We were sitting at the bar and considering the dessert menu at Boca, an Argentinian restaurant in Darlinghurst, when my friend Ute exclaimed loudly.
“Dulce de leche! That stuff is disgusting!” she said, accidentally booming her words across the bar. As in in slow motion I watched as the sound waves travelled across to the chefs standing behind the bar. Their eyes widened and their mouths fell open in shock.
“Oops!” she says covering her mouth. I laugh and whisper to her under my breath “maybe you should bring up Maradona’s Hand of God goal next and then we’ll get chucked out?”
I was first put onto Boca by the lovely Deb that I worked with on the Discovery Channel’s food show. She is Argentinian and knowing that I had recently visited Buenos Aires, asked me if I had tried Boca. She told me that it was authentic Argentinian.
They’ve taken great pains to recreate the feeling of La Boca, the soccer mad, working class area of Buenos Aires where tourists pay to pose in front of cut outs of tango dancers. Upstairs, the decorating scheme is blue and yellow vertical stripes, the colours of the soccer team Boca Juniors.
Pictures of Maradona line the walls and the bar, in front of the parilla grill (pronounced parisha in Argentinian) is where the action is. The chefs are very friendly and offer us morsels from what they are preparing which is nice considering what Ute had said about dulce de leche! 
Sangria with white wine and a penguin jug$6
I felt like I should order something to drink as I wasn’t driving that evening and was sitting at the bar. The sangria comes with wither white or red wine and has strawberries and mango in it. And yes that’s a penguin shaped jug!
Feta with toasts
The feta with toast was a complimentary course because the parmesan fritters were taking a bit longer than usual. That was a nice gesture and we top the crunchy melba toasts with creamy feta cheese, olives and pickles.
Torta frita $3 each
The torta frita are fried parmesan fritters served as a long crispy triangle. The pointy end was a bit dry but the further into the fritter was the better part and it reminds me of those moreish parmesan cheese biscuits.
Provoleta $14
I recall having this at a traditional Argentinian steak house in BA. Provoleta, which is a grilled Provolone cheese is grilled until it melts, caramelises and blisters. The chimichurri here is spicy, most Argentinian food is not spicy at all, but the spice is actually something that goes well in chimichurri. The spicy sauce is also sold in the restaurant’s store as is a range of Argentinian items including ponchos, mate cups, yerba mate (the omnipresent tea). The provoleta also came with two cubes of sweet potato jam which were nice but I didn’t think were really needed as the cheese was perfectly complemented with the chimichurri.
Parrillada Gaucho: Inside skirt steak – Sirloin – Lamb$ 69.00
The grilled meat is really what Argentinian mains are all about and so we turned to the grill menu where they lay out options for 1, 2 and 3 people and the eat for two comes with one side dish. We go for a combination of things and the waiter explains that we can pick a combination too which is good. We go for the sirloin, beef short ribs and lamb. He cautions us against the beef short ribs warning us that they are fatty but stubborn as a mule, I still want to try them.
Beef short ribs
We end up with a sizzling hot plate which is slightly different from what we ordered as they had accidentally given us the skirt steak and left off the beef short ribs but an enquiry produces the short ribs a minute later. The sirloin which a Tasmanian grass fed is succulent and delicious as is the lamb which is the pick for both of us, especially with the spicy chimmichurri and the Ensalada de berro (watercress Spanish onions, avocado and caper salad) giving the rich meat a nice contrast.
The salads look to be adapted for the Sydney market too as a typical Argentinian salad would be iceberg lettuce, tomato and onion. Alas, I should have listened to the waiter as we both found the beef short ribs just too fatty for us and they are best slow cooked until they fall off the bone rather than grilled.
Zapallo en almíbar $13
We considered the dessert menu and the alfajores but to be honest I thought that $13 for a biscuit no matter how nice seemed a tad high. We went for the waitress’s recommendation which is said to be a dessert found in the Argentinian countryside. Cooked for four hours, this pumpkin dessert is nothing like I expected. The three chunks pf pumpkin have a crispy outer, much like biting into a crisp apple yet the inside is soft and yielding. It is slow cooked with sugar and vanilla bean to give it that lovely translucent quality much like quince and it is served with whipped vanilla cream. It’s so unique and delicious and I contemplate hunting down a recipe to make this at home. And although I couldn’t finish it I ask for the remainder to take home with me as I know that Mr NQN will love it. He finishes it in about two mouthfuls flat
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like dulce de leche caramel? And do you prefer to sit at the bar or at a table?
