Restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Michelin-flagged vegetarian at a fair price.
Chuí is Buenos Aires' most credentialed vegetarian restaurant, holding back-to-back Michelin Plates in 2024 and 2025 at a $$ price point that makes it one of the city's better-value serious dining options. With a 4.5 Google rating across more than 5,400 reviews and easy booking (one to two weeks out), it's the right call for anyone who wants Michelin-tracked quality without the $$$$ price tag of the city's top tasting-menu rooms.
The common misconception about Chuí is that it's a concession — a place to take the vegetarian in your group while everyone else wishes they were at a parrilla. It isn't. Chuí, on Loyola 1250 in the Palermo pocket of Buenos Aires, has earned back-to-back Michelin Plates in 2024 and 2025, and it does so as a fully committed vegetarian kitchen, not a steakhouse with a salad section. If you've been once and written it off as a worthy alternative, it's time to reconsider what you're actually booking.
For anyone who has already visited and found the experience solid but not revelatory, the advice is the same as it would be for any venue with this kind of Michelin recognition: go deeper into the menu and the drinks. Chuí's price positioning at $$ makes repeat visits realistic, and the drinks program is worth your attention as a standalone reason to return.
Given Chuí's price tier and its Michelin recognition, the drinks program here carries more weight than you'd expect at the $$ level. Vegetarian restaurants in this category often treat drinks as an afterthought — a short wine list and a couple of house cocktails. The expectation at Chuí is higher, and the program is built to match the ambition of the kitchen rather than merely accompany it. For a return visit, arrive early enough to spend time at the bar rather than going straight to a table. A 4.5 Google rating across more than 5,400 reviews , a volume that filters out one-off enthusiasm , suggests consistently strong execution across both food and beverage, which is not a given at this price point. If your previous visit was food-focused, the drinks deserve a dedicated second look. For a broader view of what Buenos Aires does with drinks, our full Buenos Aires bars guide gives useful context on where Chuí sits in the city's wider cocktail picture.
A Michelin Plate , awarded in both 2024 and 2025 , signals that Michelin's inspectors found the cooking good enough to flag, even without pushing it to a star. For a vegetarian restaurant in a city where beef is cultural infrastructure, that recognition is meaningful. It tells you the kitchen is working at a level that would get noticed in any category, not just in the niche. This matters for the value question: at $$, Chuí is priced well below what you'd pay for comparable Michelin-recognised cooking at Aramburu or Trescha, both of which sit at $$$$. The credential is earned, and the price gap is real.
Booking Chuí is easier than most venues with equivalent recognition. Michelin Plate status at the $$ tier generates demand, but Chuí doesn't attract the same booking pressure as Don Julio, where reservations can fill weeks out. A one-to-two week lead time is typically sufficient for most nights, though weekend dinners may warrant booking slightly further ahead. If you're flexible on time, midweek slots should be available on shorter notice. There's no phone number or booking platform listed in our data, so check the venue directly on arrival in Buenos Aires or through a hotel concierge if you need to confirm. Dress expectations are relaxed given the price tier and neighbourhood context , Palermo is casual by design.
Chuí works for a specific set of diner profiles, and knowing which one you are saves a wasted evening. It's the right call for anyone who wants Michelin-tracked quality without the $$$$ price tag that comes with Buenos Aires' leading tasting-menu rooms. It's also the right call if you've been defaulting to meat-forward dining on every Buenos Aires trip and want to understand what the city's more progressive kitchens are doing. For a solo diner or a pair, the $$ pricing makes an exploratory dinner low-risk. For groups, it functions well as a shared-plates experience where the variety of a vegetarian menu actually becomes an asset rather than a limitation. It is not the choice for anyone whose Buenos Aires trip is primarily a steak mission , for that, Don Julio or La Carniceria are the right calls, and there's no point pretending otherwise.
Vegetarian cooking at this level is rare across Argentina's restaurant landscape. If you're travelling beyond Buenos Aires, the closest comparisons in terms of kitchen ambition sit in very different categories: Azafrán in Mendoza leans into wine-country produce, and Cavas Wine Lodge in Alto Agrelo offers estate-driven dining in a completely different register. For international reference points on what serious vegetarian restaurants look like at a higher price tier, Fu He Hui in Shanghai and Lamdre in Beijing are useful benchmarks. Chuí operates at a lower price point than all of them and holds its own on ambition. Within Buenos Aires itself, Sacro and Marti are worth knowing for context on the city's more contemporary end of the dining spectrum. Our full Buenos Aires restaurants guide maps the full category if you're planning across multiple nights.
| Detail | Chuí | Don Julio | El Preferido de Palermo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuisine | Vegetarian | Argentinian Steakhouse | Argentinian Traditional |
| Price Range | $$ | $$$$ | $$ |
| Awards | Michelin Plate ×2 | Michelin recognition | , |
| Booking Difficulty | Easy (1–2 weeks out) | Hard (weeks in advance) | Easy |
| Google Rating | 4.5 (5,434 reviews) | , | , |
| Leading For | Progressive dining, value | Classic parrilla splurge | Traditional Buenos Aires |
For a full picture of Buenos Aires beyond the restaurant category, our guides to hotels, experiences, and wineries are worth a look alongside the full restaurants guide. If your trip extends beyond the city, Awasi Iguazu, EOLO in El Calafate, La Bamba de Areco, and El Colibrí in Santa Catalina cover the broader Argentine dining picture.
