If you travel in South America you will end up eating milanesa, a lot. A piece of cheap steak or veal, or occasionally chicken, pounded as thin as possible, breaded and deep fried. Whether or not you LIKE milanesa doesn’t matter, you will eat it, it is everywhere, the majority of restaurant menus are built around it.
Do I like milanesa? Uh, it’s fine. It’s simple, cheap and fast but most of the time I find it’s pretty bland.
I wanted to try milanesa in Brazil though, just for the sake of completeness and comparison. So I went a great old cafe here in Rio today and ordered the standard milanesa.
Lunch was great, the cafe was great too.
When it was time for dinner tonight I wanted ANYTHING other than more milanesa. I found a German place near me and ordered sauerbraten and spätzle, for a change, the waiter left and came back, letting me know they were all out (it was 7pm, they opened at 6:00pm and I was one of 3 tables, but sure). I ordered the goulash instead, solid second choice, the waiter left and came back, guess they had a real run on the goulash too. I asked the waiter what German dishes they actually had available, he insisted I would love the schnitzel with spätzle, ok fine, I ordered it.
About ten minutes later he brought my meal, set it down and explained they were all out of spätzle, yup.
You WILL have milanesa, resistance is futile.
A Bit Gone 