Mishiguene

Since opening this relaxed restaurant in an elegant section of Palermo two years ago, chef Tomás Kalika has become a rising star. He was invited to cook at Food & Wine’s Chef's Table in New York, and his restaurant was singled out by the 50 Best Restaurants Academy as one of the most exciting discoveries in Latin America. Kalika, who learned to cook in Israel with top chef Eyal Shani, stands out for his irreverent attitude and free-flowing creativity when it comes to reinventing classic Jewish dishes.

Proudly touting its immigrant cuisine, Mishiguene pays homage to the legacy with a modern take on traditional Jewish comfort foods like meorav yerushalmi (a Jerusalem-style mixed grill), bagels, pastrami, and Ashkenazi fish cakes. To try more than one item, order half-portions of dishes, or opt for the six-course tasting menu that starts off with a cocktail and includes a wine-pairing with each arrival. For a special treat, reserve the chef’s table in the restaurant’s sparkling kitchen.

The first purveyor of contemporary Jewish cuisine in the city, Mishiguene brings classic Middle Eastern, Polish, and Russian dishes such as baba ghanoush, varenikes, pastrami, and borscht up-to-date. Vibrant Klezmer music, efficient service, and a party atmosphere add to the reason why these are some of the hottest tables around. Book the chef’s table for an exclusive tasting menu in full view of the open kitchen.

Argentina has the 7th largest Jewish community in the world, so you’ll find plenty of Jewish restaurants in Buenos Aires. Come have pastrami at Mishiguene, whose dimly lit dining room is a far cry from the fluorescent lighting of your average deli. Once your eyes adjust, you’ll see your pastrami order is actually a brick-sized slab of smoked beef brisket atop a potato latke and crowned with a fried egg.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for international cuisine and restaurants that take your taste buds on a journey of discovery, you’ll find an impressive selection in Buenos Aires that showcase the best of Mediterranean (Basa), Japanese (Buri Omakase, Kōnā, Uni Omakase), Israeli (Mishiguene), Korean (Na Num), Italian (La Alacena Trattoria, Raggio Osteria, Sottovoce) and even Scandinavian (Sál) flavours.

Although the language is hardly spoken today, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of people who came from Eastern Europe continue to pay tribute to their ancestors’ culture through restaurants such as Mishiguene, which means “crazy” in Yiddish. That’s the name chef Tomás Kalika gave his restaurant, which he and his partner, Javier Ickowicz, proudly call “immigrant cuisine.” Through his menu, he travels through Eastern Europe with ingredients and recipes like vareniki (potato dumplings) and gefilte fish (stuffed fish). The restaurant also includes Sephardic cuisine, as represented in the Jewish-style artichokes and bourekas, savory stuffed puff pastries.

Mishiguene: updating Argentine-Jewish haute-cuisine Translating from Yiddish as “crazy” or “eccentric,” the Mishiguene restaurant began as the Jerusalem-born chef’s idea of opening an upscale Jewish eatery in Buenos Aires. Serving up what he describes as “immigrant cuisine,” chef Tomás Kalika’s menu takes the diner on a journey through Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Israeli, and Middle Eastern food traditions – essentially dishes sprung from the food memories of immigrant Jews around the world. The cozy space is convivial, filled with tables of varying sizes, walls lined with photographs and, more often than not, filled with a crowd that’s quite …animated.

Mientras los platos locales, tradicionales, de carne y a la parrilla est�n bien representados en esta selecci�n (incluidos Abrasado, Fog�n Cocina de Vi�edo, Quimera Bistr� y Renacer en Mendoza; Benedetta, Duhau Restaurant & Vinoteca, El Preferido de Palermo y La Carnicer�a en Buenos Aires), los amantes de la gastronom�a que busquen cocinas m�s internacionales podr�n disfrutar en Buenos Aires de sabores asi�ticos (Ni�o Gordo), mediterr�neos (Basa), japoneses (Buri Omakase, Kn Corner, Uni Omakase), israel�es (Mishiguene), coreanos (Na Num), italianos (La Alacena Trattoria, Raggio Osteria, Sottovoce) y escandinavo (S�l)", destacan desde Michelin.

Mientras los platos locales, tradicionales, de carne y a la parrilla están bien representados en esta selección (incluidos Abrasado, Fogón Cocina de Viñedo, Quimera Bistró y Renacer en Mendoza; Benedetta, Duhau Restaurant & Vinoteca, El Preferido de Palermo y La Carnicería en Buenos Aires), los amantes de la gastronomía que busquen cocinas más internacionales podrán disfrutar en Buenos Aires de sabores asiáticos (Niño Gordo), mediterráneos (Basa), japoneses (Buri Omakase, Kn Corner, Uni Omakase), israelíes (Mishiguene), coreanos (Na Num), italianos (La Alacena Trattoria, Raggio Osteria, Sottovoce) y escandinavo (Sál).

