After 200 years of spaghetti and steak, young chefs and diners started wanting more and, suddenly, there were restaurants everywhere serving up spicy Asian fusions, cross-border LatAm inventions, tapas and French non-trad cuisine. For gastronomic diversity, trendy Palermo Viejo still leads the pack, but barrios like San Telmo, Abasto and Villa Crespo are starting to catch up. For Modern Argentinian food - which can range from Patagonian lamb to maize parcels from the desert or king crabs from Antarctic waters - and excellent Argentinian wines, visit Sucre (Sucre 676, +541147829082, www.sucrerestaurant.com.ar) or Lomo (Costa Rica 4661, +541148333200, www.restaurantlomo.com.ar) with its gorgeous roof terrace. For superb contemporary Spanish cuisine put yourselves in the hands of celebrity chef Rodriguez Pardo at Sinclair (Sinclair 3096, +541148990233); if you're more of a francophile, head for swanky bistro Nectarine (Vicente López 1661, +541148136993), while superfly bar-restaurant Casa Cruz (Uriarte 1658, +541148331112) is undoubtedly the place to be seen. And after a long hard Saturday night, revive yourself with brunch at spacious, Scandinavian-influenced Olsen (Gorriti 5870, +541147767677).

Italian food has a higher profile than Spanish in this particular melting pot - there are traditional pastas at La Boca institution Il Matterello (Talcahuano 937, +541143070529), good pizzas at legendary El Cuartito (Corrientes 1368, +541148161758) and finer, fancier ones at Filo (San Martín 975, +541143110312, www.filo-ristorante.com) where you can also sample something more sophisticated. And if you want big, beautiful beef try La Cabrera (Cabrera 5099, +541148317002), La Brigada (Estados Unidos 465, +541143614685) or fast and furious El Desnivel (Defensa 855, +541143009081). Coffee is BA's opium and the Café Tortoni (Avenida de Mayo 829, +541143424328, www.cafetortoni.com.ar), open since 1858, is unmissable. There's pool at the back and singers perform at dusk.

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