The Pale Blue Door

I enjoyed an delightfully unusual dining experience last evening. British artist Tony Hornecker (above) invited me to the opening night of his Pale Blue Door exhibition, a vagabond restaurant slash art installation that he’s set up in an abandoned old home in the heart of San Telmo.

Hornecker -- who has worked with Stella McCartney, Bat for Lashes and the late Alexander McQueen -- has already conquered London and Santiago, Chile with this show, and plans to be here in Buenos Aires for the next three weeks.

Upon arrival, we worked our way through a dark corridor until we were greeted by the eponymous Pale Blue Door which opened onto a courtyard of tables, stages and stairs made of plywood and pulleys and flanked by antique bicycles. Our small, candlelight table was tucked away in a side room, and set with vintage dishware and cutlery. Despite the derelict surroundings, it all worked to create a, dare-I-say, romantic setting. That was until a drag queen appeared on-stage and began lip-syncing Tina Turner tunes.

The food was surprisingly good, considering it wasn’t even prepared in a real kitchen. Greek salad followed by a rare-as-hell Roast Beef with horseradish sauce, potatoes and red cabbage. It’s a meal I ate countless times as a kid at my Irish grandmother’s house, and this was nearly as good. A superb peach cobbler finished things off nicely.

The Pale Blue Door is a truly multi-national operation: Tony is a Brit, the chef is from Austria, the waiters are from Chile, and the aforementioned transvestite hails from Greece.

A weird, entertaining and enlightening evening for sure. I’d recommend it.