Palermo y Retiro.....................................................

Because every year the culinary globe hands out a few shiny stickers and pretends the mystery is solved. In this edition, Buenos Aires put two addresses on the map: El Preferido de Palermo was named best restaurant in Argentina, while Cantina Cucina Italiana won best hotel restaurant in the country.

The bodegón that refuses to forget its roots

El Preferido, located at Jorge Luis Borges 2108, in Palermo, opened in 1952 as a grocery and beverage store. The building dates from 1885. In 2019, the place renewed its culinary proposal and recovered the aesthetics of the classic Buenos Aires bodegón. Its menu leans toward milanesas, tortillas, artisanal sausages, preserves and home cooking. The bife milanesa with chorizo stands among its most recognized specialties. It beat five other Argentine finalists for the award.

The prize places the restaurant in a notable line: Don Julio won in 2023 and 2024, while Aramburu took the award in 2025. So, yes, the bodegón managed to enter a family reunion with rather famous guests.

Italian tradition, with a historic building as setting

Cantina Cucina Italiana, at Arroyo 841 in Retiro, won in the hotel restaurant category. It operates inside a historic neighborhood building and is undergoing renovations that began in June 2026, with advice from Italian chef Roberto Ottini. Its menu revisits classic Italian cantinas: antipasti, fresh pastas, risottos, meats and desserts. Among the highlights are ossobuco ravioli with Malbec, emilian lasagna, saffron and mushroom risotto, cotoletta alla milanese and tiramisu. It competed against seven other luxury hotel restaurants from different Argentine provinces.

The World Culinary Awards were held in their seventh edition in Jamaica. Unlike some gastronomic guides, the awards combine public voting with professional voting; industry professionals have double the weight. Voting ran from June 25 to August 14, 2026. My recommendation, without too much ceremony: if you like honest food and a bit of neighborhood character, El Preferido deserves a visit. And if Italian tradition calls you, Cantina is the other stop.