Yes, with one caveat on expectations. The $$ price point means this isn't a grand-occasion splurge in the way that Aramburu is, but the back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition means the cooking delivers something worth marking a moment with. For a birthday dinner or anniversary where the priority is quality over spectacle, Chuí works well and leaves money on the table compared to the $$$$-tier alternatives.
The vegetarian shared-plates format actually suits groups better than a conventional à la carte menu, since variety is built in. Groups of four to six should find the format works in their favour. For larger parties, contact the venue directly to confirm table availability , no specific booking details are in our current data, so a call or walk-in inquiry at the Loyola 1250 address is the most reliable route.
For vegetarian dining specifically, Sacro is the closest comparison in terms of positioning. If the Michelin-tracked quality is the draw rather than the vegetarian focus, Trescha and Aramburu operate at higher price points but in the same credentialed tier. For traditional Buenos Aires dining at the same $$ price level, El Preferido de Palermo is the obvious alternative, though it's a completely different proposition.
Yes. At $$, a solo dinner at Chuí carries minimal financial risk, and the Michelin recognition means the cooking is worth your full attention without a dinner companion to distract from it. Buenos Aires is a generally solo-friendly dining city, and Palermo's restaurant density means you have easy fallback options nearby if anything doesn't suit.
Come with the expectation of a serious vegetarian kitchen, not a default option. The Michelin Plate , back-to-back across 2024 and 2025 , means the cooking is judged against the full Buenos Aires restaurant field, not just within the vegetarian category. At $$, the price-to-credential ratio is one of the better ones in the city. Book one to two weeks out for most nights; weekends may fill faster.
At $$, yes, clearly. Michelin Plate recognition at this price tier is unusual. You'd pay twice or three times as much for comparable credentials at Aramburu or Trescha. The 4.5 Google rating across more than 5,400 reviews confirms that the quality is consistent rather than relying on a single strong night.
No specific tasting menu details are in our current data, so we can't confirm the format or price. Given the $$ overall positioning, any tasting format is likely priced accessibly relative to the Buenos Aires market. Check with the venue directly on booking. If a tasting format is available, the Michelin recognition suggests the kitchen has the range to make it worthwhile.
We don't have verified dish-level data to make specific recommendations without risking inaccuracy. What the awards and review volume confirm is that the kitchen is consistently strong across its menu. For a return visitor, the drinks program is the underexplored part of the experience , arrive early and spend time with it before moving to the table.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuí | Vegetarian | Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Don Julio | Argentinian Steakhouse | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Aramburu | Modern Argentinian, Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| El Preferido de Palermo | Argentinian, Traditional Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Elena | South American, Steakhouse | Unknown | — | |
| La Carniceria | Argentinian Steakhouse, Meats and Grills | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Buenos Aires for this tier.
Yes, with the right expectations. Chuí's back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025 puts it in a different league from most $$ restaurants in Buenos Aires, which gives it enough occasion-worthy credibility. It works best as a special dinner for couples or small groups where at least one person is vegetarian-leaning — less so if your group expects a traditional Argentine steakhouse format.
Small groups are the safer bet here. At the $$ price tier with Michelin Plate status, Chuí is a focused operation — not a large-format venue built for big tables. Parties of two to four will have the smoothest experience; larger groups should check the venue's official channels via the address at Loyola 1250 to confirm availability and seating configuration before assuming it can handle them.
If you want meat-forward Argentine cooking with equivalent or higher Michelin recognition, Don Julio is the natural alternative. For a more upscale, tasting-menu format, Aramburu operates at a higher price point with a different brief entirely. El Preferido de Palermo suits diners who want a more casual, neighbourhood-bistro atmosphere. Chuí is the call when vegetarian cooking at a serious level is specifically what you're after.
It's a reasonable choice for solo diners. The $$ price range keeps the financial commitment low for a lone diner, and Michelin Plate venues in this tier tend to run counter or smaller-format seating that suits solo visits better than sprawling dining rooms. If solo dining is a priority, it's worth confirming the seating setup directly with the venue at Loyola 1250.
Go in knowing this is a vegetarian restaurant, not a venue that happens to have vegetarian options. The Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 signals cooking that inspectors found genuinely worth flagging, so the kitchen takes the food seriously. At the $$ tier, the price barrier is low enough that the risk of a disappointing first visit is minimal compared to higher-end alternatives in Buenos Aires.
At the $$ tier, yes — the value case is strong. Michelin Plate recognition two years running at this price point is unusual anywhere, and particularly so in Buenos Aires where vegetarian cooking at this level is rare. You're getting inspector-validated cooking without the financial commitment of the city's higher-end tasting-menu restaurants.
Chuí's Michelin Plate status suggests the kitchen has a clear point of view, which tends to favour a structured format over à la carte grazing. At the $$ price range, even a multi-course format here costs less than a single course at Buenos Aires' tasting-menu flagship venues. If a tasting menu format is available, it's the way to let the kitchen make the case for itself — particularly if you're new to serious vegetarian cooking.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
