The Best Buenos Aires Food Tours: Eat Like a Local

When I say I travel Argentina for the cultura, what I mean is asados, empanadas, ice cream, pasta, and street meat… You get it.

You’re going to want to come to Buenos Aires hungry.

Food plays a major role in Argentine life.

Between family asados and communal mate, some aspects are inaccessible without a local guide or tour.

Argentine culture is relationship centered – family and friends are everything – and food is in the center of all of it.

Asados, a typical weekly family event that are nearly impossible to experience without a local to invite you in.

Yerba mate isn’t served in cafes, it’s enjoyed among friends in the parks.

And when it comes to eating out… old cafes and greasy spoons could either deliver the best meal of your life or the worst.

A local guide will know which ones will be memorable in the right way and which ones to avoid.

Ready to dive in?

This guide of my favorite Buenos Aires food tours will help you find the perfect tours and unique dining experience to perfect your itinerary.

The Best Buenos Aires Food Tours

Below are the best food tours in Buenos Aires.

TLDR: If you don’t have time to read through this entire article, here’s a quick list and brief description of each experience:

1. The Asado Adventure: An elevated backyard asado and day time experience with a small group or private experience optional. Book here with code SOLSALUTE to save 10%
2. Sherpa Food Tours: Small group food tours in Palermo or San Telmo
3. Palermo History & Food tour: Small group food tours with a bit of Buenos Aires history woven in, half or full day options. Book here with code SOLSALUTE to save 10%
4. Downtown Pizza Tour: Visit the most historic pizzerias in downtown Buenos Aires. Book here with code SOLSALUTE to save 10%
5. Betty & Marcelo: A traditional asado served family-style served by a local family, a great dinner option in Palermo Soho. Book here with code SOLSALUTE10 to save 10%
6. The Argentine Experience: An entertaining, relaxed meal served family-style. Traditional dishes that aren’t asado, these are abuela’s dishes: chard fritters, empanadas, eggplant, and ossobuco.
7. Fogon Asado: Award-winning asado turned into an elevated 8-course meal. One of my favorite meals in Argentina, it truly lives up to the hype.
8. Yerba Mate Master Class: Learn about the history and the ritual behind this traditional tea.

1. The Asado Adventure

Whenever friends visit I always prepare an authentic asado for them.

Translated to: My husband always puts on an asado and then I invite my friends.

Asados are the Argentine version of a backyard barbecue.

While they’re an incredible, authentic experience, they’re nearly impossible to access unless you’re friends with a local. This isn’t steak at a restaurant, this is a lived experience.

If you want to learn how to grill like an Argentine or you simply want to pig out like one, then the Asado Adventure is the Buenos Aires food tour for you. They were the first asado experience here in Buenos Aires and remain the best.

I loved my experience on this tour and have gone a few times, read my detailed review here.

You’ll learn how to make chimichurri, how to prepare the grill (nothing like the gas grills in the US), and how to prepare the meat.

The day even includes a tour of the neighborhood as you go pick up the meat, wine, and veg.

This is a truly local experience from start to finish.

The button below opens Asado Adventure in Viator, which is a trustworthy booking site. But if you book direct, I have a discount code for you.

Book Asado ADventure here →

If you want to book directly with AsadoAdventure, click here, and use my code SOLSALUTE to save 10% on any of their tours.

2. Sherpa Food Tours, The Best Food Tour in Buenos Aires

Join the wildly popular Sherpa Food Tours that takes small groups of maximum 10 guests around Palermo Soho and San Telmo.

Their Palermo tour starts at around 5:30 pm and ends at 9:30.

This start time is perfect for any Americans out there struggling to adjust to Argentina’s late dinners.

The timing also makes this Buenos Aires food tour an easy add-on to an otherwise full day of touring or a good start to a night out in Palermo.

But pro tip from me to you, go with an empty stomach.

I found the variety of dishes offered to be a broad representation of Argentine cuisine from empanadas and escabeche to Spanish tortilla and milanesa.

We visited four stops throughout Palermo Soho and all were top notch.

This is one of the highest rated Buenos Aires food tours for a reason. And if you’re traveling alone or simply want to mingle with other travelers, Sherpa is the best option.

Book Sherpa here →

3. Palermo Food Tour: History, Parks, and Hidden Restaurants

Frank at Asado Adventure (mentioned earlier in this article) also offers unique food and walking tours.

The most complete is of his home neighborhood, Palermo Viejo. What I love about this tour is that you see a side to this popular neighborhood you won’t see otherwise.

Everyone goes to Palermo Soho, but I promise you that they don’t eat at these restaurants. Frank took us to a parrilla I had walked by countless times before and never noticed. The steak was spectacular.

I went on their full day tour and highly recommend it if you have the time. They offer full and half day tour options.

