Pacha cocina Cafayate — Restaurant in Municipio de Cafayate

This restaurant really tries to produce something creative and different. The menu consists of only 5-6 starters and 5-6 main courses, because everything is made fresh and is cooked for you (as the old saying goes, any restaurant that has more than 6 items on the menu is using frozen or processed food). As such, be aware that you will pay approximately double the price of a “normal” local restaurant — but you’re getting something very different from the usual repetitive “milanesa-napolitano-bife-cazuela-lomito” menu.

Also bear in mind the menu changes every 1-2 months, so the comments below may become out of date soon.

The pacu fishballs starter was truly excellent — singing with cilantro (coriander) and fresh garlic. The pancetta main course was also very well executed, with the fat seasoned and seared so as not to be overly heavy.

Dessert was slightly disappointing. The “volcan” is basically a standard “petit gateau”, slightly let down by a lower quality vanilla ice cream — but true fresh vanilla ice cream must be difficult to find here, given the economic situation.

In summary, yes it’s worth it, and they work hard to bring you something different, given the parameters of the locale and price. Recommended.

Just two suggestions:

The menu was very meat-heavy. Many people who are looking for something “different” are also looking for an escape from the daily meat-meat-meat obsession of this region (especially foreigners).

Too many of the dishes involve sweet/fruit sauces. This is a regrettable trend that started in North America and is invading the world. Lots of people don’t like it. Please, provide some menu items without jam/jelly/geleia/salsas dulces. Swet flavours don’t work with meat/savoury (salado) dishes.

But still: recommended. This restaurant is really providing something different...

In a small town in the heart of Northern Argentina's wine region, the vibe is equal parts California wine country, European town center, and part la Frontera.

In the midst of this, we find Pacha, a small but mighty local restaurant. Service, plating, and great wines are all equivalent to exceptional restaurants in London, Madrid, or Chicago, albeit expressed here with flavors and ingredients representing Argentina's culinary traditions, elevated.

Tonight started with trout crudo and beef carpaccio. For mains, a tenderloin with mille-feuille potatoes, and then "Bife de Chorizo" (a.k.a. New York strip) with pomme purėe topped with delicate tiny potato crisps, none of which does justice to the preparation or plating for what may sound like Argentine standards. A local El Porvenir "Laborum de Parcela" 2021 Malbec, paired nicely with everything. Last, an innovative presentation of a chocolate lava cake with an ice cream quenelle over chocolate cookie crumble.

In the past two weeks, we've traversed Argentina, from Buenos Aires to Bariloche and back, and we have experienced many good restaurants, but Pacha stands above....

We really enjoyed our tasting menu dinner at Pacha. The dishes are super creative and delicious, and the chef himself made sure to speak to us before the meal to note of any dietary restrictions, which he creatively and thoughtfully took care of. Just a note that when you reserve online, there’s an option for the tasting menu or a la carte, but the tasting menu is changed I believe weekly, so it’s difficult to know what you’ll be getting if you reserve in advance, and once you commit, you can’t do a la carte at the restaurant anymore. It would be helpful for the restaurant to link the a la carte menu online in order to see before, in order to help decide if you want a tasting menu or a la carte. Many other guests did a la carte, and the dishes looked very delicious as well. Despite this however, we really loved the creative tasting menu and absolutely enjoyed the experience. Would recommend going for both types of experiences (tasting menu or a la carte) depending on the type of experience you’re looking for/your level of...