Buenos Aires Chinatown

Jordi | Sept. 7, 2023, 12:24 a.m. | Argentina

We recently went to the Buenos Aires Chinatown district to explore the food and vibe there. Anthea's brother recommended a ramen place that we were eager to try as well. Overall, it was a super cool little area, with some of it built right under the Belgrano metro station, which gives it a fun urban feel. And like many of the great Chinatowns, it's got a great arch at the entrance. 

While I found it a beautiful landmark, it has been the source of some controversy as well. It was sent as a gift from China in honor of Argentina's bicentennial of the May Revolution but it was installed without necessarily following the proper legal processes - and was initially rejected by the proper legal authorities. And an additional wrinkle is that the Chinese community that settled in the area includes a Taiwanese segment, which has expressed discomfort with the arch being a gift from the CCP. 

While we were here, we also visited a couple Asian grocery stores to pick up some bao, baked snacks, grocery suishi rolls, and milk tea to take home, and in general, there was no shortage of awesome little stores selling snacks and treasures, along with too many great looking restaurants to try. We also couldn't leave without trying one of the bubble tea places as well. On our first trip here though, the ramen place we were hoping to try wasn't open for dinner yet so we tried some bao instead, which was absolutely delicious. On a second visit, we finally got to try Orei Ramen. We each ordered the classic Tonkotsu ramen and a couple onigiris. It was a chilly night so we took it to go and they very kindly package it up to go with the broth and noodles separated for the trip home. 

It's a short trip for us coming back from Chinatown, about a 10 minute walk to the green line, then 5-10 minutes on the metro, and a 10 minute walk home. And there's nothing better than settling in a cozy apartment with some steaming ramen and milk tea on a chilly night! I can't wait to go back to Chinatown a few more times both to get more and groceries, but also to explore some of the other restaurants. In particular, I really want to visit the cat cafe they have there, which looks adorable, serves onigiri in addition to coffee, and has this amazing mural outside of it.