It is a café specialized in Martinis, a bar where you can eat a scrambled gramajo, and a restaurant where you can have a good coffee with croissants. All of this is Cofi Jaus, and his opening came to show that restrictive definitions went out of style with the pandemic. Or rather, it proved once again that fashions are cyclical, because that is how the classic Buenos Aires coffees were (are) (La Biela, Café Tabac, Las Violetas, etc.), ready to serve whatever the consumer likes at any time of the day. .
Cofi Jaus took this concept and brought it to Palermo in the year 22. His small great revolution was to specialize in martinis, the mythical cocktail, very dry, with little presence in Argentine bars. To make it more friendly to our palate, Sebastian
Atienza, bartender and owner, included a variant of the Dry
Martini with equal parts of vermouth and gin (the classic has two measures of gin for one of vermouth), and orange bitters; but there are other very tempting varieties to try.
The coffee is made in their own laboratory, Cofi
Lab, where they roast and create their own blend. It is drunk hot during the day (with bills!: croissants of fat and butter, cannons of dulce de leche, vigilantes and others) and also in its original Espresso Martini version. They also have another great forgotten Buenos Aires menu, the Irish Cafecito, a coffee/cocktail with whiskey and whipped cream, perfect for winter.
The third pillar of Cofi Jaus is the kitchen, as careful as everything else. The menu of reverted typical Buenos Aires dishes was created by Julio Martín Báez, Julia’s chef, one of the most thriving chefs of the new generation. The scrambled gramajo is paille potatoes with string beans and roasted pepper emulsion; there is a Waldorf salad of pear, blue cheese, yogurt and nuts; a vegan heirloom tomato burger; and rib eye with black bean chimichurri; among others. For dessert, try the original homemade chocolate Serenito with sea salt.
Go ahead and try the martini: it’s James Bond’s signature drink for a reason.
