Know Thine Enemy – Argentina

So England bow out of the World Cup 2010 with an atrocious display against the Germans. But the tournament goes on and so does our Know Thine Enemy feature, a look at the cuisine of England’s opponents and where to find it in London.

In the absence of any suggested teams to follow, we shall be adopting a knockout approach to the countries profiled. Given that Germany knocked out England, we shall be following Germany’s opponents, which are Argentina. If Germany get knocked out by Diego Maradona’s men, we will be profiling the team playing against Argentina, one of Spain or Brazil, which is in itself an intriguing prospect.

Onto Argentina, which is distinctive amongst South American cuisine due to its European influences. It has Spanish and Italian aspects to its food. In addition, the presence of a Welsh community in the southern province of Chubut has given rise to teahouses which feature scones and torta galesa (Welsh cake).

The mainstay of Argentine cuisine is the asado which also goes by the name of parrillada. This roughly translates to the grill or the barbecue, on which many, many slabs of beef and chicken are put. Steaks are exceedingly popular in Argentina and also done to a very good standard in many London Argentine restaurants. I would particularly recommend La Pampa Grill down in Clapham and The Gaucho Grill near Liverpool Street.

Other things to try are empanadas, pastries with a variety of fillings such as ham, cheese, beef, olives and corn. Some of the best empanadas can be found at Buen Ayre in Broadway Market. This restaurant also does some excellent specialities such as braised ox tongue and choripán, pork sandwiches.

It would be remiss to talk about Argentine cuisine without mentioning some of the fantastic wines which are produced in the country. Argentina tends to produce a consistently high standard of Syrahs and Malbecs, both of which are good accompaniments to steaks. Also worthy of consideration are the Chardonnays with their crisp acidity.

Finishing with desserts, the first place to start is with something that Argentines are very fond of; dulche de leche. Literally translated, it means sweetened milk but is more of a caramel with a jam-like texture and is combined with every kind of dessert. A good place to find some of these is Garufa in Arsenal. There you can get dulche de leche cheesecakes and dulche de leche pancakes.

For those who are tempted by the Argentine way of eating, there is even a supermarket dedicated to all things Argentine. They stock all kinds of commodities, including some of my favourite biscuits called alfajores. These are traditionally brought home by people coming back from holiday. Diego Maradona will surely be hoping that isn’t something he’ll have to be doing any time soon.

La Pampa Grill
4 Northcote Road
Clapham Junction
SW11 1EH

Tel: 0872 148 4268

The Gaucho Grill
5 Finsbury Avenue
Moorgate
EC2M 2PJ

Tel: 020 7256 6877

Buen Ayre
50 Broadway Market
Bethnal Green
E8 4QJ
Tel: 020 7275 9900

Garufa
104 Highbury Park
Highbury
N5 2XE

Tel: 020 7226 0070

Mercado Argentino
Unit 6
Glenville Mews
Kimber Road
Wandsworth
SW18 4NJ