I went on the full day experience and in 6 hours we covered a lot of ground, starting with coffee and pastry for breakfast before trying Argentine staples like choripan while wandering through local parks and dive bars only found with a local.

His tours offer the option to add on a craft beer tasting or wine tasting.

On our tour we had a wine tasting, trying wines from around the country.

And if craft beer perked your ears up, he also has a dedicated craft beer tour where you can try some of the city’s best brews.

For all of the tours on AsadoAdventure.com use the code SOLSALUTE to save 10%.

I loved our food tour with Asado Adventure because I learned a TON about the history of Argentina, the meaning of many of the area’s murals, and more that I didn’t know even after living here for over a decade.

4. Buenos Aires Pizza Tour

Asado Adventure also offers a niche tour of one of my favorite aspects of Buenos Aires food culture – pizza.

I’m partial to this city’s historic pizzerias, particularly because of their decor that hasn’t changed in decades.

This tour is one I really love because tourists don’t truly appreciate or expect pizza to be so vital to Buenos Aires. You would never go into these restaurants without a guide to point them out.

🍕 Check out the pizza tour here, reminder to use SOLSALUTE to save 10%.

With it an early 6:30 pm start time, you get to sneak in an early, meat-free dinner, two rarities in Buenos Aires.

5. Betty & Marcelo – A Family Dining Experience

Betty & Marcelo is a family run asado in Palermo inviting you the backyard barbecue that is otherwise impossible to access for tourists.

Marcelo is at the grill, Betty is your host, and their daughter Vero is on hand to help with everything in between.

Between the expertly grilled meat, Betty’s charm, and conversation with your fellow travelers, it is always a memorable night.

The doors open at around 7:30 and the experience lasts a few hours as you savor each dish, trying empanadas, choripan, morcilla, pork belly, and steak. They even introduce you to fernet and coke, rounding out an authentic Argentine food experience.

🥩 Book here and use code SOLSALUTE10 to save 10%.

Asado Adventure or Betty & Marcelo, which one? Both are excellent options for tasting a true Argentine asado. Asado Adventure is during the day and it is longer and encompasses more – you can go to the shops, the group is smaller, etc. Betty & Marcelo is your dinner for the day and it’s social with a family-style meal shared with fellow travelers. Both are great, choose what works with your schedule!

6. The Argentine Experience & Fogón Asado

The Argentine Experience and Fogón Asado aren’t tours but they are two dining experiences that encompass Argentine cuisine.

They both take traditional Argentine meals and turn it on its head to create a tasting menu.

But they’re completely different meals and experiences, which one is right for you?

The Argentine Experience is one of the most popular dinners in Buenos Aires, read my full review of the meal here.

You’re seated at a table with fellow diners family style.

You’ll make your own chimichurri and learn how to close an empanada while tasting tradition appetizers you may not order otherwise – like chard fritters, eggplant, and salad. The main course is not your typical asado it’s ossobuco.

I highly recommend the Argentine Experience if you want to try a traditional meal that’s a bit different than what you may be expecting.

Fogón Asado is another coursed meal, it’s a twist on the traditional asado and is more elevated than the Argentine Experience.

Diners are seated at a bar facing an open kitchen, with the grill in the center of the room. There are two options: an 8-course tasting menu and a 14-course Chef’s Counter menu.

I have tried both. The 8-course meal is focused on only the asado. There are more guests but due to the seating arrangement you still get a lot of interaction with your chef.

The 14-course meal expands to include regional dishes like lamb and trout. There are fewer guests and much more interaction with your chef.

You can’t go wrong with either option, read my full Fogon Asado review for more details if you can’t decide.

🍷You can pay for an optional wine pairing and it truly enhances the experience but if you’re on a tighter budget, skimping on the wine makes this a very affordable meal for the high quality meal that you get.

6. Yerba Mate Master Class

Yerba Mate is a major facet of Argentine life, learn about its importance and the ritual around it in this yerba mate master class.

You’ll see groups of friends passing mate around in a circle at the park. Or a couple on a bench passing the gourd back and forth as they catch up between sips.

Every desk in an office isn’t complete without a thermos, bag of yerba, and a mate gourd.

Preparing mate isn’t as simple as dumping the tea into the cup with some hot water and jamming a straw in. There is a ritual and every step matters.

At just an hour, this experience is easy to squeeze into busy itineraries.

More Buenos Aires Food Guides & Tours

• 11 Traditional Buenos Aires Food Experiences
• 27 Popular Foods in Argentina You Have to Try
• A Beefy Guide to Eating Steak in Buenos Aires
• A Gluttonous Guide to Ice Cream in Argentina
• Self-Guided Argentine Pizza Crawl
• 11 Traditional Desserts in Argentina You Have to Try
• The Best Buenos Aires Bike Tours
• 20 Things to do in Buenos Aires
• Where to go Wine Tasting in Buenos Aires