What´s bad in Buenos Aires

We were getting a little bored of our constant diet of steak and pasta, and Clare suddenly had a craving for pad thai. We´d read that there was an "authentic" Thai restaurant in BA, and we were so excited to try it. Alas, it was probably also the worse Thai food I have ever had to eat. Just goes to prove Eirun´s point that you should never ever trust Lonely Planet for restaurant recommendations.

The criminal place is Empire Thai right near Florida. First off, the waiter decided to warn us from ordering both a starter and a main (???), and just had a weird air about him. Maybe they were just a bit shocked to see an Asian come into their restaurant. But the worse crime was the food.

Now, tom kha gai is one of the most beautiful dishes in the world. I eat it whenever I can. But oh did this place butcher it!!! First, look at the colour, it looks like mushroom soup here instead of lovely creamy pearly stuff:

Now, you can just about make out a little sprig of coriander in the soup, but can you taste any spice at all? Errr... nope. That´s because the whole soup appears to be a vehicle for salt, salt, and more salt. And it doesn´t appear to have been anywhere near a coconut, which is the main reason why I love the soup. I left most of it untouched.

As for the pad thai, well, at least it looked pretty decent, and had the requisite egg and peanuts that Clare craved:

But unfortunately, salt reared its ugly head once again! Oh my god was this salty. And completely oversauced. It was more like a bad chow mein made with rice noodles rather than a pad thai. Thank god for the few beansprouts on the top to make it a teeny bit less salty.

The disturbing thing, however, is that even on a Monday lunchtime, the place was packed with locals. Nowhere else in Argentina have we had such immensely salty food, which suggests they think Asian food is very salty, and that they enjoy it like that!!! Oh dear. Alan Yau, I think you have a lot of potential in Buenos Aires to roll out some decent Asian restaurants here!!!

This was also my last meal in Buenos Aires, and indeed South America! I loved this continent, in particular Chile, will definitely be back!