Special report by Mary Connolly aka “Marie Fromage”

“Rio de la Plata, Florida, Avenida Nueve de Julio, all I want to know!” – Evita

The Evita soundtrack began to loop continuously in my head the minute my plane touched the ground in Buenos Aires. Does everyone really eat meat all the time and tango in the streets? Well, sometimes. They also drink a lot of red wine and eat a lot of ice cream and somehow manage to look gorgeous!

Despite the recent hardships, enjoyment of the good life is something these people have down pat. “Porteños,” as they call themselves because BA was established as a port on the mighty Rio de la Plata, are cosmopolitan, warm, passionate people who shun sleep and opt to live, eat and dance! And with an exchange rate of approximately 3 pesos to the dollar, it is relatively inexpensive to go all out down there.

As the foodie behind the Marie Fromage blog, and a New Yorker surviving the constant sticker shock of dining out in Manhattan, I was determined to take advantage of the dining pleasures of glamorous BA.

To quote my concierge at the oh-so-chic Hotel Design CE said, “We are Spanish speaking children of Italian immigrants who are English educated and who want to be French.”

A decadent combo that makes for decadent dining.

Taxi!

Special report by Mary Connolly aka “Marie Fromage”

No one really sleeps here. There’s too much living to do! People just go-go-go day and night, fueled by coffee, Red Bull, and the ubiquitous Yerba Mate tea, served in gourds and sipped through metal straws and carried around by everyone, the way Starbucks seems to always be in-hand everywhere in the U.S.

After our decadent massages (see Indulgences), it was late in the afternoon and too early for dinner, so we decided what better way to continue the decadence than with a full English high tea? We strolled over to the nearby Alvear Palace Hotel, a grand hotel in the classic European tradition and an Argentine institution. We were escorted into the leafy, flower-filled Jardin d’Hiver room of the L’Orangerie restaurant and seated next to the Porteño version of “ladies who lunch”, gathered to celebrate a birthday. The tea service was extraordinary, silver platters and towers laden with pillowy scones, pastries and delicate little sandwiches. The tea itself was very special. I chose the spicy and fruity “Alvear” blend created just for this hotel by tea expert Inés Berton (her shop Tealosophy is located just off of the lobby). And if that weren’t enough, they rolled around a cart with even more pastries to choose from and finished it all off with glasses of champagne! We vowed to never eat again. Well, ok, maybe not never.

Note: a power nap is mandatory in order to prepare for the evening’s festivities.
You must be refreshed and ready to rock because you do not come home until the wee hours.

We began our evening by taking in a little tango at the Confiteria Ideal, an elegant, dark, romantic and cavernous old dance hall that opened in 1912 that bears the patina of almost a century’s worth of passionate dancing within its walls. It’s not a tourist show, but rather a place were locals, young and old, come to practice their sensuous moves. A mesmerizing scene to behold.

At 10pm we headed to dinner, probably a little early by locals’ standards, but all that tangoing will make you hungry. We had originally planned to go to Cabaña Las Lilas, the famed steak palace for a classic Argentine meat feast, but instead opted to go to Casa Salt Shaker, one of a growing trend of ”puertas cerradas” or semi-secret closed-door restaurants that are cropping-up in cities around the world and booming in BA. You have to do a little research to find these, but it’s worth it because it is such a unique, intimate and generally first-rate dining experience. American ex-pat chef, Dan Perlman, runs Casa Salt Shaker located in a neat flat in the Recoleta neighborhood. We were served a delicious five-course meal, expertly paired with Argentine wines, and enjoyed the company of 10 adventurous and lively souls. It was the best meal I had during my entire week in Buenos Aires!

We finished dinner around 1am and still had energy to burn so we headed over to the Faena Hotel + Universe, the stunning Philippe Starck-designed hotel located in the Puerto Madero district. It is the only place we encountered that was set firmly in the 21st century - gothic, luxurious, industrial-chic. It rivals any of Manhattan’s cutting edge spots. As we were sipping our cocktails poolside, inspired by the glow of the red candles burning everywhere, we decided that we were possibly in the coolest place on earth.

