El Francés
Restaurants & cafés
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El Francés review 1 Users say 2/5 Rate it
This unpretentious Palermo bistro, which operates as a café during the day, serves up generous portions of excellent food at reasonable prices - a good start. The menu is long, not pedantically French, and covers everything from snacks and (creative) sandwiches to cocktails and full-blown evening meals.
Some recommendations: the house pâté, coarse and meaty, served with fresh dill and a piquant tomato relish; the lomo bourguinon, which involves chunks of tender fillet steak in an oregano pastry basket; the bondiola de cerdo in a citrus fruits sauce (a literally refreshing change from the tediously ubiquitous pork in a 'pool of malbec'); and, because vegetarians are people too, the raviolis de queso de cabra (goat's cheese). Pudding picks itself; the crème brûlée de Bailey's is a creamy, boozy delight which, being big enough for Nicolas Sarkozy to swim in, can easily be shared between two.
El Francés details
y Thames
Area Palermo
Transport Bus 15, 55, 57, 151
Telephone 011 5833 0022
Open 9am-1am daily
Main courses AR$19-$40
El Francés map
Comments & ratings 2/5 (Average of 1 rating)
This place may have had an overhaul since the review - it´s not unpretentious; more like properly pretentious without succeeding.
Sporting a menu pointing out the superiority of French cuisine and pointing out tip is not included (Ah, in English just so the Americans know, or what?).
It looks freshly-painted and wanting to be a little hip, but the service was questionable at best, mojito tasted like rum with water and main course came out tepid. When I pointed this out, they took it out to re-heat it. Same dish came back, included half-tasted ravioli. Stylish indeed. The dish was decent - but un-necessarily heavy sauce. Malbec by the glass passable but nothing more. My bill wasn´t massive (100 pesos), but considering you could go to Don Julio or Miranda (ok, steak . but still!) for marginally more and have something fantastic, just give this place a miss. There´s just something a bit wrong with some of Palermo´s wannabe places.
Great meal, great prices. Cute little spot in a nice neighborhood. The appetizers were the only thing underwhelming. Mains and desserts were phenomenal. The cold vichyssoise soup & pate were not faves, but the 4 cheese plate was excellent. I highly recommend the tournedo which was cooked to perfection. The creme brulee and the panna cotta like dessert with toasted almonds were a nice way to finish the meal. Great service from start to finish.
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