When the Michelin Guide arrived in Buenos Aires in 2024, it didn’t reveal anything that locals didn’t already know. It confirmed what the neighbourhood had been demonstrating for years: that Palermo has a concentration of serious — and remarkably diverse — dining that few parts of the city can match.
At Palo Santo, we’re lucky enough to be right in the middle of it. Many of the restaurants now listed in the guide are places we had been following for years, long before they became well known. And we can say with conviction: they are worth your time.
If you’re coming to Buenos Aires with Palermo as your base — or if you simply want to eat well without spending hours researching — this is our selection of the restaurants in the area recognised by the Michelin Guide in 2025. We’ve also included two in Villa Crespo and two in Colegiales, the neighbourhoods that border Palermo to the north and west: they’re a short taxi ride or walk away, and they’re part of the same dining circuit.
Michelin-Starred Restaurants
Don Julio ★ 🌿
Guatemala 4699, Palermo — Parrilla
Pablo Rivero turned a neighbourhood grill into one of the most recognised restaurants in Latin America — and far from resting on that reputation, he keeps refining every detail: meat from regenerative pastures, an exceptional wine list, and service that is attentive without being overbearing. Alongside its Michelin star, Don Julio holds a Green Star for its responsible farming practices and commitment to local suppliers. Book well in advance — weeks, not days.
Crizia ★ 🌿
Fitz Roy 1819, Palermo — Seafood
Crizia is one of those places Buenos Aires locals had known about for a long time — a restaurant we saved for special occasions, a treat for days worth celebrating. After twenty years, the Michelin star finally arrived. Gabriel Oggero and Geraldine Gastaldo have spent two decades building a menu centred on the Argentine sea: oysters, traceable fish, the shellfish and catches of the South Atlantic — a quiet argument that this country has far more to offer than its legendary beef. A wine cellar of over 350 labels completes the experience.
Trescha ★
Murillo 725, Villa Crespo — Contemporary fine dining
Tomás Treschanski opened Trescha at 24 with a tasting menu that headlines called “the most expensive in Buenos Aires.” Less than a year later, he had his star. Trained at Le Cordon Bleu and in high-level European kitchens, his cooking is conceptual and constantly evolving: a 14-course menu built with ingredients sourced from over 400 producers across Argentina, served to no more than ten guests per sitting. A restaurant for those seeking a truly exclusive experience.
Michelin Green Star only
El Preferido de Palermo 🌿
Jorge Luis Borges 2108, Palermo — Classic bodegón, modernised
The pink building on the block where the writer Jorge Luis Borges spent his childhood opened in 1952 as a neighbourhood grocery and drinks counter. For decades it was a traditional Spanish-style bodegón — the kind of place where locals lingered over wine and cold cuts, and the few tourists who had begun to discover what would become Palermo Soho were a rare sight. In 2019, the owners of Don Julio, Pablo Rivero and Guido Tassi, took it over and renovated it entirely.
The new version is undeniably excellent: a menu of traditional dishes — milanesas, tortillas, charcuterie — made with care and quality ingredients. Those of us who knew the original can’t help feeling a small pang of nostalgia for the smell of frying oil and the hams hanging above the bar.
Alcanfor 🌿
Aguirre 949, Villa Crespo — Sustainability-focused
Julián Galende worked alongside Mauro Colagreco in France and was executive chef at the Palacio Duhau before opening this small bistro — ten tables, open kitchen — in Villa Crespo. The menu is seasonal and markedly plant-forward, built around a principle of circular cooking: nothing is discarded, everything is transformed. The menus are printed on paper made from vegetable waste; the kitchen’s cleaning products are made from used cooking oil. The 2025 Michelin Green Star was the first for Alcanfor — and the first for any restaurant of this kind in Argentina.
Bib Gourmand — exceptional cooking at a reasonable price
Reliquia
Carranza 1601 corner Gorriti, Palermo — Contemporary Argentine
Branko Vaccaro came from the kitchens of Chila, a landmark Puerto Madero restaurant that sadly closed a few years ago. Together with sommelier Julia Bottaro, he opened Reliquia: a small restaurant with a kitchen that puts vegetables at the centre — beetroot cooked in embers, grilled cabbage, charred green beans — without becoming a vegetarian restaurant. Among the more carnivorous options, the lamb agnolotti and aged ribeye stand out.
Mengano
José A. Cabrera 5172, Palermo — Classic Buenos Aires cooking, elevated
Mengano has a clear and simple concept: take the most iconic dishes of the traditional Buenos Aires bodegón — revuelto gramajo, seafood rice, milanesa — and make them better, without changing what they are. The menu is deliberately short: fifteen savoury dishes and three desserts. An excellent choice for anyone who wants to experience classic porteño cooking at its best.
La Alacena Trattoria
Gascón 1401, Palermo — Italian
At La Alacena, Julieta Oriolo cooks Italian food the way it’s meant to be made: pasta rolled by hand, traditional recipes executed with real care. If this style of cooking appeals to you, we have a full guide to the best pasta restaurants in Palermo. Beyond the small dining room, there are a few tables set out on the pavement — ideal on warm Buenos Aires evenings. The place attracts groups of friends and families, and its warmth invites long, unhurried meals. To take the pasta and bread home, La Alacena Pastificio — the deli and pasta shop — is two blocks away.
Anafe
Virrey Avilés 3216, Colegiales — ten minutes’ walk from Palermo — Contemporary Argentine
Micaela Najmanovich and Nicolás Arcucci met in secondary school. He brings Mediterranean influences; she brings Jewish and Asian roots. Together they opened Anafe in Colegiales, and the result is hard to classify — which is precisely the point: contemporary Argentine cooking with a personality entirely its own. The restaurant is small and demand keeps growing; book ahead.
Ajo Negro – Mar de Tapas
Av. Córdoba 6237, Palermo Hollywood — Seafood tapas
Gaspar Natiello and Damián Giammarino González learned their craft working with fish in Mar del Plata, Argentina’s largest Atlantic coast city, and brought that school of cooking to Buenos Aires in tapas format. The concept is strict: only fish, seafood and vegetables — no meat of any kind. At the centre of the dining room sits a dry-ageing chamber where they work with species like chernia, lisa, palometa and anchovy. The dishes don’t aim to be familiar or reassuring. This one is for guests willing to try something genuinely different.
A practical note — and where we are
All Michelin-starred restaurants require booking well in advance — Don Julio in particular, given its popularity, often fills up weeks ahead. The Bib Gourmand spots are more accessible, but the most popular among them — El Preferido, Anafe, La Alacena, Mengano — also fill quickly, so it’s worth planning ahead.
Palo Santo is in the heart of Palermo Hollywood, a short walk or taxi ride from every restaurant on this list. We don’t have shortcuts for getting a table at any of them — nobody does — but if you need guidance on how and when to book, or want to know which of these places best fits what you’re looking for on a given night, we’re happy to help. It’s part of being well located.