Special report by Mary Connolly aka “Marie Fromage”

High design boutique hotels are all the rage in Buenos Aires and are an affordable way to sleep in style without breaking the travel budget.

Reserve a sleek and modern boutique hotel room at the Hotel Design CE (in the exclusive Recoleta district of BA). The rooms are comfortable with a sparse, minimal décor (think white walls and cement floors) but are made luxurious with comfy beds, a flat screen TV and a Jacuzzi! A generous continental breakfast is included and served at a long communal bar area in the internal lobby-lounge. Surf the ‘net and plot the evening’s escapades over a glass of Malbec in the tiny and mod subterranean bar. The very friendly and helpful staff will make sure you are headed in the right direction, so be sure to ask for suggestions.

Faena Hotel + Universe: the stunning Philippe Starck-designed hotel located in the Puerto Madero district. It is the only place we encountered that was set firmly in the 21st century – decadent, gothic, luxurious, industrial-chic. Located within a renovated factory, the “hotel” is comprised of 110 rooms that come complete with a personal “experience manager” who will see to it that your every need is tended to. The “universe” is a collection of high-design bars, restaurants, a cabaret, a theater, a spa, business center and shops. Truly a one-of-a-kind property.
Home: THE boutique hotel in BA, located in the hip Palermo Viejo district and therefore hard to reserve, so plan ahead! Run by husband and wife team Tom Rixton and Patricia O’Shea, this 14 room hot spot also houses a bar and spa.

Bobo Hotel: another hot property in the Palermo Viejo district, this is a seven-room hotel contained within a renovated 1920s European-style mansion.

Buenos Aires also has its share of world class, ultra-luxury hotels. Here are a few of the notable ones:

Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt: a recently renovated, grand and palatial Beaux Arts mansion with restrained modern luxury located in the exclusive Recoleta district. Even if this hotel is out of your price range, treat yourself to a massage at the glorious Ahin Spa.

Alvear Palace: a gilded and grand hotel in the classic European tradition and an Argentine institution, located in the upscale Recoleta district. This is the place to come for decadent high tea and a dose of classic luxury.

Special report by Mary Connolly aka “Marie Fromage”

Ahin Spa - Say Ahhhh

After 12 hours in cramped coach, the minute my friend Liz & I finished checking into our sleek and modern boutique hotel room, we high-tailed it over to the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt to indulge in much needed massages at their magnificent Ahin Spa. Luxury here is on an operatic level. Upon arrival we were presented with a menu of music to listen to during our treatments. The private treatment rooms are marble-lined, complete with a shower and soaking tub. A selection of therapeutic teas was brought to us on a tray as we lounged on a chaise relaxing after all the hard work of being kneaded and pampered. The price of a treatment also includes use of their gorgeous pool, sauna and Jacuzzi. Ahhhhhh.

Leather Jacket – Yes, It’s a “Must Buy”

Mandatory BA “must buy”: a custom-made leather jacket from Uru Recoleta. We got to choose from a wide variety of styles, and then choose the color and type of leather we wanted it in — antelope, kid skin, calfskin, deer, lamb, etc. They take your measurements and within 24-hours, a “fits-like-a-glove” leather jacket is delivered right to your hotel. Very painless and surprisingly affordable.

Palermo Viejo – Hip, Happening Time Warp

Buenos Aires is stuck in a very attractive and fetching time warp — the 1980’s. Taxis, bars and restaurants blare 80s music. Young men sport the mullet, more generously referred to as “soccer hair.” Clothes, shoes, all of it, right out of the 80s. Kind-o-fun! Keeping that in mind, here are some fun shops worth exploring in Palermo Viejo, hip and happening, loaded with funky boutiques featuring original fashions and home accessories created by local designers.

Calma Chicaa: cow skin rugs and other fun and funky home accessories
Papelera Palermo: handmade stationery, leather-bound journals and paper goods
Humawaca: leather goods
Also worth investigating: Prune: shoes, handbags, jackets (locations all over town)

Special report by Mary Connolly aka “Marie Fromage”

Black and yellow taxis are everywhere, extremely affordable and are the best way to get around town. For safety reasons, be sure to have the hotel or restaurant call one for you. You may also hail one on the street, but be sure you get the one with the plastic box on top with “radio taxi” on the side. A “remisa” or car service is also a good idea and your best bet when going from the airport to your hotel. These are conveniently located right outside baggage claim. Also, to tip your driver just round the total fare up to the higher amount – they don’t expect more than that.

English is spoken at most hotels, but not widely spoken throughout the city. It is best to know a few helpful and practical phrases, such as “Lo siento, no hablo Español. Habla Ingles?” (I’m sorry, I don’t speak Spanish. Do you speak English?)” Through a combination of broken Spanish, English and hand gestures, you’ll figure it out.

The steak: here’s the deal with the meat. I wouldn’t say it was better than U.S. steak. It’s delicious, just different. Grass-fed, free range, hormone-free it’s leaner and has a more beefy flavor. The most tender cut is the rib eye. Steakhouses or “Parillas” can be found all over town, ranging from cozy neighborhood hang-outs to meat palaces.

Sweets: Porteños have a fierce sweet tooth and have been know to put the caramel-y sauce dulce de leche on just about everything. Try an “alfajor”, a dulce de leche filled sandwich cookie smothered with chocolate (the best are from Havanna). And don’t leave BA without trying the ice cream! It is Italian-style gelato and it’s some of the best I’ve ever had (even in Italy). The finest purveyor is Volta.

The wine: you have probably heard of, and tasted the smooth and mellow red Malbec. However, I thought the bold and spicy Cabernet was the better of the two.

I felt generally safe in the main areas of town, but at night I didn’t feel comfortable in Barrio Norte and Microcentro, mainly because these are commercial districts and are deserted at night. Avoid the La Boca area at all times. While it is considered the “birthplace of tango”, it is a poor area with a tacky, tourist strip and we were warned not to be there at night. You will probably come here with an escorted tour and that’s the best way to see it. And if you don’t make it there you aren’t really missing a thing.

Best neighborhoods: Palermo & Palermo Viejo, Recoleta, Puerto Madero.

I highly recommend taking a three-hour bus tour of the city. It’s a great orientation, can be arranged by your hotel and most tour companies will pick you up at your hotel. We took the “Live Buenos Aires” tour, which was extra fun because the bus turned into a mini-movie theater at certain points and showed brief films detailing a site we were about to encounter.

The dollar sign for U.S. currency is also the symbol for the Argentine peso. We were warned that some cab drivers will try to tell you that the amount on the meter is American dollars, but don’t fall for it – it’s all pesos. We didn’t encounter any problems like this, but just be aware.

The mode of dress in Buenos Aires is relaxed and cosmopolitan. Steer clear of shorts, sneakers, t-shirts, loud colors and fanny packs and you’ll fit right in.

Spend a day away in Uruguay! Take the one-hour Buquebus rapid ferry across the Rio de la Plata to Colonia, a pretty and historical old colonial town in Uruguay. Walk or rent bikes, have a leisurely lunch, and be back in Buenos Aires in time to tango the night away!

Damn expectations. Perhaps it was waking at 3:45am to catch a 7am flight and then sitting on the tarmac at JFK for another 45 minutes. Just what time does one have to leave in the morning to actually depart on time? Perhaps it was all the other surly, non-early birds. Could TSA be any grumpier?

Perhaps I just hadn’t had enough caffeine.

I can’t say I dug my much anticipated inaugural flight on Virgin America.

I flew on one of the first Virgin Atlantic flights out of Newark to London. Twas a partee. Mod. Fun. Designer uniform-clad stewardesses and stewards serving free cocktails to groovy tunes. Virgin Atlantic boldly changed the course of the travel industry not just the airline industry. Virgin America aspires to be what Virgin Atlantic wrote the book on: cutting-edge. Cutting-edge is great if it works.