Boca
308-310 Liverpool Street Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia
Tel: +61 (02) 9332 3373
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40 Comments | Add your own
What a great experience, too bad about the outburst. I adore Dolce de Leche! I really enjoy sitting at the bar in a busy restaurant…you really get personal treatment that you wouldn’t get at a table.
So funny about the dolce de leche
Argentinian food is very similar to the Brazilian ones…and I love the pumpkin dessert…I have not had this in years.
Thanks for this nice post Lorraine and have a wonderful week!
I just happen to be having my afternoon cup of yerba mate while reading this! So perfect. A spicy chimmichurri sounds fantastic, and I’m so curious about the dessert. I want to taste it.
I am a fan of any caramel. I started a flurry of argument on facebook about dulce de leche when I made it two weeks ago. Some wanted to know what it was, wasn’t that just caramel? There are so many caramels that you have to differentiate (I especially make so many caramels). One friend declared that she blames hipsters for dulce de leche!
Lovely! Dulce de Leche is delicious, and I adore beef short ribs, shame they were a bit fatty.
I can’t believe your friend is anti-dulce! That is heaven
This restaurant looks wonderful my friend, I would love to go there – they have many vegetarian options thankfully
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I agree with your friend Ute. Much too sickly sweet for me. Give me a plate of steak and chimichurri however and I will be happy.
The grilled provolone cheese looks interesting too and would be an easy idea to replicate at home.
Hi Lorraine! Hehehe, I just made a post about my special relationships with sweets…
“There are three things that people never get tired of doing: looking at a fire burning, water running and other people laboring.” And I don’t even know who first said that… 
As of bar or table, it depends. If I have a lunch or dinner for a business purposes, then the table is better. For fun I’d would choose the bar: love to watch people working!
Looks like a gorgeous interior and that dessert looks amazing. Yes please do hunt down a recipe for us
I don’t know what dulce de leche is, but it sounds like sweet milk. I went to Argentina many years ago and remember that the food was excellent.
What, no chimichurri? I agree, thirteen dollars would be too much even for a dozen alfajores!
Mexico makes a goat’s milk caramel called cajeta that is just divine–soooooo much better than dulce de leche. So much. I wish you could find some to try. If you do, look for Coronado brand and the preferred type is Quemada, or burned. Yum.
I love dulce de leche! So yummy!
Short ribs are rather fatty – that’s what makes them so yummy when they are braised for hours!
I like sitting at a table – if I’m at the bar I get really distracted by what’s going on in the kitchen and ignore my dining partner
K xx
WHAT hahaha i can’t help but ‘gawk’ how can anyone not like dulce de leche it’s one of the most amazing things
I eat it by the SPOONFUL!
I’m really interested in this pumpkin recipe too very different ~ hope you do find the recipe and make it Lorraine
I’m glad you were sitting art the bar watching then cook your food, after a comment like that I wouldn’t have been surprised if the chefs had sabotaged it!
The pumpkin dessert is intriguing indeed, and I really hope you post on it one day, I’d love to give it a go.
I’ve always loved Dulce de Leche, but as dessert after a very filling argentinian meal it can be a bit sweet and heavy… I prefer it as a snap for morning or afternoon tea. the solution? A double scoop of dulce de leche ice cream at Messina next door. yum!
I adore dulce de leche and prefer to eat it from the jar, but then I’m a bit like that with plain condensed milk too – I just love eating that from the tin.
This looks awesome – I think I’ll get hubby to take me
We lived in Beunos Aires for six months way back when….. and yes I love Dulce de leche! They used to make some tiny tarts which were delicious with coffee. I also remember a cut of beef called asado which was very reasonably priced and very tasty! thanks for bringing back those memories.
I don.t mind dulce de leche in small quantities. It was perfect when I made your rotting teeth for my spooky soiree last year.
