Best Salads in Buenos Aires

Crisol – Palermo, Las Cañitas

Crisol, in creating this imaginative menu, hasn’t just copied some international classics, they’ve truly created some original dishes. This Albondigas de Cerdo salad is but one example. The salad has a mix of greens and herbs that’s unique and aromatic. The bits of small pumpkin and orange sections add both texture and sweetness. The quinoa adds but another dimension, while the goat cheese brings a creamy element to the salad. And it’s all lightly dressed with a ginger vinaigrette. The main character, the small pork meatballs, are perfectly seasoned and seared. Step outside your comfort zone. Order this salad. You won’t regret it.

Möoi – Palermo and Belgrano

In a city where a salad usually means wilted lettuce and unripe tomatoes accompanied by a bottle of cheap oil and vinegar, the Langostinos (Shrimp) Salad at Möoi is a breath of fresh air. The shrimp were perfectly seasoned and sautéed. It’s easy to overcook shrimp, but these were perfect. They were accompanied by sweet, fresh slices of tomato, ripe avocados, and crisp corn tortilla chips, set on a bed of lettuce (mostly romaine). It was all perfectly dressed with a slightly sweet pesto-style vinaigrette. This one’s a winner!

La Galette – Retiro / Plaza St Martín

Some restaurants copy French cuisine. La Galette actually serves it. And this Chèvre chaud (goat cheese salad) screams, “I’m from France!”  Warm goat cheese on toasted slices of French baguette, crowned with caramelized onions, on a pleasant assortment of lettuce and herbs with paper-thin slices of cured ham. For lunch, this classic French salad can be combined with a glass of wine and dessert for less than you’d pay for burger, fries and a soft drink at most nearby restaurants. (soft drink is gaseosa in BA)

Le Pain Quotidien – Recoleta, Palermo and Belgrano

It looks so good you’ll think twice about eating it. But you should. It’s delicious. It’s baby spinach leaves and slices of roasted pumpkin and brie cheese, are the stars, accompanied by caramelized red onions and pomegranate seeds (that’s right, pomegranate seeds in a salad in Buenos Aires!). And it’s perfectly dressed in a slightly sweet vinaigrette with a poached egg poached on top. Yum. It’s vegetarian (ovo-lacto with the egg) and gluten free. You can, of course, 86 the egg to make it 100% vegan. Enjoy! There are multiple locations of Le Pain Quotidien throughout the city. Likely, there’s one close to you.

 Rock & Ribs – Palermo (Rosedal)

It’s a vegetarian’s dream. Mixed greens, roasted beets, chunks of blue cheese, and almonds, all lightly touched with a citric vinaigrette. With a salad like this one, I don’t miss the meat.

Seems like this little collection of restaurants under the tracks at the Rosedal in Palermo is a salad-lover’s dream. The Langostinos Crocante Salad at Mooi is on our list of the best salads in Buenos Aires too.

So many salads. So little time.

Pony Line at the Four Seasons – Recoleta / Retiro

You’d think that something with three ingredients that isn’t cooked would be a breeze to prepare. But it seems that all the chefs in Latin America must have skipped class the day they covered how to make a simple Caesar Salad. Attendance must have been mandatory where the cooks at Pony Line went to culinary school, because their rendition of the classic is spot-on. From the authentic dressing with white anchovy paste to the fresh Romaine lettuce and crisp croutons, this salad is BA’s best version of this timeless classic. Available with or without smoked trout.

 Club Social – Barracas

Yum. This salad is good! It’s the most sophisticated rustic salad in town. A little assortment of lettuce leave, includes some French-style fringy, purple lettuce and some slightly bitter radiccio, with a few halved, sweet cherry tomatoes, perfect dressed, accompanying some perfectly seared, melt in your mouth, morsels of sweetbreads, perfectly (and I do mean perfectly) seasoned, intermingled with some sweet caramelized red peppers and onions. It’s a symphony on a plate.

Fifi Almacen – Palermo Hollywood

The collection of ingredients in the New York salad at FIFI Almacen sounds like the star-studded cast from the film, “A Bridge Too Far”.  It’s roasted pumpkin, cubes of avocado, plums and quinoa on a bed of fresh, peppery arugula, crowned with thin slices of Sardo cheese and pumpkin seeds. It’s perfectly dressed with a slightly tart, slightly sweet honey vinaigrette. Yummy!  Nix the cheese and you’ve got the Vegan version.

Möoi – Palermo Hollywood, Rosedal and Belgrano

Möoi has the honor of having, not one, but two salads in our list of the best salads in Buenos Aires. We’ve had dozens of Caesar Salads that miss the mark by a mile. It’s a salad with very few ingredients. Romaine lettuce, a creamy Caesar dressing, Parmesan cheese and croutons. The biggest mistakes made by most restaurants is using something other than romaine lettuce and using grated low-quality Parmesan cheese. This one gets it right. It’s the best rendition of the classic we’ve seen so far in Buenos Aires. The little beet sprouts added to the top make this salad as beautiful as it is delicious.

Ninina Bakery – Palermo Soho

The Peras Salad at Ninina Bakery features radicchio, endive, arugula, pears, walnuts and blue cheese. Tip: That radicchio is naturally quite bitter. Having the two large leaves in the salad is a bit more than I personally prefer. Cut up one leaf at a time and toss with the other cut-up ingredients. Then add more from the other leaf to suit your personal taste.

Import Coffee Company – Retiro

A specialty coffee shop is not where you’d expect to find one of the city’s best salads, but the ultra-simplistic Mediterranean Salad at Import Coffee Company in Retiro is, in our estimation, one of the city’s best salads. It’s dressed with a delicious citric vinaigrette. It’s nothing more than fresh baby spinach, thin slices of cucumber, slices of sweet, ripe tomato, peppered with couscous. But sometimes, simple is a good thing!

Shout Café – Retiro

Shout is a gastropub cranking out cocktails, food and music upstairs in the evenings. But for lunch it’s a quaint little café/bistro offering some the best lunch fare in the city.

This chicken and squash salad features a pumpkin-like squash that roasted on the open-flame to give it a smoky flavor. Chunks of grilled chicken-breast are added. Then it’s all put on a pile of butter lettuce with a creamy dressing. Simple, but effective, and oh, so delicious. But if you want this salad you’ll have to visit during the day. It’s only available on the lunch menu. (If you’re looking for a vegetarian option at Shout in the evening, try the vegetarian lasagna. It’s one of the tastiest lasagnas in the city. Who needs the meat when you have a vegetarian option like this one? )