Yesterday, Raul, Venetia, Gillian and I arranged to visit and review Los Galgos, one of the Cafes Notables of Buenos Aires. Interesting name: los galgos means the greyhounds. I thought it might have had a more interesting history, but according to the waitress, who did seem quite knowledgeable, it was simply that the original owner loved going to the racetrack to watch the greyhound races.

Originally opened in 1930, Los Galgos was by all accounts a vibrant part of an area that never slept, until it closed after several decades. I can’t seem to find exactly when it closed, but in 2015 it reopened under new management. They worked hard to renovate the cafe using many of the original materials and keeping to the spirit of the original.

We had coffee, which wasn’t as great as we had expected but not bad. We also shared some fantastic tarta de ricotta, a very generous slice of moist sponge cake with a filling kind of similar to German style cheesecake. Delicious!

When we left, Raul mentioned another Cafe Notable nearby called Celta, and we decided to take that one in while we were in the area. Being merienda time, we opted for wine instead of coffee.

Great old place with hams and salamis and cheeses hanging from the ceiling. But my favourite thing was the big old fashioned cash register hand decorated with Fileteado Porteño!

Everyone is entering into the spirit of my research with gusto, and Venetia, who is a professional photographer, is taking lots of shots so I’ll have a good selection for the book.