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Bonafide Mendoza

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SeenThat
SeenThat
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3 out of 5
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Bonafide Mendoza

  • November 17, 2008
  • Rated 3 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
Bonafide Mendoza

The Chain



Founded in 1917 in Pasaje Guemes in Buenos Aires, Bonafide is nowadays the biggest coffee chain in Argentine; it is difficult to walk in downtown Buenos Aires without spotting a branch every few blocks. Back then, it was the first coffee shop to bring a roasting machine to the country, thing that secured its immediate success. In 1920 two additional branches appeared in Buenos Aires; later, branches appeared all over the country and nowadays they sum up more than a hundred. However, it faces competition from a newcomer to Argentina: Starbucks.



Bonafide offers mainly premium coffees, pastries and cakes, catering for the upper segment of the market. Its prices are roughly higher than those of Starbucks, though that's difficult to measure directly, since Bonafide offers mainly drinks and snacks combined into a single deal.



Bonafide Mendoza



Sarmiento Avenue is located at the very heart of Mendoza. The Sarmiento Avenue splits the downtown square, and half of it had been transformed into a walking street. While I was walking there, it was impossible to ignore the huge Bonafide branch nearby the central plaza. Tables occupied the entire sidewalk in front of it up to the center of the road; sitting places were available also inside and in an upper floor upon the counter.



Unable to resist the prospects of a coffee break, I entered the shop and chose a quiet place upstairs. Not that it was difficult, I was the only customer despite the myriad of tables; outside only a couple of tables were occupied. The recent monetary crisis in Argentina (the word "recent" could be exchanged here by "eternal" and the sentence would stay true) may explain that, since Bonafide prices are steep.



The room upon the shop was big with glass walls allowing sights of the walking street below. Works of art – most of them related to coffee – adorned the walls. The lack of music was strident, almost as much as the small, uncomfortable toilets placed at the very center of the room. Was the second aimed to provide entertainment due to the lack of the first?



Soon, a waitress approached me with a huge printed menu.



Café con Leche



Always attempting to experience local delicacies, I ordered a "café con leche," coffee with milk. Midway between a latte and a macchiato, this is the most popular type of coffee in Argentina. At 7.50 ARP (more than two dollars at the time of my visit) for a small cup it was very expensive by local terms, however, the event was sweetened by the fact it was of good quality.



Despite not being stated in the menu, the coffee came with a small and tasty chocolate cookie and a glass of soda water. The last is customary in Argentina, while the first made the medialuna superfluous, but it was too late for regrets.



I accompanied the coffee with a medialuna, which is the Spanish term for a croissant. Proper croissants are patiently made of a leavened puff pastry by layering yeast dough with butter and rolling and folding; if properly prepared, the result is very light and of airy qualities. My suspicion was that I won't get a European croissant at Bonafide, at least not for 1.6 ARP. Accordingly, I got a miniature pastry shaped as a croissant, made of a very heavy dough and covered with a thick layer of sugar. There was no enough coffee in the small cup to help me swallow it.



Environmental Concerns



Sitting alone in a small coffee shop can be charming. Imagine the rain outside, hurried passersby carrying each a whole life story to guess, a steaming cup of coffee carrying the promise of a second one if the rain wouldn't stop. Sitting alone in Vientiane while discovering the best coffee in the world is an experience limiting on the divine; or imagine enjoying the tasteful setup of a Starbucks branch while listening to soft music and reading today's newspaper. I would travel far for such prospects; but sitting alone in a huge room with the toilets placed at its center turned out being a less than charming experience.

From journal Gangsters Paradise

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