Casa Mun

 Finally!  After contemplating dinner at Casa Mun for months, we finally had a great reason to go.  In a stroke of luck, Jon's parents visit coordinated perfectly with his cousin Luke's rugby team trip to Buenos Aires, we couldn't have planned it better ourselves.  We wanted to show Luke, his girlfriend Jenn, and the rest of the coaching staff something different to do in Buenos Aires, so we decided to take them to the most recent addition to the closed-door restaurant club.  It's not the most Argentine thing they did during their trip, but it certainly highlighted a cool little underground culture piece of the city.

We have already taken Jon's parents to dinner at Casa Salt Shaker and to a wine tasting at Anuva, so it fit really well that we could also bring them to Casa Mun during this trip.  In another strange twist of events, Casa Mun has recently moved out of their home and into a shared space with Anuva, though we did not try the wine tasting on this trip.

Cousin Luke and his beautiful girlfriend Jenn

As with many of these closed-door places, you reserve your spot in advance, and have a set menu for the entire seating.  Casa Mun offers a 5-course meal, with soda or water for AR$205 or with a 5-course wine paring for AR$250.  He accepts Argentine pesos or US dollars, and if you are willing to pay in advance, you can use Pay Pal - a great alternative.  Diners are encouraged to come at 9:00pm and enjoy a glass of champagne, but required to arrive before 9:30pm or risk being turned away.

The dinner started promptly with a brief explanation from Chef Mun discussing how his restaurant came to be, and gave a little preview on what to expect for the evening's meal.

We started with a sesame crusted tuna salad. The dressing was outstanding, and the portion size was good, but I was expecting a little more from the tuna.  It was extremely high quality fish, which is rare in BsAs, but I would have liked a little more seasoning to complete the dish.  Chef Mun's cooking method is unique, he uses a blow torch to sear the edges of the tuna, and the dish was beautifully presented.





 The next item was a chilled chicken and mushroom soup that I found interesting, though quite tasty.  Again, the presentation was nice, all of the ingredients were cooked to perfection and it was a great way to cut the heat of the day.

The following course was my favorite, and it was also the only dish I did not get a picture of.  It consisted of different types of sushi, a shrimp & California maki sushi and a spicy tuna on pan fried rice.  The spicy tuna was one of the best Asian dishes I have ever had, I could have eaten 10 more.  It had a great amount of spicy, but wasn't overly spicy as to drown out the other flavors.  Outstanding.

The next, and last, dinner course was a pork bun with a side of cucumber kimchi.  The pork bun was a tad sweet with a little bit of spice and the roll was melt-in-your-mouth good.  I had no idea what kimchi was, and I'm still not 100% sure, but I really, really did not like it.  This was considered "young" kimchi, which is supposedly more mild than the old stuff, but it was really just not my bag.  Others at the dinner loved it - Me, not so much.

The dessert was light, fresh and a great way to finish off the meal.  I wish I could remember exactly what it was, a cream based ice-cream-style something that was beautifully presented and delicious.

Each course was paired with a different wine, the pairings were spot on, though not all of them were my favorite.  I enjoy that though, it's a great way to expose yourself to new wines without having to close your eyes and point at a menu.

So that was Casa Mun, we would go back anytime. It is a great, interactive dinner that allows you to either book with a large group (maximum of 24 seats) or go as a couple and interact with other folks at your table.  It seemed to be a hit with the Canadian crowd, and it was a nice way to socialize, while not having to cook.

Bravo, Chef Mun!  We'll be back!