Buenos Aires is fast becoming the gastronomic hub of Latin America, reinforced by its status of host city for the prestigious Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants awards on 10th October 2019.

In 2018, ten of Buenos Aires' restaurants featured on Latin America's top 50 list, more than any other city on the continent. With more inclusions than the entirety of Brazil and one more than Lima, which in recent history has been considered the leading gastronomic city in Latin America, the Porteños are the perfect hosts for this year's award.

The 50 Best Restaurants awards brings together chefs, restaurateurs, journalists and gastronomes from all over the world to celebrate the achievements and diversity of Latin American cuisine. The awards will be announced at a gala dinner on 10th October at the Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires.

Here are three of Buenos Aires' inclusions from 2018, which are amongst the contenders for this year's awards: 

Buenos Aires' traditional restaurant, Parrilla Don Julio was Argentina's highest placed restaurant in the 2018 awards, taking sixth place. The traditional Argentine parrilla is expected to be in the top ten once again this year. As a traditional Argentinian steakhouse, Don Julio serves every cut of beef at the highest quality imaginable; typically cooked in the 'V' iron grill by grillmaster Pepe Sotelo. A standout dish on Don Julio's menu is offal with portobello mushrooms and grilled red onion.

For a more modern take on Argentinian cooking, Tegui provides a sophisticated setting with an equally refined tasting menu. Tegui has put contemporary Argentine cuisine on the map, with the restaurant making an appearance on the world's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017. Chef German Martitegui's signature dishes include scallops, kefir cream and quinoa; goat's cheese, kiwicha and cayote; long-finned tuna, egg yolk and breadcrumbs.

Another hopeful for this year's list is the revered fine dining restaurant Mishiguene, one of the most in-demand restaurants in Buenos Aires. Translating from Yiddish as 'crazy' or 'eccentric', Mishiguene serves up what they describe as 'immigrant cuisine'. Tomás Kalika's upscale and creative Jewish-Argentinian fusion restaurant was placed 18th on Latin America's 50 Best list in 2018. Kalika's menu takes the diner on a journey through Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Israeli and Middle Eastern food traditions.

At Gran Dabbang in Palermo, young chef Mariano Ramon has brought the street food of India to Argentina. It's a fast and furious restaurant with plates of food served on camping tables but it's food for sharing and a table of four can easily sample the whole menu. Vegetables are given a starring role in most of the dishes – options include artichoke cooked in leche de tigre (the base marinade for ceviche) and peanut butter and Swiss chard pakoras. The rica rica-marinated quail is one of the most popular dishes.

For more information on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2019 please visit: https://m.theworlds50best.com/latinamerica/en/

For more information on Parrilla Don Julio please visit: http://www.parrilladonjulio.com/

For more information on Tegui please visit: http://www.tegui.com.ar/

For more information on Mishiguene please visit: http://mishiguene.com/

For more information on Gran Dabbang please visit:  https://en-gb.facebook.com/grandabbang/

For the latest food stories and visitor news in Buenos Aires, visit: https://turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/en or email BuenosAires@wearelotus.co.uk.