Tucked away in the 18th arrondissement, a petrol-blue frontage announces ‘Onoto: home cooking’. Inside is fifteen or so seats, wooden tables, an open kitchen, bouquets of daisies and an anatomical painting of a cow – many parts of which make a swift appearance on our plates.
The 250g ribeye steak was super tender, while the ‘entrana’ flank steak was served between blue and rare, with a much stronger taste. Cooked to perfection, the meats come with chimichurri sauce and a panful of mushrooms and potatoes. With dishes between €17.50 and €21.50, Onoto is blissfully better value than other Argentinian restaurants in Paris.
The chef is Argentinian-Venezuelan and the menu is expansive in its international flavours. There’s Italian-inspired dishes like the duo of cheeses (there’s a big Italian community in Argentina) – provolone and gorgonzola, roasted with herbs and served in Sardinian bread. Delicious. At lunchtime, shopkeepers pile in to take advantage of the €13.50 set menu and on Sundays, if the weather’s good, they serve Argentinian grills all afternoon. To drink, there’s a fine selection of Argentinian reds like the Los Cardos Syrah, as well as whites from Puglia and France.
Just make sure to leave room for the exquisite desserts – such as a delicate apple millefeuille with dulce de leche jam and whipped rum cream.
TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE