Café Anselmo

Breakfast and lunch are the whole business of Café Anselmo, the daytime room of Anselmo Buenos Aires, Curio Collection by Hilton, in San Telmo.

Argentine cooking, served through the day

The kitchen keeps to Argentine cooking with a lighter, nutrition-minded thread running through it, and it stops at lunch rather than pushing into dinner service. That shapes what the room is for: a proper first meal, a mid-day plate, and a coffee in between, without the ceremony of a chef's tasting format.

It is also worth separating from its neighbours inside the same hotel. Anselmo Lounge handles the drinks-and-evening side of the property, while the café keeps the daytime, food-led half. Coming here for a quick coffee works, but the room is built around plates rather than a specialty coffee bar.

Modern room, colonial street

The hotel opened in 2015 as the first Curio Collection property in Latin America, and the contrast it was designed around runs straight through the café. Outside is San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, with colonial architecture, cobbled streets and antique shops in every direction. Inside is a sleek, contemporary room that makes no attempt to imitate them.

That contrast is the reason to eat here rather than at the first cafe on the street. The décor is modern and the service runs to Hilton standards, professional and consistent, while the setting outside supplies all the age.

How to use it

Treat Café Anselmo as part of the hotel rather than a destination restaurant, and it does its job well. It is most useful as a measured start to the day before walking into San Telmo, or as a lunch stop that does not require leaving the building.

The guest mix follows the property: design-minded travellers, business guests and couples working through the neighbourhood. Expect Argentine plates, a lighter option on most of them, a modern room, and one of the city's most historic districts starting at the door.