Fogón Asado Buenos Aires: worth it?

What you're booking

This is a fixed tasting menu, not a table where you order. You sit at a counter around a custom-made grill, and the nine courses are cooked on it in front of you. The chef explains the cuts of Argentine meat and the cooking techniques, and gives a short history of the asado tradition. The restaurant has no à la carte menu and publishes its current menu on its own site, so this guide doesn't list dishes. The menu is meat-led, built around Argentine beef and live-fire cooking.

• Included: the nine-course tasting, a welcome cocktail, still and sparkling water
• Not included: hotel pickup and drop-off, tips, other alcoholic drinks, soft drinks
• Hosts speak English, Portuguese and Spanish

Lunch or dinner?

Both seatings serve the nine-course tasting, so the choice is about your day. The restaurant says service starts at the same time for every guest, with one fixed start for lunch and one for dinner. The booking calendar and your confirmation show the time for your date, so this guide gives none. A lunch seating leaves your evening free for something else. A dinner seating makes the meal the evening. Either way, arrive on time: with one start for everyone, there's no easing in later. Nobody publishes which dates fill first, so don't rely on a rule of thumb. If you're comparing days, look at both seatings on each in the calendar before you decide.

Read next: Lunch or dinner at Fogón Asado? How to choose your seating

Booking here or booking direct

Fogón also takes bookings on its own site, where you pick a location and either the nine-course tasting or the longer Chef's Counter. Booking through GetYourGuide suits you if you want to reserve now and pay later, see the total in your own currency and cancel free until 24 hours before. The restaurant's own terms differ: it offers a full refund when you cancel at least five days ahead, and asks you to contact it about later cancellations. On its own site you can add the wine pairing while you book. Read the terms of whichever you use before you pay.

Wine, drinks and what to bring

The wine pairing is optional and made up entirely of Argentine wines. The restaurant says Malbec plays an important role, but the selection also ranges across other varieties, regions, altitudes and styles. You can add it when you book on the restaurant's own site, or buy it at the restaurant. Beer, soft drinks and wine by the glass are served too, but not wine by the bottle. You can't bring your own wine or food, and there's no corkage service. Anything beyond the welcome cocktail and water is paid separately.

Dietary needs

The restaurant says it can adapt the menu for vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten-free and lactose-intolerant guests, and for other restrictions and specific allergies. It asks you to say how many guests need an adapted menu, and exactly what they need, in the reservation notes, so the kitchen can prepare in advance. If you book through GetYourGuide, tell the provider when you book, using the contact details in your confirmation. Don't leave it for the table. The format stays meat-led, so ask what the adapted version looks like before you pay.

Age, dress and access

The restaurant's minimum age is 14, and guests under 18 must come with an adult. Some descriptions call the evening adults-only, so check with the host before bringing a teenager. The dress code is smart casual, and sleeveless shirts aren't allowed. The restaurant is wheelchair-accessible. Pets aren't permitted, because the tasting takes place in an enclosed, shared room. Hosts speak English, Portuguese and Spanish, so you can follow the explanations without Spanish, and you're free to ask the chef questions as the courses come.

Which room, and where

Fogón has two rooms: Uriarte 1423 in Palermo Soho and Gorriti 3780 in Palermo Viejo. The restaurant says both serve the same tasting. Palermo Soho is a small area of Palermo Viejo around Plaza Serrano, known for fashion, design, restaurants and bars. Check the meeting-point address on your booking before you travel, because the booking doesn't include hotel pickup. Plan your own taxi or ride-hail, and leave a margin, because the start is fixed.

Read next: Palermo before and after Fogón: making an evening of it

Is it worth it?

It depends on what you're paying for. The meat is part of it, but the format is the larger part: a counter around the fire, a chef explaining each cut, and a menu paced by the fire. The restaurant is listed in the MICHELIN Guide Argentina and ranked among the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants, and the booking holds a 4.9 out of 5 average from over a thousand reviews. If you want to understand asado and enjoy watching a kitchen work, that's what you're buying. If you only want a good steak, a classic parrilla is a different kind of evening, with the choice of cuts and the pace in your hands.

Other ways to eat asado in Buenos Aires

The everyday alternative is a classic parrilla, a steakhouse where you choose your own cuts. Fogón describes itself as not a traditional à la carte steakhouse, which tells you how the traditional version works. Buenos Aires's tourism board describes asado as a ritual built around the asador, who lights the fire and does the cooking, and says an asado is eaten beside the grill rather than from plates. A tasting at a counter keeps the fire and the explanation and drops the choosing. Neither is the better meal. They answer different questions, so decide first whether you want to choose your cuts or to be guided through them, and book the one that matches.

Read next: Argentine asado: fire, cuts, ritual

Who this isn't for

Skip it if you want to choose your own dishes, because there is no à la carte menu. Skip it if anyone in your group is under 14, since the restaurant's minimum age is 14. It's the wrong plan for a spontaneous evening too: the start time is fixed and everyone is seated together. If you'd like wine by the bottle or want to bring your own, neither is possible. And if you need a ride arranged for you, hotel pickup isn't included.