Last night we thought we'd try a restaurant recommended in Time Out called Minga. Here is the description:
The beige, glass and unfinished wood furnishings don't give away the fact that Minga is in fact a parilla, albeit a gourmet one - your bife de lomo...is presented on an elegant cutting board with tiny saucers of chimichurri and garlic...
So we wandered down to the area of Minga which Jay had committed to memory -- Costa Rica and Armenia. And there we saw a modern-ish looking restaurant with a big M on the door, and we went inside and things looked just like a gourmet parilla would look: exposed concrete-and-brick walls and floors, wood tables, candle-lit, etc. They sat us upstairs and gave us these long menus printed on particle board. We didn't see anything that looked like parilla food on the menu, but then again we don't really speak or read much Spanish (yet), and we figured that perhaps once our order showed up at the table it would all fall into place.
Sadly our food was disgusting. The wine (Santa Julia) was plummy and gross, the bread came with this olive-mayonnaisy sauce ("aioli" would be generous), the food was made with okay ingredients but poorly cooked and only marginally heated -- strictly amateur hour. It was our second worst meal so far in Bs As (the worst being an all-you-can-eat buffet, "Argentina China," which Jay wanted to go to for lunch the other day - but at least that place was cheap, plus we got to eavesdrop on an American woman firing her German employee -- or at least roasting him over the coals -- because his "ideas" didn't match "the vibe that Grant is trying to set up here.").
At one point I became aware that everyone at the restaurant was female: the servers, the patrons, everyone. And these females didn't look like other Argentine females -- we were at a lesbian joint! Not that we minded, but we thought it was perhaps a bit strange that Time Out hadn't mentioned that fact.
Then the check came and we noticed 2 more strange things. First the name on the check was not Minga but "Mama Racha" (maybe a corporate name, we thought, or a holding company). Second they only took cash, not credit cards (unlike, said Time Out, Minga). We thought: we are definitely going to write a strongly worded email to Time Out!
You can probably tell where I'm going with this. On the way out, we finally saw that the M on the door was clearly attached to a logo reading "Mama Racha". So we ate at an expensive cash-only restaurant whose business model is clearly NOT related to the quality of the food, but rather the fact that it is lesbian-friendly. And all because we didn't write down the address or bring, well, a MAP.
Let this be a lesson to you all! And please, even if you like the ladies, avoid "Mama Rauncha." There have to be other options.
Comments