We left Montevideo yesterday morning and took the Buquebus ferry about three hours to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a pretty swift and easy boat ride out. We cleared security, had two bags checked, and got on a large ferry with huge windows and were welcomed on board with champagne. Who would have thought that a three-hour ferry ride along the Rio de la Plata would not only bring you to a different city, but also a different country.

Once we arrived in Buenos Aires and dropped off our bags, given it was already mid-afternoon, we were all starving and needed something to eat desperately, so Chris looked up options that were close by to our hotel. We ended up going to a spot called the New Brighton. Although the restaurant in its current iteration has been open only since 2022, it used to be a gentleman’s outfitter in the early 1900s. In the 1940s, it changed into a restaurant, which eventually closed down. Finally, in 2022, it reopened in the same spot and added “new” to its name to differentiate it from the previous iteration of the restaurant. It’s a very posh restaurant, with lots of dark wood, mirrors, glass, and stained glass throughout and on its ceiling. I was surprised when they had a high chair for Pookster, as I had previously read that finding high chairs in Buenos Aires restaurants might be challenging. We ordered three pasta dishes and shared a bottle of local Malbec, also for a steal. The best pasta dish was most definitely the pesto spaghetti, as the pesto tasted extremely bright and fresh and did not go light on the garlic, which I loved.

The added bonus of this restaurant is during the time we were there, they had live music being performed. Luciano, a pianist who specializes in Disney music, was playing while we were there, which really gave a sweet old-world touch to the place. As we were leaving, Kaia wandered over to the piano and pressed a bunch of the keys on the keyboard. Luciano didn’t mind, and instead, he actually humored her and invited her to stand by him as he played. He tried to speak with me, but it was a bit challenging because a) I don’t speak Spanish and b) Argentine Spanish is NOT like the Mexican Spanish I am so used to hearing. He did tell me that he wanted to play Frozen songs for Kaia, which was very sweet. Kaia was obsessed with the piano and did not want to leave, but alas, I had to pull her away eventually as there was no way the restaurant was going to let us live there.

I didn’t initially think that the New Brighton would be kid-friendly, but in the end, it worked out well for us, and Kaia loved the piano and the pianist.