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Don Julio

Buenos Aires

• The Best Restaurant in Latin America 2024, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna
• The Best Restaurant in Argentina 2024

The epitome of Argentine dining culture

On the Pass

Guido Tassi and Pablo Rivero

Meet Don Julio: A family-run labour of love, an homage to the flavours and terroirs of Argentina, a temple of regenerative farming – Don Julio is all this and more. Some 25 years after owner-sommelier Pablo Rivero opened his neighbourhood steakhouse on a corner of Palermo, he is still serving some of the best beef cuts, local wines and authentic Argentine hospitality you can find anywhere.

Homemade philosophy: Nearly everything you can find on Don Julio’s menu comes from the restaurant’s own farm outside of Buenos Aires. Grilled seasonal vegetables – such as organic asparagus, peppers and courgette – are a popular choice, as is the restaurant’s famous heirloom tomato salad. The juicy servings of Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle haven’t only been farmed according to regenerative practices, but are also butchered and aged entirely in-house.

What about the menu? Choosing from the extensive list may feel like taking a beef anatomy masterclass, but whatever you choose – the thick rib-eye, a giant T-bone, the house-favourite skirt steak, or the famous spiral sausage – the combination of smokiness, nuttiness and sweetness in the meat will blow your socks off.

Take a tour: Entering the two-floor restaurant, the eye is caught by the dancing flames of the grill and the spread of delicately marbled steaks waiting to receive executive chef Guido Tassi’s smoky touch. Countless wine bottles with scribbled messages adorn the walls, forming a living memory of the good times shared by previous diners. For the full experience, visit the cellar where 60,000 bottles cover the length and breadth of the Argentine territory, the nearby butcher’s shop and the square-turned-biodynamic-garden that forms the heart of Rivero’s community projects.

Should I book? Don Julio remains one of the most coveted reservations in Buenos Aires, so booking a couple of months in advance is recommended. Those without this luxury may still score a table by joining the queue close to opening or closing time – Don Julio extends its Argentine hospitality to waiting diners in the form of sparkling wine and hot, delicious mini empanadas.

Trophy cabinet: No stranger to awards, Don Julio was named No.1 in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020, and two years earlier, it also took home the Art of Hospitality Award. Rivero himself was voted Latin America’s Best Sommelier in 2022 before receiving the same honour at the global level in 2024, earning him the status of wine royalty. In 2024, Don Julio has once again been named The Best Restaurant in Latin America.

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