Your bubbe definitely doesn’t cook like Tomás Kalika, chef and owner of Mishiguene, the upscale Palermo restaurant which totally reinvented the way Argentina does Jewish comfort foods. Kalika’s recreations of Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Jewish diaspora cuisine has made it onto Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Some of the star dishes: sous-vide gefilte fish wrapped in carrot ribbons with fish roe and beet chrain puré, a beautiful charred eggplant smothered in homemade yogurt sauce and topped with tahini and toasted almonds, beetroot hummus, as well as whole roasted cauliflower.

Otros ganadores de premios anunciados incluyen: El Latin America’s Best Pastry Chef Award, patrocinado por República del Cacao, Luis Robledo de Tout Chocolat en la Ciudad de México, México. Tomás Kalika de Mishiguene en Buenos Aires fue galardonado con el Chefs’ Choice Award 2019, patrocinado por Estrella Damm. Central en Lima, Perú se llevó a casa el Sustainable Restaurant Award.El Art of Hospitality Award 2019, que reconoce la excelencia en el servicio de restaurante y la experiencia gastronómica, se otorgó a Lasai en Río de Janeiro, Brasil.

Otros siete restaurantes argentinos quedaron en la lista de medio centenar de locales distinguidos: Mishiguene, el gran spot de cocina judía de herencia con toques latinos cuyos fuegos comanda Tomás Kalika logró el puesto 15; El Preferido de Palermo, otro local con la impronta de Pablo Rivero (y la imprescindible guía gastronómica de Guido Tassi y Martín Lukesch) quedó en 22º lugar; el gran Chila, firme representante del fine dining en Buenos Aires, cuya cocina domina Pedro Bargero, alcanzo el puesto 27.

In Yiddish, the word “mishiguene” means something like “charming lunatic”. When the award-winning chef Tomás Kalika opened his restaurant in 2014, it was the first time someone had tried to take traditional Jewish cuisine to the next level in Buenos Aires. Kalika engaged profoundly with his roots and the flavors he encountered on his trips to Israel, expanding upon traditional recipes to offer an original twist on cuisines from a community that has settled widely across Argentina.

The best combination of traditional and new Jewish food accompanied by an extended wine list or great author drinks. “The basis of our cuisine is the emotional memories of the Jews who fled Eastern Europe, of the Sephardim who were expelled from Spain 500 years ago, of the Mizrahi who have lived in the Middle East since Moses”. Mishiguene is 18th on the best 50 restaurants in Latin America, for instance, one of the best restaurants in Buenos Aires.

Mishiguene, located in the trendy Palermo neighborhood, is another exemplary restaurant that embodies the spirit of modern innovation in Argentine cuisine. This Jewish-Argentine fusion restaurant offers a unique dining experience that blends the rich culinary traditions of both cultures. The name "Mishiguene" itself, meaning "crazy" in Yiddish, reflects the restaurant's bold approach to cooking and its willingness to push culinary boundaries.

Mishiguene is an extension of the worlds 7th largest Jewish population which resides in Buenos Aires. The dimly lit dining room resembles that of a French bistro but the food is a gastronomic adventure into Ashkenazi classics like Jerusalem salad and pastrami. I came here specifically for the latter which is a beef prime rib cured for ten days and then smoked over wood embers for four hours, and steam-cooked for fourteen hours more.

Welcome to Mishiguene, the quirky culinary playground in Buenos Aires where chaos meets deliciousness. This charming eatery takes gastronomic madness to a whole new level, juggling traditional Jewish flavors with a generous sprinkle of Argentinean panache. Crumble your expectations and dive into a world where matzo ball soup dances the tango with chimichurri, creating a wonderfully weird fusion you won't find anywhere else.

Mishiguene es un restaurante en Buenos Aires que ofrece una reinterpretación moderna de las recetas de la diáspora judía. Con una atención dedicada a los detalles, una amplia variedad de opciones de dieta y una excelente calidad en la comida y el servicio, Mishiguene es sin duda un lugar que vale la pena visitar para probar una experiencia culinaria única. Me gustó mucho el lugar, el ambiente, la decoración.

