La Tasca Restaurant
San Martin de los Andes

Stop in San Martin de Los Andes in Patagonia for excellent tapas and elaborated picadas in a cozy, family-operated restaurant La Tasca.

San Martin de Los Andes
       The famous Seven Lakes Circuit from Bariloche (Argentinean Patagonia) takes along the Cordilleras across the Nahuel Huapi and Lanin National Parks to a small but picturesque city of San Martin de Los Andes.

This tour is all about nature, but temporarily let’s leave the Seven Lakes Trail, forget about nearby Lake Lacar and everything around.

Obviously, everybody, even those “hard-to-die” nature lovers have to eat sometimes and that is the subject of this page.

Walking along the wide streets generously decorated with bushes of roses you can find many restaurants offering typical Argentinean food (all kinds of grilled red meat) and very popular sweet delicacies with chocolate and ice-creams. Latter seems to be the reminiscence of strong Suisse, German and Italian presence in this “Alpine-like” area.

In front of the restaurant - La Tasca advertises picadas!

La Tasca Restaurant, located on Mariano Moreno street is operated by a German family since 1989.

Tasca is a worldwide franchise chain of restaurants specializing in tapas (picadas in Argentina). Contrary to the Catalonian cuisine where picada is an almond-based sauce, in Argentina picada is a selection of hors d’oeuvres - sometimes very elaborated one that can serve as a full dinner.

An "inviting menu" attached to the ornamented wooden cutting board (well, when it comes to fine dining, every detail is important); 

It's inspiring, so - bon appetit! :-)

     The menu offers several “Specialités de la Maison” like “Trucha a la Tasca” (trout), “Ciervo a la Tasca” (deer) or Patagonian plates (nor sure what was the composition of those), trout-filled pasta to name only a few I remember from the list. And whenever you turn your eyes – countless bottles of great Argentinean wine…..

It was a difficult choice and after moments of hesitation, we opted for picada. Our picada for two on top of traditional components like sliced salami, cured ham, a variety of cubed cheese, olives, and fresh crusty bread offered also a large assortment of cubed meat. You may not believe it but it was real - lomo (tenderloin), ciervo (deer), jabali (wild boar), cordero (lamb), and wild mushrooms - all these delicacies appeared on our table in small bowls on the very large wooden cutting board.

La Tasca: Interior

It seems to me like an "abundance" of drinks

Traditional stone furnace promises warmness... 

       Good “copa de vino tinto” (glass of red wine) greatly added to the flavors of the fiesta (ice-cold beer will be also an excellent choice).

As you can see in the gallery of pictures below it is a cozy restaurant “heavily” decorated with objects remembering the remote past – old iron stoves, presumably beer barrels, and pumps, mechanical cashiers, coffee grinders, irons, and some other “machinery” – initial use of which was not clear to me. Racks full of bottles of wine fill every remaining space – and believe me - Argentinean wine (mainly from the area of Mendoza) is excellent and served at a very reasonable price!

The restaurant is open from noon to 3:30 pm and then reopens from 7 pm to 1 am (Argentinean dinner time – no kidding!).

More wine than you would think :-)

Little museum brings the atmosphere of the past

Closer look at an old "machinery" ordered by Tuneleria Mecana and made by antigua casa Fruhinsh Schiltilgheim ALS (Alsacia) 

Some strange "machinery" certainly very useful some time ago....

These days credit cards and electronic terminals replaced antic registers (here in the company of equally old beer-pump). 

Cozy interior design offers a warm dining ambiance ...

Old incarnation of the radiating heather perfectly fits into interior ambience 

This was a final accent of our lunch - a bill. Its unusual graphical form matched our experience at the table. 

     I know, that the picture below "does not go together" with Tasca's  ambience, but hey, these "Boys" are only part of our youth and culture, they confirm that in fact, we are in the right place :-). 

It seems like the owner shares similar affection to the "Liverpool Boys" as most of us, as proves this autographed picture on the restaurant's wall. 

      Well, I hope that you enjoyed this presentation of La Tasca in San Martin de Los Andes. By no means I'm saying that this is the best restaurant in the city (BTW - this was the only one in San Martin de Los Andes where I stopped for the lunch). But certainly, it is a place where you can find great food and lovely ambience.

Corner with local art

Just to remind you - it will be a big mistake (actually a sin) to not try one of the famous Argentinean wines before leaving Tasca 

Glasses are ready, fill them up and Salud!

For those familiar with Argentinean asado or parilla I can say - well at La Tasca these dishes are much more elaborated than "just asado or parilla" offered by most restaurants.

If you want to learn more about the Patagonian Lake District please click: Bariloche Lake District 

Want some examples of what is waiting for you?

Not far from Villa la Angostura on the Nahuel Huapi Lake there is a secluded Quetrihué Peninsula with the Arrayanes forest - the only one in the whole world. To visit this place please click on the left picture or follow the link: Arrayanes Forest 

If you would like to see one of the top ten panoramic views in the whole world, then please take a chair-lift to the Cerro Capmanario by clicking on the left picture or follow the link
Cerro Campanario

What about the stunning oasis of Patagonian steppe colors mixed with the greenery of lush vegetation and the deep blue of Limay waters with strange lava formations on the background - all called Enchanted Valley? Please click on the left picture or follow the link:
Valle Encantado 

...and it goes on and on selecting:

Isla Victoria 
or
 Limay River Amphitheater 

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