Gran Danzón is a Buenos Aires institution in the particular sense that implies it has outlasted the fashions that surrounded it at its founding and arrived at something more durable. It occupies a narrow building on Malabia in Palermo Soho: pressed-tin ceiling, dark wood bar, tables arranged with enough space to allow a conversation that does not require lowering one's voice. The gin list is the reference point for the city; the wine selection is Argentine and considered. The afternoon here has a quality that is particular to Palermo — the light from the west, the unhurried pace of the neighbourhood, the sense that nothing is required of you before the evening begins. Gran Danzón is the kind of room that takes several visits before it gives up its full character. Come before the dinner service, when the room is half-empty and the light is still amber.
Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires, Argentina