By reimagining Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Israeli, and Middle Eastern cuisine, Mishiguene—Yiddish for “crazy”—honours Argentina’s Jewish immigration past. Here, traditional dishes are updated using cutting-edge methods and the best ingredients. Many of Mishiguene’s dishes, such as Russian-Polish borscht and spit-roasted Moroccan lamb, were inspired by personal experiences in chef Tomás Kalika’s life.

Acho maravilho que um dos restaurantes eleitos entre os melhores da Argentina seja uma cozinha de imigrantes. Influenciado pela culinária judaica do oriente médio, Mishiguene oferece, pelas mãos do chef Tomás Kalifa, uma explosão de sabores e beleza em um ambiente descontraído e animado. Como disse o chef em entrevista à página Cronista, “Argentina tiene mucho más para dar”.

Mishiguene takes old Jewish recipes (much like you’d find in the houses of Jewish immigrants in Buenos Aires) and lovingly brings them into the modern world with fresh takes on pastrami, baba ghanoush, and potato dumplings. Pair your platters with a cocktail or one of their selections of Argentine wines. Order à la carte if you don’t want the full tasting menu.

Fayer, which means fire in Yiddish, melds Jewish and Middle-Eastern flavors with Argentina’s obsession for open-flame cooking. The dishes center around the five pillars of fire technique: parrilla, smoker, spit roaster, mangal, and tannur. Try hits like khachapuri shakshuka, smoked pastrami, and arguably the best (and only) beet hummus in South America.

Mishiguene is a Jewish restaurant in Palermo referred to as the “Kitchen of Immigrants.” It is owned by Tomás Kalica, an internationally distinguished chef. In 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 the restaurant made its way onto the Latam 50 Best Restaurants list. It took 8th place in 2020 on this list that covers the entirety of Latin America.

Roughly translating as “lovably crazy,” Mishiguene is fanatic about its produce. Inspired by traditional Jewish cuisine, with influences from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the menu is reflective of the global threads that make up the tapestry of Jewish cuisine. Highlights include the pastrami and white salmon.

Buenos Aires, the vibrant capital city of Argentina, is renowned for its rich culinary heritage and diverse gastronomic offerings. Amidst the bustling food scene, Mishiguene stands as a shining gem, captivating locals and tourists with its unique fusion of Jewish Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Middle Eastern and Argentine flavors.

En total, fueron diez los restaurantes argentinos que quedaron entre los 50 mejores de América Latina. Después de Don Julio, las ubicaciones fueron las siguientes: Mishiguene (puesto 8), Chila (19), Tegui (16), Gran Dabbang (34), Osaka (38), El Baqueano (39), Narda Comedor (40), Aramburu (43) y El Preferido de Palermo (47).

High end restaurants like Don Julio, Chila, Mishiguene, etc. have some very good bread. But that is because they understand it's part of providing a good service that matches the price you pay for a meal. Most restaurants cheap out where they can, among those things is the bread

Tall, tattooed and possessed of a megawatt grin, Tomas Kalika’s a bona fide star in Latin America. His clubby “immigrant cuisine” hotspot keeps packing them in, four years after jolting Buenos Aires with genius, cheffy takes on staples like gefilte fish, borscht, and varenikes.

See why this place is where we want to be on a Friday night in Buenos Aires. in the Palermo neighborhood of the city. Here, chef Tomas Kalika (pictured above, bottom left) has elevated and redefined Jewish food in general by riffing on his grandmother’s recipes.

Other Argentine establishments to crack this year’s list were El Preferido de Palermo (17), Gran Dabbang (26), Julia (30), Mishiguene (32), Alo’s (38), Crizia (41), and Niño Gordo (43). The top restaurant was the Peruvian-Japanese Maido in Lima.

Buenos Aires is not short on restaurants and cafés offering Jewish and Mediterranean food. None come close to Mishiguene. Argentinean chef Tomás Kalika spins his grandmother’s recipes into the stuff of dreams (and childhood memories).

Hemos visto algunas ensaladas bastante únicas en nuestra búsqueda del príncipe azul del mundo de las ensaladas. Pero ninguno más único que el Fatoush de Otoño en Mishiguene en el Zoológico de Palermo. Es tan hermoso como delicioso.

Dos puestos más atrás, en el 32, se ubica Mishiguene, el restaurante creado por el empresario Javier Ickowicz y el chef Tomás Kalifa, que se destaca por su propuesta de cocina judía y de Medio Oriente.

Features traditional Jewish dishes with a modern twist - think bone-in pastrami and sous vide gefilte fish. The space is sleek, with plush furniture and dim lighting. Ideal for intimate dining.

Se trata de la parrilla Don Julio, que se ubicó en el puesto 14 y Mishiguene, en el lugar 88.