I’m with Eva and Marina, I love the personal treatment sitting at the bar watching everything going on.
The pumpkin dessert looks very lovely
I have been meaning to try Boca for ages but have not yet got around to it; it sounds very good and I will be there soon.
I recently tried Chimmichurri in Kings Cross, which claims to be Argentinian and very authentic; I found their meat preparation to be about as inauthentic as it is possible to get. Their fitout is superb and it is a great pity that the food is not up to it.
My favourite Argentinian steakhouse is Gaucho Grill, Leo has moved around Sydney a couple of times but the steaks and ribs are as good as ever.
Oh Lorraine, another devine restaurant in Sydney, and just when Im looking for a new place to try for a thank you dinner on the 16th! Booking today as I need to try that pumpkin dessert!
Thanks again!
cheers, Traci.
Such an interesting restaurant to showcase: many of us here in Australia have been to SE Asia, Europe and N America and have experience in the cuisines served. Have never been to a purely Argentinian restaurant, just had the richly meaty meals prepped by home cooks. Not a choice for vegetarians methinks!! Liked the place and the food, but I would prefer a table to a bar seat any day
!
Oh I’m drooling over the provoletta. I was obsessed with it when I was in Argentina earlier in the year. I don’t think I should attempt making it at home.
Dulce de leche is amazing. That is all.
Mmmmmm. Meat. Think a trip to Sydney is on the cards…
No disrespect to you L but, what’s wrong with your friend??? Dulce de leche is the best, it’s rich yes but, add it to a dessert and it’s sublime. At my mum and dad’s house, we eat it by the spoonful out of the jar, he, he. YUMMM.
My husband, having been brought up in South America, just loves dulce de leche. Talks about it all the time. But as for me, having a mother-in-law who has served me some of her South American inspired dishes, I’m really not too enthusiastic to eat their cuisine. And that was pumpkin? I thought it was quince. And yes, I like my ribs slow-cooked xx
Dear Lorraine,
Like you, I think I would not have ordered the stew and prefer the grilled short ribs too, but perhaps it’s a lesson I’m happy to learn.
I can’t even see the words Beunos Aires without starting to sing the song from Evita.
The provoleta looks fantastical!
I can’t stand dulce de leche!Maybe in a dessert once in a while it would be okay, but not for breakfast. I think it’s because for two months, all I was offered for breakfast in backpackers’ hostels was that, and peach jam. I can pass on both now, quite easily, thank you very much!
I think I need to go back to Aregentina. Best. Steak. Ever.
I have sadly said something a little too loud on more than one occasion. Always afterwards wanting the floor to swallow me up. The pumpkin dessert really looks amazing, hope you do find the recipe to recreate it.
I absolutely ADORE dulce de leche! I find it has a deeper and richer flavor than caramel
Bar is fine, if the drinks are coming quickly.
The parrillada looks delicious. I swear that the best steak I ever ate was in Cordoba in Argentina.
I really don’t like dulce de leche much either. I wouldn’t say it was ‘disgusting’, it’s just OK. I really don’t like sweetened condensed milk either.
i have not met anyone who doesnt like dulce le leche! yum!!! this place looks interesting, will have to check it out
I adore dulce de leche – could eat it by the spoonful. Me, I like a table.
I love dulce le leche and have yet to come across who doesn’t.
I love trying out different cuisines and this food does look delicious!
Wish I lived in Sydney so I could pop along to Boca – it looks fabulous….thanks NQN for keeping us to date and keeping us drooling xxxx
I am not a fan of Dulce de leche either …too sickly sweet, but I can have it if it’s tempered with something. We prepare something similar in India – called Basundi. Less sweet, but totally yumm. I have never had Argentinian food. Looks pretty good, though bit pricy.
I prefer sitting at the table because I’m short (5feet) and my legs are dangling and I always feel childish at the bar. LOL. Anyway, lovely place, and beef short ribs caught my attention as well as the colorful exterior of this place!
I prefer a table. I’m really short and at a table nobody knows my feet are dangling.
oh holy cow, I just read Nami’s comment. We’re twins!
I wouldn’t cross the street for dulce le leche but I do enjoy it if someone puts it in front of me.
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