Let's Just Say There's Something Finger Lickin' Good and Bad in Buenos Aires

It's been a while since I've been to Buenos Aires and I was really looking forward to this trip. Not only because of the new things I might see, but because of the gravy and mashed potatoes at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).  Oh! That rhymed! I didn't mean it to. 

But you wouldn't believe what happened. 

They shot me right in the heart! 

Calm down! 

There wasn't a mall shooting. This is not the States. Okay? 

So, when we got to KFC, I asked, "May I have some mashed potatoes with gravy with my order? (In Spanish, of course!) 

They said, "We don't do that anymore."

I looked at the cashier like she was speaking in another language (pun intended).  

Then she said, "We now have 'Ensalada Americana,' and I was like, "WHAT IS THAT?" 

And she said, "KOL SLO," which in seconds I realized she meant cole slaw. 

Really KFC? You're going to do that to me? Not cool!

But as angry as we were, we still ordered ourselves a small bucket of KFC crispy chicken strips.

After we were done, we walked around the Alto Palermo Shopping Mall sulking in our sorrow. My husband next to me was ignoring me because he was sad, too. How could KFC Argentina take out such an important side order? We just didn't know what to say. 

We figured we would make our way to KEL, an English-only bookstore. But as we made our way there, I saw the strangest advertisement ever. Keep in mind that this is a family mall. 

A Buttman advertisement!

Yeah, the name itself is strange. Now imagine a bunch of dildos, vibrators and butt plugs flying around on the ad page. It turns out that it was a sex shop. I said, "This can't be real!" 

I never actually suspected that the shop was inside the mall. I figured someone had paid for the ad. So, we continued towards KEL, looked around, and found nothing interesting to buy. 

It's sad how a store full of English novels didn't have a single book we were interested in.

But as we walked out of KEL, we realized that Buttman was right next to it. I almost missed it because at a glance, it looked like a cell phone store. But the items on display weren't cell phone chargers.

Buttman was also right across this bakery.

I actually made my way into the sex shop and my mouth opened up. If there had been ghosts inside the store, they would have deep throated me. While it might not have been a cell phone store, there were plenty of plugs and other interesting toys for customers to plug their holes with.

Obviously, I didn't take photos inside the store, but you can get a closer look at their store courtesy of their Instagram Highlights. 

Clearly, a lot has changed in Buenos Aires since the pandemic. Not that I'm judging. 

By the time, we got home, we rested for a bit and then ordered some pizza from Hell's Pizza. That's right! This is the same Hell's Pizza as the one we ate at during our trip to Mar Del Plata earlier this year.

The pizza was okay, but the wings and mac and cheese were not up to par with our standards. Then again, they might have tasted better if we had actually gone to the restaurant instead of having the food delivered to our airbnb.

After our meal, the hubs and I were wiped out and needed to rest for the Argentine Comic-Con the next day. But I'll talk more about that in my next post.

Jay's Brings American Breakfast to Buenos Aires

Back in the States, we would always head to IHOP, Denny's, or Waffle House for our fix of a good old-fashioned American breakfast... or breakfast, as we've always called it. Even McDonald's offered pancakes and sausages in the morning. But Argentine McD's don't. And if you're looking for an IHOP, Denny's, or Waffle House in Argentina, you're out of luck! 

We've been living in Argentina for 11 years and haven't found anything that's remotely close to these popular restaurants... until now.

During our recent trip to Buenos Aires, we paid a visit to Jay's, a diner located in Beruti 2640 in La CABA. You can check out their Instagram here. 

We went to Jay's with a lot of optimism and also a bit of skepticism. Could they deliver a decent American breakfast?

On the inside, the walls were decorated with American license plates from various states. There were also two flat screen TVs hanging on the wall airing episodes of "Good Morning America," which I thought was a nice touch. 

Unfortunately, the diner was packed with people, and we had to wait outside for a table to become available. We probably stood there for about 10 or 15 minutes but the wait was worth it.

Once our server seated us, we took a look at their menu. To say that it was extensive would have been an understatement. Not only did they have all sorts of breakfast options like pancakes, waffles, hash brown, and bacon, but they also had a lunch menu as well. It honestly made me wish I had three stomachs instead of one, because I really wanted to order everything on the menu. But breakfast is what we came here for and breakfast is what we ordered.

Feel free to study the menu in the photos below. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Jay's Breakfast Menu

Jay's Lunch Menu

Is your mouth watering yet?  