I hate this trend of being nickel-and-dimed to death by some airlines. Virgin America takes it to new heights. Want to check a second bag? Ching, ching. $10. Exit row available? Ching, ching. $15. With nary a nut to be found on my five hour flight from JFK to San Francisco I debated buying one of my only two choices: yoghurt and pastry at $6 or fruit and cheese for $7. I was really missing Terra Blue Potato Chips.

There is no doubt: it is a very slick design. You will not be mistaking it for the many greyhound buses in the sky. For a morning flight perhaps a little too slick. With the blue and pink neon-like overhead lighting and black leather seats in molded white plastic, at 7am I felt like I was the last person to leave the club.

My bells and whistles didn’t work. The touch screen on my much hailed seat back multimedia screen failed twice. Excited to perhaps meet my magazine deadline I fished around for one of the vaunted outlets to recharge my laptop. Hmmm. Not working either. I searched in vain for the controls to the lower back massage trying to make it all better only to realize that back massages are first class only.

The flight attendant could not have been nicer. She offered up free food for my troubles twice, but I felt too guilty to accept thinking about all those other starving passengers with nary a nut to be found. On a more upbeat note, it is refreshing to see some chicly dressed, attractive airline staff for a change.

Still the whole experience made me nostalgic for a seatback magazine with sudoku, a bag of peanuts and some disheveled flight attendant to toss them in my general direction.

Damn expectations.

THE PENINSULA SPA BY ESPA

Spas are always the right answer to the toxic effects of jet lag or over-imbibing, or for a woman in need of pampering, incessant rain or not. This serene, elegant retreat offers a variety of eastern influenced treatments. I mean you could get lost in there for days sampling everything. The WHT had a 90-minute facial and while relaxing, I was a bit freaked out by how freaked out my esthetician was about my dehydrated skin. I prefer to blame it on frequent flying rather than frequent cocktailing. Fortunately, she introduced me to my new favorite product: Clarins Masque “Anti-Soif” Multi-Hydratant aka a mask for thirsty skin.

The Peninsula Hotel

PACIFIC PLACE

So many designer malls, so little time. I loved Pacific Place best because Kate Spade lives there. Also, there are two upscale department stores, Lane Crawford and Seibu. I found a very hot Oriental inspired mini-dress by Plenty at Lane Crawford (it must have been from a line designed specifically with the Asian market in mind as we never get anything that fun in the U.S.). It was also on sale, as were tons of other designer goods. Not quite Macy’s prices, but close. FYI, the traditional sales periods are late—December to February and July to September although I did quite well in late June.

One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Adjacent to the Marriott in Central

SHANGHAI TANG

Everything at Shanghai Tang is exquisitely designed with a sophisticated Chinese flair from a chartreuse silk, Mandarin collar dress to a porcelain tray with a tiger motif. I could have spent a fortune re-outfitting my bar alone with etched hi-ball and champagne glasses. But budget dictated the purchase of a limited edition tee shirt, white with a rainbow colored dragon breathing sparkly swirls of fire across my chest. Hardly a bargain at $75, but I was lucky to get one of the last.

Stores located at The Pedder Building, The Peninsula, The Intercontinental and the International Airport

ANTIQUE SHOPPING ON HOLLYWOOD ROAD

The WHT believes that one of the joys of travel is finding that unique little something to bring home that you won’t find anywhere else in the world. There are lots of opportunities for that along Hollywood Road where I happened upon a tiny shop selling antique snuff bottles, with a particularly naughty erotic collection. Buying one was more a cultural study than a sales pitch. I, a sophisticated woman traveler, blushed as an elderly Chinese lady carefully pointed out the various sexual positions and explained the masterful bamboo brush painting techniques used on the bottle I ultimately purchased for myself for a birthday present. She offered me a very fair price based on her choosing the right numbers that would ensure good luck in my new year of life.

