54 Bars: Las Violetas

Walking into Las Violetas, one of Buenos Aires’ 54 Notable bars, feels a bit like getting on board a mini version of the Titanic. Like the famous cruise liner, the interior of this café is an impressive example of Art Nouveau décor, with gold curlicues on the ceiling, Italian marble columns and Tiffany-style stained glass windows. But while the Ritzy interior reflects the upper-class clientele who used to come here, the café is no longer an institution for the elite, but a beautiful historic building where anyone with $7.50 can have a coffee.

The café, which celebrated its 125th anniversary last year, used to be a meeting point for the rich and privileged. The building was constructed in an exclusive area of Almagro, and was named Las Violetas after the flowers that grew in the gardens of nearby country estates. Many members of Buenos Aires high society attended the café’s inauguration in 1884, including Carlos Pellegrini, who would later become president of the republic.

Other famous clients include the author Alfonsina Storni, the writer, historian and politician Felix Luna and the tango composer Osvaldo Pugliese. One more notable visitor was the jockey Irineo Leguisamo, who allegedly invented a dessert in the cafe, which was named after him and is still available to buy today. It’s a good thing that Leguisamo was a sportsman, because the list of ingredients is enough to give anyone who does not take daily exercise a heart attack: a slice of this famous pudding contains sponge cake, dulce de leche, meringue, candied chestnuts, almond cream and puff pastry and is topped off with fondant and chocolate.

After its heyday at the end of the 19th century, the café lost some of its popularity, owning to the disintegration of the privileged class who used to come here. The restaurant was disused and semi-abandoned from the end of the ‘80’s until the late ‘90’s. However in 1998 the building was named a national heritage site and its present owners bought it, restored the interior and reopened it in June 2001. Luciano Correa, one of the restaurant’s waiters, comments that the building was purchased and refurbished in the nick of time, just before the economic crisis that shook Argentina in December 2001 and which would have made the expensive building work unaffordable.

Thankfully, the café is doing well today and is particularly popular with tourists, who are drawn by the impressive architecture. Many of the building’s features are original, such as the marble columns and tabletops. Other parts of the décor, like the stained glass windows and stone floor, are reproductions. These replaced the originals, which were badly damaged during the period when the café fell into disrepair. However, the restoration has been completed with such care that, looking around the interior now, you would be hard pressed to tell which parts were original and which were copies.

The food in Las Violetas is almost as decadent as the building itself. When the café was first opened it was in fact a patisserie, and today it continues to sell some of the most indulgent chocolate, fondant, fruit, meringue and cream covered cakes you can imagine. Las Violetas still functions as a cake shop, and there is a separate entrance for customers who want to buy pastries to take away, as well as a delivery service for food hampers.

One of the most popular meals here is the ‘Maria Carla’ afternoon tea, which sounds expensive at $48 pesos, but then easily serves three to four people. This is a traditional Ritz-style tea, with crust-less sandwiches, cakes, fondants and orange juice. However, it also has a Buenos Aires twist, as the English salmon and cucumber sandwiches are replaced with the inevitable Argentine ham and cheese.

Although the food here is no longer completely unaffordable, there’s no denying that prices are still quite steep. A café con leche costs $10, and prices go up on weekends and public holidays after 4pm (most drinks are 50 cents more expensive, afternoon tea costs $2 more). This is certainly a venue for an occasional splash out, rather than a place to come every day for coffee. However, if you want to spend an afternoon enjoying delicious food and beautiful architecture, it’s certainly worth a visit.

Las Violetas is open from 6am to 1am, Sunday to Thursday, and 24 hours, Friday to Saturday (If you fancy the most indulgent hangover breakfast of all time, this is the place to come!) Av. Rivadavia 3899 (corner Medrano). Tel: 4958-7387 www.lasvioletas.com