Now, if you're from the States and simply visiting B.A. or you're a fellow expat who has occasionally gone home, you're probably wondering, "what's the big deal?" Well, the big deal is that the hubs and I haven't been home in 11 years. I'm not sure if we'll ever make it back. So, yeah! I can get sentimental over an Argentine diner that serves American breakfast if I want to.

One thing that I found noteworthy was that once you place your order you have to pay at the register first before you get your meal. Speaking of the register, there was a beautiful American flag hanging on the wall behind the register that got me all teary-eyed with pride.

While we waited for our food, we took a couple of snaps on our phones. 

Then our food arrived and our mouths and stomachs got happy and full fast!

We knew everyone in our group loved the breakfast because no one said a word the entire time until their plates were cleaned.

Once we were done, we walked over to the Alto Palermo mall to do some window shopping.

While we were there, we made two shocking discoveries! One made our jaws drop with disappointment, and the other was definitely NSFW! But I'll talk more about that in my next post.

11 Years in Argentina: Celebrating With a Trip to Buenos Aires

Disconnected... 

Isolated... 

Lonely... 

Sad... 

Terrified...

These are just some of the ways I would describe how I've been feeling lately. These emotions have only intensified further as our 11-year-anniversary of living in Argentina approaches.

It's only a few days away and the last thing I want to do is celebrate one of the worst decisions of my life. 

A decision from which there is no escape from.

But that's not what this blog post is about.

Today, I want to share with you what we did earlier this month.

On June 2nd, we went on a trip to Buenos Aires. It was the first time the hubs and I had gone to the Argentine capital since 2019... aka before the pandemic.

The majority of Covid cases in Argentina are currently at a minimal, but I'll admit I was still pretty nervous about traveling without a mask. It doesn't help that many travelers at the airport were sneezing and coughing, but no one was covering their mouths. This is one of my pet peeves. I was raised in a society where it is considered rude not to cover your mouth when you sneeze, cough or yawn. But Argentines don't feel this way and I just have to learn to accept that about them.

Anyhow... the plane trip was pretty smooth. It only took about an hour and 10 minutes to go from Cordoba City to Buenos Aires.

As soon as we landed, we headed to our airbnb to drop off our luggage.

This was a first for me. I've stayed in some really nice hotels and some not-so-nice hotels. But I had never stayed in an airbnb before. 

So, I actually had this insane idea that an airbnb was a house somebody rented to travelers with rules that the homeowner enforced like:

• You have to be home before 9 p.m.
• You can't blast your TV or music after a certain time.
• You had to use a communal bathroom.

Well, it turns out I was wrong.

The airbnb we stayed in had 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining area and a balcony.

Pretty fancy in my opinion.

Best of all, nobody cared how loud the TV was or what time we were coming and going. It was like living in an apartment complex.

After we had made ourselves at home and freshened up, we went looking for a place to have a late lunch. We obviously didn't come here to hit the same fast food restaurants we had in our host province of Cordoba City. We wanted to eat somewhere that offered American food. Even fast food was okay as long as it was American.

So, we went looking for the usual suspects in B.A. like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Wendy's. It turns out that both restaurants were within walking distance of our airbnb. But as hungry as we were, we could only choose one, so we picked Wendy's.

You have no idea how difficult it is to find a place in Argentina that makes chilli and baked potato the way they do in the States. And Cordoba City doesn't have a Wendy's, at least, not yet. So, we took full advantage of the Wendy's menu. 

That's me by the way.

Spoiler alert! It was not the last time we ordered from Wendy's during our five-day trip. We actually placed two other orders for delivery to our airbnb, but not on the same day.

After we stuffed our faces with unhealthy but oh-so delicious fast food, we headed towards a cinnamon roll shop that the hubs had been dying to try. It's called Cinna and you can check out their Instagram here.

We bought a couple of cinnamon rolls to go and then walked around a bit and took some photos. 

I wish I could tell you that we painted the town red by doing something extravagant on our first night, but our friend had a work-related get-together and had to leave. So, Zach and I walked around for a bit till we wore ourselves out.

Then we headed back to the airbnb to relax a bit and enjoy our cinnamon rolls.

After that, we hit the hay to recharge our batteries. 

We were actually looking forward to having an American-style breakfast at a restaurant called Jay's in the morning. But I will talk more about this place in my next post.

Until next time...