Four Argentine Restaurants Win Their First Michelin Star

Culture

Four Argentine restaurants have won their first Michelin star, in a 2026 guide that again put Mendoza at the centre of the country’s fine-dining story. The awards reinforce Argentina’s push to turn its cooking into a global travel draw.

The Michelin Guide Buenos Aires and Mendoza 2026 was published on July 13. The new stars went to Han in the capital and to Cal, Centauro and La VidA in the wine province of Mendoza.

Who won a Michelin star this year

In Buenos Aires, the sole newcomer was Han, a Korean-inspired restaurant in the Villa Crespo neighbourhood run by chef Pablo Park. It joins established one-star names Don Julio, Trescha and Crizia.

Inspectors singled out Han’s intimate room and its ceremonial Korean dumpling, a nod to how far Buenos Aires dining now ranges beyond the classic steakhouse. The capital’s strength, the guide said, is its sheer variety of styles.

The other three new stars all sit in Mendoza, the heart of Argentine wine country. Cal, Centauro and La VidA lifted the province’s tally and confirmed its rise as a culinary destination.

Above them all, Aramburu in Recoleta held on to its two stars. It remains the only two-star restaurant in the country, a fixture at the top of the Argentine scene.

Mendoza outshines the capital again

For a third straight year, Mendoza collected more stars than Buenos Aires. Inspectors praised its blend of vineyard landscape, local produce and fire-based cooking built around Argentina’s celebrated beef.

Cal stood out twice over. Set within a winery estate in the Uco Valley, it won both a regular star and a Green Star for sustainability, and its 28-year-old chef Enzo González Petra was named Young Chef of the year.

The guide leaned heavily on wine, noting that pairings are now woven ever more tightly into the dining experience. A Mendoza sommelier, Camila Torta of Azafrán, took the Best Sommelier award.

A quieter ceremony this time

One change was hard to miss. This year’s list was simply posted online, with no awards gala, as the partner provinces sought to cut costs and without the national-government backing seen before.

Argentina only entered the Michelin world in 2023, and the guide still covers just Buenos Aires and Mendoza. For a foreign food traveller, that makes the map simple: two destinations, one increasingly serious reputation.

The payoff is meant to be economic. A star can turn a restaurant into a reason to book a flight, and Argentina has openly used the guide to market Mendoza’s wine country and the Buenos Aires dining scene to visitors.

Which Argentine restaurants won a new Michelin star in 2026?

Four restaurants earned their first star: Han in Buenos Aires, and Cal, Centauro and La VidA in Mendoza. That brings Argentina’s total to 14 starred restaurants, one with two stars and 13 with one.

Which is Argentina’s only two-star restaurant?

Aramburu, in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, remains the country’s sole two-star restaurant. It retained both stars in the 2026 guide, run by chef Gonzalo Aramburu with a surprise tasting menu.

Where does the Michelin Guide cover in Argentina?

The guide covers only Buenos Aires and Mendoza, the two regions assessed since Argentina entered Michelin in 2023. The 2026 edition lists 89 restaurants in total, including 11 Bib Gourmand and 64 recommended.