Food fiend's review of Buen Ayre

I was also surprised at the good ratings for this restaurant. A friend and i went here on a spur of the moment thing as Square Meal had voted it ‘Best in East’. The actual place is a small Argentinian cafe in a trendyish part of the area – old wooden tables/laminated short menu etc. We had a slightly pushy waitress who gave us the hard sell on wine and food and when we finally got a chance to view the menu, it was quite limited and looked like huge cuts of meat (10oz fillet and no other smaller pieces of the same meat). In some ways, its good because £22 a steak isnt cheap, but quality vs quantity was my main concern when pieces of meat were this big.

When the meal arrived – it was huge but not seasoned. Chips were delicious but very oily. My meat was meant to be medium but was actually bleeding and so i had to send it back to get cooked further. The waiter again did the hard sell on puddings – everything seemed to be covered in Duche Leche toffee which made my cheesecake and the ‘traditional pancakes’ overly sweet and not really worth the money. I just didn't feel anything was worth returning for.

All in all, bill came to £72 for two courses and 1 drink – as the other reviewers have said, Gaucho is pricey but at least its somewhere where there is a far better selection of meats and veggie options and you'd feel less hard done by when you leave! Buen Ayre is ok but i dont think it's anything special and certainly not worth revisiting.