🇦🇷
🍽️ Food & Drink

Mar Del Plata for Food & Drink Lovers — 3 Days of Rabas, Bodegones and Coastal Wine

Fishermen's-wharf squid, century-old corner bodegones, Chapadmalal's Atlantic vineyards and the brewpub that started Argentine craft beer.

📍 Mar Del Plata, Argentina 📅 3-day itinerary

Mar del Plata eats what its boats land: rabas fried in paper cones at the banquina, brótola and cazuela de mariscos in port cantinas. Inland, Italian-Spanish bodegones, Sierra de los Padres cheese and Chapadmalal wine fill three days.

Local Markets & Neighbourhood Food

09:00
🥬 Feria Verde Agroecológica, Plaza Rocha

Agroecological producers ring Plaza Rocha every Saturday 09:00–13:00: sierra honey, Balcarce potatoes, goat cheese from Sierra de los Padres, sourdough and kombucha. Cash only, and bring your own bag.

⏱ 2-3 hours 💶 $3.000–12.000 ARS por producto
Arrive before 10:30 — the cheese and bread stalls sell out first, and the plaza empties by noon.
12:00
🍷 Almacén El Progreso

Falucho 3455, a 1930s corner grocery turned bodegón: marble tables, shelves of dusty bottles and platters of matambre, revuelto Gramajo and pulpo a la gallega. Lunch runs 12:00–15:30, dinner from 20:00.

⏱ 1.5 hours 💶 $20.000–32.000 ARS por persona
Order the picada for two plus a half-bottle of house tinto — it costs less than two mains and is more food.
14:30
🧀 Calle Güemes delicatessen strip

Güemes between Rodríguez Peña and Alvarado is the city's provisions street — Italian salumi counters, specialty coffee roasters, wine shops and pavement tables. Many shops close 13:00–16:30 for siesta.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 $6.000–15.000 ARS por café y factura
17:00
🍩 Churrería Manolo

Rivadavia 2801, open around the clock in January: churros filled with dulce de leche and fried to order, plus chocolate thick enough to stand a spoon in. A Mar del Plata ritual since the early 1960s.

⏱ 1.5 hours
A half-dozen churros and one chocolate genuinely feeds two — order that before committing to more.

Signature Dishes & Restaurants

10:00
🦑 Banquina de los Pescadores

The yellow lanchas amarillas unload shrimp, anchovy and squid at the fishermen's wharf from about 07:00, and adjoining stalls fry rabas to order in paper cones. Freshest window is before midday.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 $8.000–14.000 ARS por porción de rabas
Ask for rabas 'a la provenzal' rather than breaded if you want to taste the squid itself.
13:00
🥘 Tío Curzio

Port institution near Av. Edison serving cazuela de mariscos, brótola a la romana and paella for two in a room hung with fishing nets. Portions are notoriously oversized — one main comfortably feeds two.

⏱ 1 hour
15:00
Torreón del Monje

The 1904 mock-medieval tower on the Cabo Corrientes cliffs holds a confitería where merienda — submarino, medialunas, lemon pie — arrives with waves breaking below the window. Open from 09:00 daily.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 $12.000–20.000 ARS por merienda
18:00
🍽️ Sarasanegro

Bolívar 3675, Fernando Mayoral's small tasting-menu room working Atlantic fish, Pampas lamb and market vegetables across six courses with optional pairings. Dinner service starts at 20:00.

Book a week ahead in January and go at 20:00 sharp — the kitchen slows badly once the room fills.

Street Food, Bars & Food Culture

09:30
🍇 Bodega Trapiche Costa & Pampa, Chapadmalal

Argentina's coastal vineyard, 25 km south on Ruta 11, grows Albariño, Riesling and Pinot Noir roughly 12 km from the Atlantic. Guided walk through the vines plus a four-wine tasting; reserve online.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 $25.000–40.000 ARS por visita con degustación
Book the first slot of the day — sea fog usually burns off by 11:00 and the vineyard views open up.
12:30
🥓 Almacén Estación Chapadmalal

A former railway-siding general store turned country restaurant: picada boards of salami, quesos and pickles, empanadas and wood-oven lamb served under grapevines. Weekend queues build from 13:00.

⏱ 1.5 hours
14:30
🌭 Choripán grills, Av. Patricio Peralta Ramos at Playa Grande

Charcoal carts strung along the clifftop avenue above Playa Grande turn out choripán with chimichurri and bondiola sandwiches from midday to sunset — the cheapest full meal in the city, eaten on the seawall.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 $4.000–7.000 ARS por choripán
17:30
🍺 Cervecería Antares, Córdoba 3025

Argentine craft beer started in this room in 1998; the original brewpub still pours Kölsch, Scotch Ale and Barley Wine alongside rabas and picada boards. Happy hour runs roughly 18:00–20:00.

The Barley Wine is only brewed seasonally — check the chalkboard before ordering a flight built around it.

📍 Route map

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3