Siete Fuegos

Siete Fuegos is the Uco Valley restaurant of Francis Mallmann — Argentina's most internationally recognised chef, who has built a half-century career around open-flame cooking and runs vineyard-restaurants across the country (Garzón in Uruguay, 1884 in Mendoza, El Mercado in Buenos Aires, Patagonia Sur) — opened in 2013 inside the Vines Resort & Spa in the Uco Valley vineyard country. The name refers to Mallmann's seven open-flame cooking techniques: chapa, infiernillo, parrilla, asador, horno de barro, rescoldo, and caldero.

The cuisine is fire-cooked across all seven of Mallmann's techniques. Signatures include a slow-grilled Argentine ribeye on the chapa (cast-iron griddle); a salt-encrusted whole salmon baked on the rescoldo (hot ashes); a Patagonian lamb crucified on the asador (vertical cross); rescoldo-grilled seasonal fruits with caramel; the famous 'Argentine bread' baked on the horno de barro (clay oven). The wine pairing draws on the Uco Valley's high-altitude Malbec smallholders.

The wine list runs to 600 references with deep Uco Valley Malbec coverage (Catena Zapata, Achaval Ferrer, Cheval des Andes), a respectable national Argentine section, and a tightly chosen French section. The pairing flight at USD$95 is the most reasonable serious-wine-country flight in the Southern Hemisphere.

The restaurant features a terrace dining room with both indoor and outdoor tables, overlooking the Vines Resort vineyards (1,200 metres altitude) and the Andes peaks 100 kilometres west. The terrace is the experience — particularly at sunset when the Aconcagua summit catches the western light. Service is family-run and Mallmann-warm; the captains rotate from a year-round seasonal pool.

Siete Fuegos is the proposal-grade table in Argentine wine country — the Uco Valley vineyard terrace at sunset with the Andes visible is among the most photographed dinner views in South America, the Mallmann pedigree settles the credibility question, and the seven-fire format is genuinely distinctive. Brief the captain three days ahead and ask for a vineyard-front terrace two-top.