Breaking News – The Aqua Restaurant group is trying to out-cool itself with the May 2006 launch of Aqua Luna, a traditional red sail junk, custom-built by an 80-year old master craftsman using traditional Chinese boat building methods. Sail Victoria Harbor in high style, mojito in hand, for a mere $23 for 45 minutes. Aqua Luna is also available for private charters, a very sexy choice for an off-site venue for corporate meetings. Board and disembark at Queen’s Pier, Central, as well as Pier 4, Tsim Sha Tsui

Transfers – The ladybug taxis are adorable, but I prefer to travel in a chauffeured, boxy black Mercedes sedan to and from Hong Kong International Airport. I don’t want to deal with anything, but reading The International Herald Tribune when I arrive. And I never want to be freaking out in a tiny taxi in near-black rain conditions. With many hotels including airport transfers in their corporate packages for free or at comparable rates, why not? Check under packages on the hotel website or ask the reservationist.

Jet Lag - Clarins Masque “Anti-Soif” Multi-Hydratant may not cure your jet lag, but it will make you look like you are not suffering from it. I apply the masque as soon as I arrive at my hotel after all long haul flights. It is the answer to the dehydrating effects of frequent cocktailing while frequent flying.

Off Topic: In response to requests from their corporate women travelers, Ritz Carlton Hotels are phasing in in-room coffee makers. I love RC joe, but hate trudging down to the lobby in a hat and yoga pants to get my first infusion of the day or paying as much as $20 for a pot by the time I pay for the coffee, delivery charge, service charge, etc. etc. etc.

My old friend Kate Spade was my first stop at Pacific Place shopping mall, a shoe-holic’s dream – Manohlo Blahnik, Prada, Ferragamo. I was jonesing for a new pair of shoes after living in Australia for months, a no-woman’s land for designer shoes where a pair of non-designer Nine West’s can easily run $120US. I bought these snazzy crab sandals as a present for my Cancerian birthday and only stopped there because my suitcase was already bulging and I couldn’t squeeze in another pair.

CAPTAIN’S BAR

Just renovated along with the rest of the hotel to restore it to its former Oriental glory, The WHT and her friend, Peter, hopes they haven’t screwed with the original. No doubt they have retained the same Colonial ambience that makes it an ideal place for cutting deals, shady and otherwise, or in my case, unwinding after a couple of hours of shopping.

While there are lots of interesting men of all persuasions, please note that despite being surrounding by shopping bags, a woman sitting alone at the bar might be misconstrued for a woman who is shopping for something else.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel
5 Connaught Road
Central

CHINA CLUB

The Who’s of Who of Hong Kong socialize in what was once the Old Bank of China, but in reality, was an enclave for espionage for the mainland. The storied past only adds to the ambience, which is a synergistic masterpiece of an old world, 1930s supper club complete with sexy singer and orchestra, and a new world, Shanghai Tang designed dining room replete with modern Chinese art. The Chinese cuisine comes course after course and is exquisite.

The WHT particularly loved that champagne is served in an etched, traditional, shallow champagne glass, because it allows her to feel like Nora Charles when she inadvertently spills her champagne during convivial conversation. If you do not have a friend or colleague who is a member, any concierge in the better hotels should be able to get you in.

Old Bank of China Building
Central

FELIX

If one looked at the Peninsula’s bar and restaurant choices as a 9-course meal, then Felix would be the sorbet to cleanse the palate between the continental and Asian courses.

Sometimes I just need something cool, and Felix is just such a watering hole. And words simply cannot express how spectacular the views are. I do not like that there really isn’t a comfortable bar to sit at if alone (safe here), but from my experience one will not be alone for long in this sexy atmosphere.

The Peninsula Hong Kong
28th Floor
Kowloon
852.2315.3188

AQUA SPIRIT

The modern James Bond would drink his martinis at Aqua Spirit. The mirrors behind the bar not only reflect the stunning views of twinkling Central, but also provide the perfect vantage point for spying on seductive women.

This is a buzzy kind of bar and it is difficult not to have fun between the clientele, cocktails and cool music.

1 Peking Rd
Tsim Sha Tsui
852.3427.2288