Breakfast and Coffee

Above, a tray of Medialunas.

 

Porteños generally eat a very light breakfast. Two or three pieces of toast or medialunas and a coffee is common. Medialunas are essentially a brioche shaped in the form of a crescent, like a croissant, and glazed (image above).  When you order medialunas, the mozo (waiter or moza, waitress) will ask “manteca or graso?”  There are two types of medialunas:  Those made with butter (manteca) or shortening (graso).  Personally, I can’t stand the medialunas de graso.  Tip:  Ask the mozo to warm the medialunas. 

Two or three eggs, sausage (or bacon), a pancake & hash browns is unheard of in BA.  We gringos, however, do get a taste for eggs now and again, so we head to Florentina for the Americano breakfast (pictured below).  I don’t know how they prepare these scrambled eggs, but they are divine.  Creamy.  The juice, as in most BA cafe’s, is freshly squeezed.

A word about coffee: They don't brew/serve coffee like cafe’s do in the U.S. Coffee is prepared in an espresso machine. It’s stronger and richer than what we are accustomed to in the U.S.  We love it!  I usually order café doble.  i.e. double the standard portion, otherwise it's really a small amount. If you do want a small coffee, it’s simply called un café).  Carolyn orders a café doble con leche (double size coffee with milk) or cortado (café with a little milk). Cream or half & half is not used in coffee either. In fact, we could not find that they have cream at all. They use milk or steamed milk.

 

Above, the Americano breakfast at Florentina (corner of Soler and Malabia in Palermo Soho).

Notice in the previous image that the moza delivered breakfast with salt (only).  I always seem to forget to ask for butter (manteca) and pepper (pimienta).  The butter not only looks beautiful, it tastes better than the butter we get in the U.S.

Coffee at A Nos Amours, corner of Gorriti and Aráoz.

 

Although not pictured, A Nos Amours has real croissants and pain au chocolat.

 

Facturas are pastries.  Starting at the bottom and going clockwise, the long ones are called churos (con dulce), next is a medialuna con chocolat (there are four), but I don’t know the names of the other two facturas.