La Central Vermutería — Restaurant in Mendoza

I found this amazing tapas restaurant on Google. It did not have as many reviews as other places, (places which had around 5000 or 6000 each, and seemed to be more popular with tourists rather than the locals). La Central Vermutería had just the right number of reviews to attract me to read the user comments, and we decided to try it out for lunch that day. We found it easily in the downtown area of Mendoza. It provides both outdoor and indoor dining. If we dined outdoors, we could’ve taken pictures with a very Paris vibe. However, it was cold that day, so we decided to dine indoors. When we walked in, I said, “three people.” There were three staff who looked at me, paused for a little bit, and told me to wait for a second. They asked their manager, Francisco to come out to greet us. OMG!!! Francisco was one of the BEST English speakers, as well as one of the most passionate and knowledgeable restaurant managers I have seen in Argentina. First off, he speaks perfect English. As a reader, you cannot imagine how difficult it was for us to travel in Argentina, even in the airports and hotels, because we don’t really speak Spanish. Second, when we placed our order, he also provided great suggestions (e.g. giving us a friendly reminder that we had unknowingly ordered several dishes with similar ingredients, and pointing out other options because he wanted us to try a good variety of flavors from the menu). Third, he even helped us call our travel agency in Spanish to settle down our schedule, so we could continue enjoying our trip after we left the restaurant. Fourth, they obviously take great pride in their menu. As a “Vermuteria,” they are very knowledgeable about vermouth, and were able to recommend great vermouth-based cocktails for our group based on our preferences. Fifth, the dishes and drinks he recommended were near perfect. I don’t want to use perfect because that will be over-exaggerating and mix too much our appreciation (hahaha!!!). The Jamon crudo Iberico came out with a very generous helping of meat, the pastelitos came out perfectly deep fried, and we got to try cuisine from neighboring countries (like Paraguayan mbeyu). As Asian foodies, the recommended dishes provided different ingredients from all over Central and South America, reconstructed with a new flavor for us to enjoy. We do have a lot of Mexican food in the States, but this restaurant showed us a different twist (Argentinian and Mexican tortillas couldn’t be more different!), and I hope you can try this place and meet...

A review said this spot was unpretentious, which is my favorite type of restaurant. I had to see for myself. 100% agree— I cannot speak highly enough of La Central! This was my final dinner in Argentina. I didn’t know anything about vermouth, but the staff was so friendly and walked me through selecting the perfect drink for me (Lunfa Rosado, which I did drink two of 😂). I also did not know that this was VERY lgbtq+ friendly space 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 it was so lovely to be surrounded by community on my final night in Argentina. ❤️

I started with a delicious focaccia, followed by the eggplant with chimichurri and the tomato ceviche. I do not normally do veg dishes at restaurants but these were the exception. These dishes were PERFECT. 20 out of 10. The bread was so soft and perfect with the olive oil, simple. I don’t know how they made that leche de tigre taste just like the original 😭 but it was delicious. I followed these dishes with the pastelitos de carne which tasted like they were made with love. I felt like I was eating inside someone’s house. So warm and rich with flavor. I tried two additional vermouth cocktails, the “Será que no me amas” which I loved, and the Circo Beat which was not my favorite. I don’t like sweet drinks but this drink could have used a bit more sweetness, still good though. Dessert was DIVINE. The pavlova crust had a perfectly soft crunchy texture, and the fruit embellishments were delectable.

I will certainly he returning when I come back to Mendoza. The menu is extremely vegetarian/vegan friendly. My waiter was Nico, so sweet and helpful! Pay him...

The food was amazing and the drinks too, but something completely unexpected happened. Since we arrived they didn’t bring us any tap water, unexpected given the ratings of the place. Furthermore, when we were done with our food and having some more drinks, the server asked us if we wanted some water to avoid the hangover in a very kind way, we smiled and said yes! I though, finally they are bringing us the water that they forgot earlier! The server came back with 2 water bottles. I though our faces were enough to notice our surprise, when they wanted to charge us for kindly offered water! What is more, when the check came, they had charged us with 4 waters! At that moment we did complain. Anyways, at a restaurant with this fame, water should be offered from the beginning and completely free (based on Argentinian law, we looked it up), and deceiving kind words shouldn’t be used to charge us for something that should be free. Honestly,...