It was another outing of the Roving Ravenous Horde, #38 to be exact, and a spot that opened up recently, Komyun, located at "Arch #9" of the Arcos de Rosedal (formerly, but still to most folk here, the Paseo de la Infanta), officially Av. del Libertador 3883, in Palermo. This is the strip of restaurants and bars that have been nestled under the railway track bridge that climbs to a peak up and over Av. Libertador at the north end of the Rosedal, the rose garden.
Four of us hit the table for this outing, and as it was such a beautiful day, we opted for an outdoor table, rather than inside in the "Kitchen & Hi-Fi Bar". I'm not sure I want to know what a hi-fi bar is anyway. Komyun, Japanese for "commune", is owned by the same folk as own the next door Avant Garten, at Arch #10, a burger and beer bar that did not exactly impress me last year, vying for one of last year's, and actually, all time in BA's, three worst burgers. I didn't know about the connection between the two spots when we organized this venture.
And thankfully, because otherwise we might not have come to this spot, and it turns out to be quite good. At lunchtime there's a limited menu - a choice of drink, appetizer, main course, and dessert and/or coffee (the pricing scheme is a little odd - there are three main courses for an option at 350 pesos, and the dessert/coffee is an "or", while at 390 pesos there are three different main courses, and the dessert/coffee is an "and"). Excellent hibiscus infused iced tea (more or less homemade Red Zinger), and ginger-mint lemonade, or a typical soft drink, water, or small glass of beer are the drink options. All four of us went for the bao, a prawn, salad, and sriracha mayo filled one for that particular day, excellent. None of us opted for the green salad or bowl of vegetable soup alternatives. (Though later, a different waitress told the table next to us the soup of the day was a Thai chicken soup, which we might have tried.)
Everything very prettily presented. A decent tonkatsu, basically a Japanese pork milanesa, although this was, unusually for tonkatsu, a bone-in pork chop, breaded and fried, and not sliced as is more common. A poke bowl, perhaps the first, perhaps the only, in Buenos Aires, absolutley delicious, with fresh fish, veggies, rice, and a very good sesame dressing. And, two of us went for the tonkotsu ramen, with a light but flavorful broth, some corn and bean sprouts, lovely slices of roast pork, and a slightly gooey egg. The noodles seemed more spaghetti and ramen, but were good in the soup.
And, since one of us had opted for a "premium" menu, the pork cutlet, we got one dessert on the table, a little mini-trés leches cake that was surprisingly good. All told, a fun outing, decent food, and intriguing enough to want to go back and try their full dinner menu options one night. read more