Brief restaurant review (Anna Bistro) and an Argentina obsession

I just had the most delicious salad EVAR at this restaurant slash cafe really close to where I live called Anna Bistro. It’s called the Italian …(something something). It had 2 types of prosciutto, shaved parmesan cheese, golden raisins, kiwis, plums, mangoes, nuts, arugula, mixed greens, cracked pepper, croutons, and sundried tomatoes. I’m full.

Some food-porn available here.

The place itself is super cool and they have English menus, in addition to the usual Spanish. My server spoke English to me (yayyy) but I tried my best to respond in Spanish and use my newly-acquired ordering skills. I think she was amused by my insistence on trying to speak Spanish, but she was very sweet.  The food came out super fast and I didn’t even get to read more than 10 pages of my book, since I was so fixated on shoveling the salad into my mouth as fast as possible; I was starving, and you already know how I felt about the salad.

This brings me to my next point. I may be obsessed with this salad, but the Argentines have a much more dangerous, yet sweeter obsession: Dulce de leche.

I’m serious. They put it in every dessert you can think of. Oh, you want some ice cream? Better put some dulce de leche on that!  Craving a chocolate bar? Let’s go ahead and fill it with dulce de leche.  Hey, Juan, why don’t we cover this poundcake in dulce de leche? Sound good? BUENO!

Or how about a f*cking DULCE DE LECHE AND BANANA OREO COOKIE.  Yes. They have Oreos that have dulce de leche and banana-flavored cream. I haven’t tried them – it scares me – but I think I may.

My comments come as a result of spending about 15 minutes in the galletita dulces (what we Americans call “cookies”and what the Brits call “biscuits”) and chocolate aisles of Carrefour.  I wanted something sweet after my lunch, and I wanted something cheap. I ended up purchasing 2 things: one for now and one for later.  My total came to AR$6,50, which is like, US$1.50.

The one I bought for now was, well, less than thrilling. I’m completely underwhelmed. However, it was sweet and I think if I was Argentine, I’d love it.  It’s made by Bagley and called, simply, “Negro”.  It’s an “alfajor de dulce de leche cubierto con chocolate y almendras”- a little cookie/candy thing filled with dulce de leche cream , covered in chocolate and almonds. It’s basically 2 wafers with the filling between, and dunked in chocolate. Sounds good, right? It’s pretty dry, and “meh”. I recommend skipping it.

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