At least once a week I head down to this little parilla (barbecue house) for some cheap takeaway steak, or steak-away as I’ve affectionately called it. 
It’s the equivalent of the ‘corner store takeaway joint’ back home which offers not only hamburgers, barbecued chicken, fish and chips, but also any cut of beef cooked over hot coals, all sorts of sausages (including blood sausage), pastas and pastries. This particular parilla is cheap, fast, good and provides huge servings, therefore is very popular with the locals – especially the blue-collar workers at lunchtime. I’m yet to see another gringo like me in there, struggling to get the right item on the menu... (maybe its just because I’m the only one they can’t understand properly).
Ordering here is like ordering a soup from the Soup Nazi (for Sienfeld fans). You line up for ages and get one chance to tell your order to the fat man behind the cash register before he gets terribly agitated and yells at his horde of cooks, waiters, cleaners, waitresses etc. He can also take orders on the phone or from one of his employees at the same time as you are ordering too (no wonder he is the boss).
If you get it right, he takes your money and gives you a docket that never seems to resemble what you ordered, which you then take to the parilla and struggle to tell the cook what you want for a second time, this time with a docket to prove your payment. I thought I was progressing with my Spanish when for the last couple of times both the nazi and the cook understood my order without the need for me to repeat it, but unfortunately today I had to resort to pointing to the blackboard to get my desired dish of crumbed steak with ham, cheese and tomato sauce.
The cook has all the meat slow cooking on the grills at various heights from the hot coals which he continuously plays with. If you look at the pics, you can kind of see in the middle of the grills is a super-hot grill where he puts the meat once ordered and cooks it to your liking. So a roast beef will only have you waiting for about 5 minutes or so.
Anyway, here is a typical serving (left). In this case it is my favourite, the bife de chorizo (sirloin steak), the most expensive cut of meat on the menu at a whopping AU$3 for a plate-sized, beautiful, juicy steak. I usually don't bother ordering anything on the side with this as the steak and bread is more than enough for a hearty lunch. Other items I’ve indulged in here are a super completa hamburguesa ($1.80), the above mentioned napolitana milanesa ($2.40). And for eating in, you can get a 1L cerveza for $2.50 or a glass tumbler of vino tinto for $0.40!!
The other luxury I often succumb to here is the ease of getting any type of food home-delivered sin cargo (without charge), at any time of the day or night. The combination of the abundance of restaurants/food joints, the density of population and the scarcity of jobs has produced the occupation which I’m not envious of at all: the home-deliverer. Whether it be on foot, bicycle or moped they are always crazily zipping in and out of the traffic and causing havoc. You can get anything from a coffee, sandwiches, even Burger King home delivered – now that is the meaning of fat and lazy! A plate of a dozen facturas (sweet baked croissant type things) home delivered 
is about $1.60. My favourite is helado (ice cream) home delivered after a nice dinner. The flavours of argentine ice creams are unbelievable – so many to choose from and all soooo delicious. This 1kg tub with 4 exquisite flavours from the very good "Volta" chain of helado stores was a bit of a splurge at $12 delivered.
To ensure its safe, frozen delivery, it arrives at your door in a little foam esky-type tub, with a little cube of dry ice wrapped in plastic in the top of the tub – genius!
The historical, cultural, but dirty and crumbling neighborhood of San Telmo
Casa Minima - the narrowest house in Buenos Aires at just 2m wide! But 50m long apparently...
Snapshot of a llama amongst the crowd at the Mataderos fair, a sunday market on the outskirts of BsAs. Plenty more photos at the bottom of this post. A touch of gaucho culture and food for an afternoon...
Would robbers would be intimidated if they were being chased by one of these...? or the cops just love golf here...?
On just about every corner there is someone selling something - bus guides, newspapers, umbrellas, socks etc. Just had to wonder how many near-blind people are going to be walking past this guy in need of a magnifying glass at that very minute??? good luck mate!
random graffiti that is just about everywhere.... no idea what this one means.
Another day and another protest... todays is casino worker's rights, or is it gambler's rights...?
the Matadero sunday markets are filled with the nice smell of the asado (barbecue) coming from everywhere.
nice horsey... he really was this close...
junior gaucho...
senior gaucho...
gauchos hanging in the hood...
awww....
