If you’ve ever wanted to sip Malbec like Eva Perón on her rise to riches, or swallow steak like Lionel Messi ready to score, then LatinoAmérica beckons. Love, passion and intensity are out in force at this Hove restaurant.
Glowing in the evening light, LatinoAmérica showcases the indulgent cheeses, meats and fish that embody the spirit of Argentina – a country renowned for its high-quality beef and wine. The team informs us that the secret to their tender steaks is down to the Argentinian uplands, where the climate is ideal and the grass is like nothing we have here in England. Ditto with the wine grapes, which come from high-altitude vineyards where low humidity lends itself to full-flavoured wines – including the famous Argentine Malbec. And LatinoAmérica is a specialist.
Romance and Sumptuousness
Succumbing to the romance and sheer sumptuousness of it all, my dinner date and I dived straight into the Provoleta al Oreganato – the Argentinian take on the traditional Italian provolone cheese – which is cooked on an open grill until the cheese is browned on the outside and melted on the in.
Sprinkled with garlic and oregano, it’s served in a piping hot skillet with slim toasties designed to scoop out, and mop up, the gooey gorgeousness. This is decadence done divinely and it all disappears down decisively. We’d order another if we weren’t here to try more.
Salsa Provenzal
Our lovely server recommended the Tapa de Secreto Ibérico as a starter menu highlight – Grilled Iberian tender cut pork, which melts in your mouth and delivers a smooth smooch of flavour. It’s a simple dish, accompanied by a Salsa Provenzal of parsley, garlic, salt and olive oil and a squirt of lemon – meat this good doesn’t need to hide but dressed lightly to reveal its delights.
Slow-grilled, Spiral Ribeye
If you like to share, the Tira de Ancho is a slow-grilled, spiral, Ribeye steak designed for two and best served medium or medium rare. The spiralling apparently lets the fat seep deeply into the meat, packing flavour and juiciness into its core.
The meat falls apart at the hint of a fork; a beautiful example of steak cookery and presentation that redefines how to best enjoy beef. It comes with fries and a threesome of sauces, with our favourite being the chimichurri, which brings out the flavour even more. Talk about complementos condimentos.
Wine-Steak-And-Match
Naturally, we wash it all down with an Argentinian Malbec. Well, we didn’t want to be rude! There’s a healthy selection of red wines from Argentina and other South American countries, ranging from budget-friendly to special occasion, and the depth and dark fruitiness is a wine-steak-and-match winner.
As Eva Perón once said: “To convince oneself that one has the right to live decently takes time.” If you can, go eat here. LatinoAmérica is ready to greet and meat…
