Café Compass: Buenos Aires

If you've ever heard about Buenos Aires, you might have heard it is often called the "Europe" of Latin America and to us, that's mainly because if you've been to Europe and visit Buenos Aires you will find yourself feeling like you are in different European cities all at once: from Paris to Madrid to Rome, the immigration influence can be seen everywhere, from its architecture, to the streets, the city's layout, and of course, the food. Even though you'll find Argentinians enjoying a mate with friends, coffee is also always present in any gathering, so they know how to make a good cup of coffee. With that said, here's our Café Compass: 

Blanca Deco & Café - @Blancadecocafe 

Blanca is one of our favorite coffee shops in Buenos Aires. It's the perfect combination of great coffee, delicious pastries and a nice chill atmosphere. 

If you are an NBA fan - well, a Miami Heat fan that follows Jimmy Butler - you might have seen that a while ago he visited Buenos Aires and as a coffee connoisseur himself, he stopped here for coffee. 

It's very hard to narrow down our favorites, but our order must include hot lattes (are you surprised by now?) and to eat we'll order whatever we are feeling that day - everything tastes amazing, so you can't go wrong. If you want to try traditional Argentine food our faves are: medialuna and alfajor de almendras y dulce de leche, or if you're in the mood for something savory: medialuna con jamón y queso, chipa, chipa sandwich or fosforito.

As much as we love spending time sipping our coffees, we are also big fans of taking our coffees with us while out in the city, so if you'd rather take your coffee with you while visiting Buenos Aires you can order to-go as well.

Locations: Sinclair 3136 - Soldado de la Independencia 1177 - Blanca Studio: Av. Alvarez Thomas 758 - Buenos Aires, Argentina.

La Ventana x Anafe - @laventana.anafe

Let us just say this: we love La Ventana. Everything is excellent here: from the service the second you walk in, the ambience, to the delicious food and great coffee. The staff is welcoming and is always making sure everything's right - we even came here with our grandma, who's very hard to please, and she loved it. 

If you want to try traditional Argentine medialuna con crema pastelera, Argentine croissant with pastry cream, this is the place to go: one of the best medialunas and the best crema pastelera we've tried in Argentina. 

We can admit that we tried almost everything in their pastry and cake menu (oops!), but if we had to pick our faves, our order would be: lattes, flat white and drip coffee (know that it has refill), and to eat: medialuna con pastelera, alfajor sablée (filled with dulce de leche), pepa de membrillo (Argentine sweet cookie with quince jam) and the coconut & passion fruit cake.

If you're looking for a place to get breakfast, they have a great menu that includes breakfast burrito, avocado toast, eggs, yogurt and they also have a variety of lunch options.

Location: Arévalo 1375 -  Smaller shop with little seating “La Ventanita”: Virrey Avilés 3236.

Oli - @Oli_buenosaires

If you want to have excellent food and coffee, look no further than Oli. It's in our favorites list and for many reasons. Think about top tier pastries, cakes, desserts and the tastiest food. Everything we have tried has been amazing.

In our opinion, Oli makes the best medialunas in all Buenos Aires, and believe us, we have tried lots of them and not one tastes as good as Oli's.

For breakfast our favorites are bagel with cream cheese and their seasonal jam, scrambled eggs with brioche bread and greek yogurt. For lunch: shrimp roll, milanesa with mac and cheese and some french fries. Also, each of their all-day menu options are delicious as well - we love the fosforito (Argentine puff pastry sandwich) and the club sandwich. By now you already know that we have a big, sweet tooth so we love each of their desserts - they never miss. When going for coffee we usually like pairing it with some pastries or cookies - special mention to their pain suisse, it's chef’s kiss!

Keep in mind, it's a very popular spot and it's usually busy, so you may have to wait some time to be seated. If you want to go for breakfast our recommendation would be to be there at their opening hour.

Location: Costa Rica 6020.