Duhau Restaurante y Vinoteca

Duhau Restaurante y Vinoteca is one of the three restaurants in the luxurious Palacio Duhau, a Park Hyatt property located in the heart of Recoleta. This magnificent hotel consumes a full city block in the most prestigious part of the city. The hotel property has two buildings, a stately old mansion facing Avenida Alvear, built in 1932 by a wealthy Buenos Aires professional, and a more contemporary tower, facing Posadas, separated from the mansion by a beautiful terraced lawn and garden.

Two of the restaurants are located in the beautifully restored mansion. One is in two renovated salons on the main floor and is called, appropriately, The Salons of the Piano Nobile. This restaurant is the most popular of the three restaurants for breakfast and afternoon tea. The other, the Duhau Restaurante y Vinoteca, located on the lower floor of the mansion, is the most upscale of the three restaurants, and is most frequented in the evening by hotel patrons.

The decór of the Duhau displays an understated elegance. There’s nothing elaborate or gaudy. There’s nothing imposing or especially pretentious. It’s tasteful and elegant. Nothing more. There are two interior dining rooms seating approximately 60 diners. Both rooms overlook a terrace with additional seating for another 30 or so diners, which in turn overlooks the terraced lawn leading down to the tower on Posadas.

There are fabric covered walls and upholstered chairs with a vintage print. Padded tabletops draped with expensive cotton tablecloths are adorned with silver plated salt shakers and sugar bowls, and expensive white-cotton napkins, bound in silver napkin rings, bearing the embossed logo of the hotel add to the luxurious feel of the restaurant.

Young waiters, clad in black vests and neckties, provide attentive and informative service. Service, save a minor delay obtaining the check, was as good as any I’ve seen in Buenos Aires.

The menu primarily promotes grilled steaks, including three cuts of Argentine Wagyu, but also features an ocean catch, a river catch, and a third fish dish, a Black Merluza, which is the Argentine fish closest is texture to what’s marketed in the USA as Chilean Seabass.

There are also a couple pasta and braised meat dishes.

Naturally, being located in what is arguably the city’s most upscale hotel property, the menu is a bit pricey. But with the recent strength of foreign currencies in relation to the Argentine peso, even pricey is a bargain in Buenos Aires.

On a recent visit at mid-day, I ordered the carrot gnocchi. This was an excellent dish, both in terms of concept and execution. It was also beautifully plated.

I was so pleased with the dish that I had to give the dessert menu a look. I ordered the crème brûlée on the recommendation of Clay, my waiter. Good choice, Clay! This dish was clever. And it was delicious. Perhaps the best version I’ve ever encountered of the classic French dessert. The fluffy cream at the heart of the dish was way less sweet than you typically find in this dish. It, in fact, had a slight saltiness. This, topped with the charred sugar, was very good. But the three little delicacies on top, a locally procured sweet-potato candy and some macerated figs and cumquats were the pièce de résistance. The intense sweetness was the perfect foil for that cream concoction at the base. Brilliant. A bit rich. But still brilliant.

Hyatt has done it again. They’ve trumped the competition with this top-notch, restaurant. It may not have that high-energy vibe that garners the good press, but if you like living in the lap of luxury, this is it. Well executed, haute cuisine, top-notch service from a young, sophisticated staff of waiters, in an unforgettable locale, make Duhau Restaurante and Vinoteca one of the best upscale dining options in the city.

Also, check out our review of Gioia, located in the tower facing Posadas, here, and the review of breakfast at the Salons of the Piano Nobile here.