Bariloche Food: Craft Beer, Fondue, Lamb Asado, and the Art of Andean Chocolate
Bariloche has the most distinctive food and drink culture of any Argentine provincial city, combining the European immigrant confection and dairy traditions with the Patagonian livestock heritage and the craft beer movement that has made the city the most important brewing center in Argentina outside Buenos Aires.
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Cerveceria Patagonia and the Craft Beer Scene
Patagonian craft breweries use the pure snowmelt water and locally grown hops of the lake district to produce German-influenced lager and ale styles alongside distinctly Argentine interpretations of international beer styles. The Cerveceria Patagonia facility on the Nahuel Huapi lake shore combines a large taproom with lake views, a brewery tour, and a food menu of Patagonian-influenced pub fare that makes it a destination in its own right.
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Fondue, Raclette, and the Swiss Mountain Food Heritage
The Swiss and German food heritage of Bariloche is most directly expressed in the cheese fondue and raclette restaurants that cluster around the city center and the Avenida Bustillo, where the combination of local dairy products and the alpine dining tradition create a cold-weather dining experience that feels authentically transposed from the Alps to the Andes. The fondue restaurants of Bariloche are busiest in winter when the ski season creates an ideal market for warming communal dining.
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Lamb Asado: The Patagonian Grill Tradition
The Patagonian lamb asado, prepared on a crossed iron frame over an open wood fire in a tradition derived from the gaucho and indigenous practices of the Patagonian steppe, is the most distinctly local meat preparation of the Bariloche area and represents a regional variant of the Argentine asado tradition that uses the lean, fragrant meat of the merino-cross sheep grazing the high Andean pastures. The combination of slow-roasted lamb with chimichurri sauce and local bread is the iconic Bariloche meal.
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Chocolate Making: From Bean to Bar in the Andes
The Mamuschka and other premium chocolate producers of Bariloche import cacao from Ecuadorian and Colombian suppliers and process it in local facilities that maintain the European artisanal tradition established by the early immigrant chocolatiers. Chocolate-making workshops allow visitors to participate in the tempering and molding process while learning about the cacao cultivation and processing chain that connects the Andean chocolate shops to the tropical farms of the cacao-producing countries.
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Patagonian Beer Garden Culture: Summer Evenings on the Lake
The beer garden culture of Bariloche reaches its peak during the summer months of December to February when the outdoor terraces of the lakeside breweries and restaurants fill with visitors and local residents enjoying the long evening light and the panoramic lake and mountain views that make outdoor dining in Bariloche one of the finest casual food experiences in South American tourism.
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Dulce de Leche and Regional Sweets: The Argentine Confection Heritage
Bariloche's confection culture extends beyond chocolate to the wider world of Argentine dulce de leche, the caramelized milk spread that is the national condiment of Argentina and features in virtually every pastry, ice cream, and sweet preparation of the Bariloche cafe and bakery scene. The combination of dulce de leche with the artisanal chocolate of the city produces bonbons, truffles, and filled chocolates that are among the most popular souvenir purchases from the Bariloche chocolate shops.