Recoleta’s cemetery is one of the city’s must-see sights, as is the weekend hippie market offering everything from peace pipes and palm readings to orange juice. Both are just yards away from La Biela, a Buenos Aires high-society classic featuring enormous rubber trees and, oddly, two London-style red telephone boxes.

Ironically, you now pay upwards of 25 pesos for a sandwich in a place named after a car’s broken connecting rod. Racing drivers Jorge Malbran and Ernesto Tornquist christened this place in the 1950s after their car ground to a halt on this corner.

Now inundated with tourists, who nestle down for an early morning espresso or a late afternoon tipple, La Biela is one of Buenos Aires’ ever-green pastures. The elderly waiters are monstrously efficient given the size of the patio, and will always recommend the sandwich de bife de lomo (steak sandwich). Do not be tempted to go anywhere else but here (or perhaps Munich restaurant) to eat on the Recoleta strip that continues two blocks to Vicente Lopez.