A feisty city with bite

IN beef-crazed Buenos Aires it is not unusual to be greeted at the entrance to a traditional parrilla (steak house) by a pair of bullocks standing guard next to the huge sizzling asado (barbecue grill).

The sight of those two proud steers, restored to their former glory by expert taxidermy, did halt me guiltily in my tracks as I prepared to darken the lofty doors of a celebrated ‘temple to steak’ — La Cabana on the upmarket Rodriquez Pena strip.

I wondered if other past customers including Bono of U2, Sarah Ferguson and the late Pavarotti — who was served slabs of meat the size of the iceberg that sank the Titanic — also felt any small qualms of conscience about the feast ahead.