Ice Cream is a Real B*tch

ChungoBuenos Aires – Family owned and operated, in business since 1973, now with 12 branches around the city, but I headed to the original shop, because it was near to where I ended up my walk yesterday. The first Chungo, which literally means “a real bitch” or “a nasty piece of work” or anything else along those lines, is at Arias 2510, at the corner of San Isidro, a lovely boulevard, right on the dividing line between the barrios of Nuñez and Saavedra. Oh, and since I only put it in the title so far, this is, by some, considered to be up in the top echelon of helado shops in the city. I can’t vouch for the other 11 locations, but this one is doing something right. The helado is excellent, and both flavors I sampled win major points – a cappuccino granizado and a chocolate al turco. Chungo - delivery bikesThe former is coffee gelato the way it was meant to be, with rich, delicious coffee flavor tempered by cream and bits of dark chocolate; the latter is a wonderful bittersweet chocolate base swirled with bits of, well, walnut jam would be the best I could describe it. Not quite candied walnuts, as they aren’t crunchy, but clearly cooked down in some sort of syrup, much as walnut jam is, resulting in a soft, sweet, almost jelly-like texture. It also takes the bitterness out of the walnuts. Yum! I have to admit, it’s now a toss-up between Chungo and Volta for current top honors, and the only real contestant left to try is Persicco, touted by many as the best, and soon to be sampled.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

2 thoughts on “Ice Cream is a Real B*tch

  1. The Chungo website has descriptions of the different flavors as well as the other locations, but most importantly a family tree! – http://www.chungo.com.ar/familia.htm.

    I’ll probably try a more convenient location than the original next time I’m in BA (perhaps I’ve already been on a past trip, though the sign doesn’t look familiar).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *