A fine dining restaurant with a very sophisticated air, “Fuego” serves authentic Argentinian cuisine. With a few hits and a few misses, the result was quite the average but two dishes really stood out and I would go again but this time choose carefully.
Between the two of us, we went for one set menu, Chef Mariano’s Argentinian Meal and for the other we ordered a starter and main a la carte.
Before anything, arrived a delicious rustic bread with chimichurri butter and a fantastic amouse bouche, a traditional Argentinian corn pudding called Humitas served over a crisp and greens on top. The bite sized delight was too good and our server kindly got us another round. Off to a good start.
The starter we chose from the set menu was Gambas el ajillo, which were garlic shrimps but we had to specially ask them to remove the white wine from it, which they obliged to.
Will have to be a little careful with the menu here as a few dishes have a touch of wine in it. The other starter we got a la carte was the Empanadas sharing platter, one from every region of Argentina. Salteña (Beef) Marplatense (Cheese and salami) Norteña (Corn) Pampeana (Provoleta and chili).
The concept was enticing but it failed terribly on the taste buds. Some of the fillings were a tad salty, not very flavourful and the dough was too.. doughy. An attempt to make one of them more interesting-looking with a dash of squid ink didn’t help either. It was disappointing.
One of our mains was the Milanesa Argentina – a breaded sirloin steak served with fried potatoes (chosen from the set menu options with the help of our server) and for the other we went for a lighter vegetarian option of ravioli of potato and mushroom in butter sauce. Sounds like the ultimate comfort food and I was expecting a pillow soft potato and mushroom goodness doused in a butter heaven. Big mistake. What we got was a textured ravioli swimming in a super-salty broth. I wouldn’t mind the ravioli, the mushroom filling in it did have a chance, but the saltiness was something I just couldn’t handle.
The savior for the day was the scrumptious Milanesa steak! It was simply amazing. Fuego specializes in serving the famous Argentinian Kobe beef and with a steak you shouldn’t and wouldn’t go wrong here. This was the next best experience after the humitas in the beginning.
What helped us completely shake off the empanadas and the salty ravioli disaster, was the dessert – it was a total redemption. Helado de Dulce de Leche – Homemade ice cream, walnut crumble, chocolate sauce – was amazing beyond words. The dulce de leche made into ice cream was a milk and caramel heaven with a crispy, lovely walnut crumble balanced with just the right amount of slightly bitter dark chocolate sauce. We shared the dessert and left happier than we arrived.