Our friends Kaz and Rich, back in Leeds, have been reminiscing about when they were in Buenos Aires some years ago and Kaz challenged us to find as many as possible of the bars on their 'Bares de Buenos Aires' poster. There are many, many really lovely old and historic bars and cafes around Buenos Aires and here we have a selection of them for you! Virtually all of them claim to have been the favourite bar / cafe of some significant argentinian writer, tango musician or singer. Many have stories behind them. We have sampled the wares inside some of them. Others such as the very famous and touristy Cafe Tortoni, we have just posed outside!

36 Billares is where the Argentine Billiards association was born and continues to be the home of the association, but combines this with sultry singers and tango verging on the burlesque (apparently - it has mostly been a very empty but atmospheric space when we have called in, with a number of old photos of obviously well-known visitors from bygone times).

Los Golgos is ‘the greyhounds’ but we’re not sure why! El Viejo Almacen is ‘the old grocery store’ and is a few blocks away from us but these days is home of a nightly tango show rather a place to acquire cheese.

One afternoon we had coffee and alfajores at Confiteria Ideal. Alfajores are a local speciality and consist of two soft biscuits (somewhere between shortbread and sponge) sandwiched together with Dulce de Leche, which is something the Argentinians love. Every desert, biscuit and cake seems to include it in some form. It is like a thick version of sweetened condensed milk and quite delicious! Confiteria Ideal is an old BA institution. It is a very worn, faded and yet elegant place, still a favourite at all times of day with the locals and in the evenings fills up with people dancing tango.

As well as tango, we’ve also seen gaucho dancing in the streets. This involves the man clapping and stamping his feet a lot whilst the woman swirls her skirts. It is very reminiscent of spanish dancing. This was going on in Plaza Dorrego the other day, whilst we were fighting pigeons off our table.

El Hipopotamo was a lovely find. It dates back to 1904 and began life a grocery store that also served drinks. Over time the grocery side of the business became less until it eventually became what it is today. It has retained many of the original fittings and features, though we couldn’t quite work out the hippopotamus connection! We found it en route home from a tango gig in a little cultural centre (dance hall) at about 1.30am and called in for a glass of wine and some bread and cheese. I had taken the photo just before an intriguing group of transvestites gathered at the next table and hadn’t got the nerve to get the camera out again, so you’ll just have to imagine them over to the right of the picture!

The concert we had seen was by two of the oldest Tango groups still playing (but with many new members - I was reminded of the Nine Blind Boys of Alabama who, by the time I first saw them were down to five. I saw them later still and there were only three of them, such is life).

The Sexteto Mayor were particularly exciting with real passion and flourish as they clearly enjoyed running through some new(ish) material as well as old favourites (lots of crowd cheers) and some Piazzola pieces.
The two violinists, each well over 70, showed just as much fire as the younger members and were particularly warmly cheered by the audience of mostly local people. Strangely, when we got home we searched for the group and found a video of them with a slightly different lineup performing in Leeds Town Hall in 2004! You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7LLIxfApoI At the end of the evening both groups performed together. In theory this would be an 11 piece but was limited to 9 because the groups shared a double bass and a piano.

We did consider calling in at the Bar Britanico over the road on our way home from El Hipopotamo, but we’re just not Argentinian enough and decided that 2.30 am really was bedtime!