffed samosas and deep-fried Peruvian-style fish in Japanese mushroom sauce. Fresh salmon and shrimp are rolled into sushi or smoked and stuffed into cripsy spring rolls. Culinary adventurers shouldn't miss sampling a few of Osaka's unusual South America-meets-Far East starters...

The decor was lovely, and the menu long and tempting. We ordered three starters that were indeed a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese: ceviche using fish cut in Japanese style with a Peruvian sauce, a flaming causas of shell fish in a butter sauce, and a spoon of tuna on top of some sort of potato mound. All were delicious and new to me. Thereafter though, I made some bad choices and unknowingly ended up with 2 deep-fried dishes that were not my style. One had cream cheese in it, and totally ruined the delicate shellfish aftertaste I was enjoying. I ordered a last dish of grilled fish with a Peruvian spice sauce, but was too full to have more than one bite. If we lived here and needed a break from the mostly Italian or cafe menus, I'm sure I'd pine to eat here more often. However, I realized we are super spoiled coming from San Francisco where we are used to amazing food all the time, and somehow Osaka didn't wow me. The first 3 starters did, so I think it was my bad on menu choices. We skipped any kind of sushi because, well, we can eat that all the time at home. So overall, it was worth it, but better menu choices would have helped as well as feeling like we hadn't had creative fish dishes in a long time.

apartment greenery

It's a dense city here, for sure. There are mostly apartments, and mostly in tall apartment buildings. I took a 2 hour walk yesterday and no matter what road I tried, it was busy with cars. What I do appreciate is how folks make a nice effort to add greenery from their balconies, and since most everyone does it, buildings have a mini-vertical forest thing going on.

sink bath

I will take pics of this gorgeous apartment we're in, but for now, here's one of the kitchen sinks that I designated as T's bathtub. I couldn't find the plug to the main bathtub, and T is not a big fan of showers although she'll tolerate it. The size of the sink is perfect for her, and the height is perfect for me. We like bath time now : )

Tesla's boo boo

When I took Tesla to the park, I had to do a diaper change and could only find a narrow bench. I put her down, and as I got out all the stuff I needed, she rolled off and scraped her face on the dirt. She recovered quickly since she was excited to get to the swings, but there is a mark. In my attempt to get one picture of the aftermath, I took all of these. What I noticed is that more and more, she has Dav's eyes. : )

subway deco

Anytime I'm in a new city, I love taking public transportation to get a feel of it. It tells a lot about how much the city invests in its people and infrastructure, and also it's fun to see different folks using it. We've been taking taxis everywhere since we have Tesla (and there are tons of taxis so it's very easy; I can't imagine why one would bother owning a car in this city). But one day, we went to the city outskirts to meet Pablo at his mom's house, so we took the subway. We rode the blue line, then switched to the green line. The tile deco was a bit old and needed cleaning, but beautiful nonetheless. Check out the blue line's cutting when the wall angled down.

Sunday Antique Market

Every Sunday there is quite an amazing antique, knickknack, and art market at Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo - steps from where we live. Lots of street performers too, and then this wonderful group who plays tango music: I think the short video came out rather well. Of course when I tried to include Tesla watching, she provided some toddler nose-exploration entertainment. She's really into her nose these days...sigh. My catch of the day was antique silverware. For a long time, I've been wanting an eclectic mix of ware that together make a set but with each piece unique. I did not want a matching set. Finding individual spoons, forks, and knives is rather difficult, however, and I found quite spendy in the US (I saw a beautiful fork in Hawaii that cost $50! One fork!). At this market, I scored some really nice heavy pieces that cost from US$5 ~ US$1. Still need 2 knives and 1 spoon, but I'm very happy with my purchases thus far.

Molecular gastronomy dinner!

We had quite an amazing dinner at a place just 2 blocks from our apartment. It's called La Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar (Bolivar 865 entre Independencia y Estados Unidos), and had this description from Time Out:

Among the endless parrillas and pizzerias of San Telmo is a completely new culinary prospect, not just for the area but also for the whole city ...head chef Alejandro Digilio ... is the third chef in the city to earn their wings at what is generally considered the best restaurant in the world [Ferran Adria's Madrid restaurant El Bulli which is at the forefront of the molecular gastronomy movement].

We were excited to try this out, and very pleased. Each course was small, but we went through 20 dishes or so; by the end we were stuffed. The waiter was exceptional, and we were very lucky that he spoke excellent English to explain what the dishes were. We loved being able to sample so many different tastes and textures throughout the meal. It was a fun meal in the sense that some dishes required us to assemble it as we ate, or there was some surprise discovery element. The decor was simple with clean lines. I noticed the nice symmetry on the table before our many dishes arrived. Hot soup onto which cold soup was poured so we could enjoy the contrast by scooping carefully. A secret egg yolk in a square potato. It was delicious. A salmon dish, and a cod soup dish. Each was presented simply and beautifully, and it was a delight to anticipate trying each course. Vegetable terrine, and a meat dish. By the time of the meat dish, I was very full and couldn't finish it. This tiny bubble was called "liquid ravioli" and was made with tea! The dessert was surprisingly huge. By the end of dinner, we lost count of how many dishes had come, and kept saying to each other, "I hope this is the last because I'm really full" but then some other tiny dish would be presented. Overall, a really great experience. With a bottle of wine and local port at the end, the full-blown dinner was just a little over US$100, which is phenomenal. It would cost triple in the US, I think. We have a reservation at famous Japanese-Peruvian place on Tuesday. With prices low, we're taking advantage of trying out high-end places. But with dinners so late, I'm definitely gaining a few : )

snippets from the first apartment in San Telmo

We stayed for the 1st week in Buenos Aires at Casa del Sol in San Telmo. I didn't take many pictures other than these: * Me trying to get a picture of the new bag and sweater I got with a high horizontal mirror. What you see above me is the steel frame for the upstairs landing. * Evening light dinner for us. * Jumble of cables for phone and internet that was all dead. * Nice shadow.

patio lunch at Limbo

We went to the Palermo area in search of a green park for Tesla, and to check it out. According to Time Out, this area is:

Away from the high rises, open spaces and views of the river, Palermo Viejo (Old Palermo) clusters ... Run down and romantic until the early 1990s, Palermo Viejo has since been thoroughly brightened up by restuarants - serving cuisines from all corners of the globe - and fashion and design outlets marking up smelly candles, oversized cushions and art books.

We stumbled across Limbo (Armenia 1820 entre Costa Rica y Nicaragua), a sleek, modern cafe with cushy outdoor seating. We were delighted to find light salads, and a tuna carpachio (with grilled corn, mustard, and arugula). With a crispy bottle of white wine, we spent a few leisurely hours (along with running after Tesla and keeping her entertained). When walking home, we discovered a super original knit shop called Ora Orum, a mother and daughter run shop where they make all their stuff right there. A beautiful long sweater/jacket in the window caught our eyes, which we bought in addition to another sweater and a cute fluffy handbag the woman had just finished making an hour ago.

Some cuteness provided by T

Daddy showing T an old-school metal slide. T holding a seal on a merry-go-round. Tesla really wanted to get in this mini-car on the merry-go-round along with another toddler. Throughout the ride, the other girl kept trying to get out while Tesla kept steering her wheel. We watched some tango dancers one evening, and the woman was smitten by Tesla. During one dance, she scooped up T and brought her into the tango dance. Now that was special! Tesla got a balloon thing from a clown. She loved it, but I didn't. Sure enough, as feared, she popped one section. She was startled, but had no idea what happened so quickly got over it, while mama squirmed in fear of more popping.