SACRO: AN EPIC PLANT BASED MEAL IN BUENOS AIRES THAT YOU WILL NOT FORGET
The Cost - $43 per person at the official exchange rate
The Atmosphere – Even before walking into Sacro, you know you’re in for a treat. The restaurant’s statement-making façade is hole-y, not in the biblical sense but in the sense that there are rows of holes cut out from the white front wall. Inside, enter a super chic, dimly lit space with a beautiful custom-made bar in the front and a dining area in the back that features clean, contemporary wooden bespoke furniture and blue velvet booths that offer an extremely comfortable and luxurious space to enjoy a meal. There’s no need to get all dolled up for a night at Sacro, but you absolutely can, especially on a Friday or Saturday night when most of the crowd is likely to be going out to experience the Buenos Aires nightlife afterwards. Reservations are highly recommended.
Argentina may be best known for its steak, but Buenos Aires has one of the strongest vegetarian and vegan restaurant scenes in the world. And when Sacro opened in December of 2018, it got far stronger. The Palmero Hollywood restaurant offers an incredibly creative menu of dishes in which plant-based ingredients are often made to look and feel like meat, but in a very high end, upscale way. I checked out Sacro on this trip to Buenos Aires to see if I would not just be satisfied, but be excited, about an entirely vegan meal.
The Order – Empanada, Dumplings, Tomates Antiguos, Tiradito de Mar, Tartare de Tomato e Higos, Kimchi al Fuego, Tres Helados Caseros, and a Palta Lime Pie.
The Fantastic – While there were a number of incredible dishes that were ordered, there was one that really stood out, the Tomates Antiguos. Upon first glance this small plate didn’t look like much – a bunch of colorful tomatoes of varying sizes with some crisps on top – but boy was I too quick to judge. Yes, those were beautiful organic heirloom tomatoes but those weren’t ordinary crisps and there was more to this dish than met the eye. There was actually white garlic ice cream and salted coconut mixed in with the tomatoes and the crisps on top were crunchy strawberry skins. The white garlic ice cream was a thing of beauty and the combination between that and the juicy, flavorful tomatoes was really wonderful.
The Great – Three additional dishes came up just short of a Fantastic rating, while five dishes earned our Great rating in total. The first of the three that came up just short of being a must-order was the Dumplings, which consisted of two dumplings stuffed with kimchi that were topped with a ginger foam and artistically plated with a sauce made from cabbage. Once again though, there was more to this dish than met the eye with the twist being that the dumplings themselves were actually made from a mix of banana and avocado. Everything from the flavors to the textures to the presentation made this dish special.
The second of the top three dishes in this rating category was the Empanada. Not your Argentinian grandma’s empanada, the single black empanada powerfully arrives on a black plate with a small circle of bright orange sauce to its side. Why was the empanada black? Because it was made with activated charcoal, of course. Stuffed inside the almost-too-pretty-to-eat empanada were delicious, caramelized onions and mushrooms and the vibrant sauce was harissa-based. The sauce might have been spicy to an Argentinian, but certainly wasn’t to me. The black olive crumble atop the sauce was a nice touch and overall, I thought this was an excellent take on Argentina’s most well-known treat.
The Tiradito de Mar was the last of the three dishes that almost earned our Fantastic rating and it does so because of the incredible execution that serves you the ahi tuna fantasy. Instead of tuna, the dish uses watermelon and somehow gets the watermelon to not only look like fresh ahi, but to also feel like fresh ahi. The watermelon is topped with a ponzu sauce with grilled corn pieces and green onion, and the ingredients sit in a leche de tigre that is wonderful, despite there not being a hint of seafood in this dish. Kudos to the chef on this delicious creation.
I had the pleasure of being able to try the Tartare de Tomate e Higos before it was added to the menu and that was extra fun because it was yet another dish where the creativity and execution truly blew my mind. The dish comes out looking like a tuna tartare, but it is completely made from tomatoes, figs, and capers, with a basil leaf, a rice crisp with tomato powder, and a spherification of yellow pepper on top to cleverly give you an egg yolk look and feel. After mixing up all the ingredients, the flavors and textures really do resemble a tartar and just having to mix the ingredients gives you that tartar experience. The flavors here were delicious though I do think it could have been even better with a little more fig.
The last item that earned our Great rating was the Palta Lime Pie. A very tasty dessert that was better than most key lime pies I have eaten, it was made with condensed coconut milk, avocado and lime, and served with sweetened, roasted pistachios. It had a thin cake layer on the bottom that was really lovely and the texture of the pie was perfection. The better of the two desserts, I would definitely order it again.
The Good – The only savory dish in this category was the Kimchi al Fuego. The substantial plate consisted of a mix of crunchy red and white quinoa sitting over a tower of shitake, oyster, and portobello mushrooms with kimchi, a kimchi emulsion and kimchi powder. This dish had the potential to be the best dish of the evening because of the wonderful flavors and textures and the awesome creativity, but it came out too salty. It was probably just an accident, but it did happen. I would absolutely give this dish another chance next time because of its incredible potential and the excellent ingredient combination.
The final dish that came out was the Tres Helados Caseros. The three homemade ice creams were apple and basil, guava and orange, and passionfruit and olive and they were served in single, bright-colored scoops right alongside each other in a bowl. They were soft and light, and I could certainly tell that they were not made with whole milk. However, they had lovely flavors to them, especially the apple and basil (the green one) which was the best of the three. This was a solid dessert.
The Verdict – Sacro is an absolute delight – from its concept to its aesthetic to the delicious food. There were parts of the meal where my mind was truly blown by the creativity and techniques used to elevate the dishes on the restaurant’s entirely plant-based menu. There was absolutely no point during the meal where I missed meat or dairy products and I walked out incredibly excited to return again in the future.
Sacro
Costa Rica 6038, C1414 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires