When you visit Buenos Aires, there's very little doubt about what you'll be eating: meat.
If you're a meat eater, you'll be in heaven with Argentine barbecues (parrillas) on every street corner to suit every traveller's budget. Argentina's culture of asado (grilling), akin to the great Australian barbecue, is tempting to many. When I visited Buenos Aires for the first time a few years ago, I did my duty as a self-professed food traveller and researched Argentina's food culture.
I wanted to unearth more than just the top parrillas in the country (although, if you're interested, is a fine-dining barbecue establishment and is a hole-in-the-wall (literally) in a food market). I wanted to find what the locals love to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I learned that empanadas were not all created equal and the baked variety was my favourite. I also found that dessert came in the form of sticky, yoyo-like treats filled with dulce de leche, and that you can help yourself in bakeries, just like you can in many places in Asia.
Hold your breath, this is not for the fainthearted.
But I hear you ask if I'll reveal something exciting about Buenos Aires' food scene. So, hold your breath, this is not for the fainthearted.
Fugazza is Buenos Aires' answer to pizza. Imagine your favourite, cheesy pizza and that's exactly what fugazza is, but with grilled onions. It could be one of the most wonderful pizzas you'll ever stuff into your mouth with the base piled high with cheeses, making it so gooey that it's best eaten with a knife and fork.
Argentina has a large Italian population and fugazza was apparently invented by a Genovese-Argentine pizza maker called Juan Banchero, who made it from focaccia. There are different types of fugazza including fugazzeta, where the cheese is baked between pizza crusts and onions are baked on top.
There are several fugazza varieties. Source: Anson Smart
On the fugazza trail
Fugazza was the first thing I ate in Buenos Aires, and my first bite reminded me of my days living as a student in Chicago and eating deep dish pizzas as an Australian who really only knew pizza served on Melbourne's Lygon Street (thin and topped with pineapple or a mix of tragic items, affectionately called super supreme).
The best fugazza in Buenos Aires is found in the most popular places. Having a local foodie friend share his favourite spot for fugazzeta, I started in, which is known as one of the best fugazza pizzerias. You may see other tourists (albeit Latin American ones), but its authentic menu makes it well worth the detour (or direct V-line from the airport as it was in my case). The fugazzeta rellena is exactly as you imagine: a giant, spongy-thick pizza, which is more like a bouncy-focaccia filled with cheese, topped with charred onions from the intense oven heat. El Cuartito's version is one of the best you'll have in the city and I highly recommend ordering a whole one rather than a slice by the bar as most locals do when they are feeling peckish or are in need for a quick lunch.
It could be one of the most wonderful pizzas you'll ever stuff into your mouth.
Some people who visit Buenos Aires will tell you that they like, which you will pass on the way to El Cuartito, but I am not a fan. It's located on a main tourist strip, and all hours of the day you'll find this 1932 institute packed with people, making it hard to move. It's more of a place to be seen and gives off a touristy vibe. If you have been to New York City and eaten at Katz's Deli, it gives off that same vibe, but it's not as endearing, and despite its loyal following, it's not my fugazza of choice.
FUGAZZA RECIPE
Pizza with onions and cheese (fugazza)
If you have the legs to go further afield,go to for the best fugazza with faina, another variety of fugazza that Argentines take seriously. Faina is a flat chickpea pancake and sits on top of the molten cheese. Faina is a great addition to fugazza if you're on the go because it prevents you from burning your fingers on the cheese. Although, torching the roof of your mouth results in the most pain so make sure you blow on it to cool it down a little.
But even if you don't escape the scald, this treat is well worth it.
