Argentina's burgers are particularly good. Little wonder as this is a country noted for its fine beef. You don't walk far down a street in Buenos Aires, the capital, without seeing whole shopfronts taken up with a roasting carcass, twirling slowly on a spit in front of kiln-hot coals. Parrilladas, they are called in Argentina - barbecued meat restaurants - and some of the best you'll find anywhere.

I visited this gracious city, in 2003. It had fallen on hard times and this was just a couple of years after the crash of 2001, the last crippling one of many over decades.

Today there are 2.5 pesos to the US dollar, but while the exchange rate is still low, the mood is rising.

Visitors to this ever-gracious city of eleven million, its street facades an intriguing mixture of Rome and Paris, with a splash of Madrid, are instantly beguiled by its Europe-in-the-antipodes style and dignity.

So much so that at the annual Australian Gourmet Traveller Travel Awards, held in May, 2009, the award of Hottest International City (as decided by the votes of the Expert Panel of judges) went to (drumroll)…….you guessed it: Buenos Aires!

I was fortunate to be at the glittering dinner, held in the Guillaume at Bennelong restaurant in the Sydney Opera House, and I clapped long and hard after the announcement.

After all I had seen it trying to pick itself up after a fall, and I love this city and want others to know and appreciate it as well.

Take a look for yourself and perhaps you’ll understand:

Buenos Aires (the names means beautiful air) was carefully planned and designed four hundred-plus years ago by the sixty Patrician families that settled there. Now, their gracious homes have become apartments, or prestigious homes for soapie stars and footballers. For these are the new ruling classes. Soccer is the national religion.

The opulent Alvear Palace Hotel attracts wealthy guests and no wonder. Located in a part of town flanked by parks and with boutiques and fine restaurants within walking distance, its palatial grandeur is everyone's fairytale dream. If you dine in its restaurant, La Bourgogne, headed up by chef Jean Paul Bondoux - the only Relais Gourmand chef in South America - then be very glad. There is not better food in France.

It was Madonna who sang Eva Peron's song 'Don't cry for me - Argentina'. Argentina is turning itself around. Don’t cry. Visit. And soon.

Leather is the inevitable by-product of Argentina's cattle industry. Shoes, jackets, handbags, belts - they're all here, and the price (despite the fine workmanship) seems to be about a third of what you would expect.

Dining is inexpensive, and the cost of accommodation (often in very elegant surroundings) is moderate compared to Europe. The cuisine? Think Spanish-French-Italian overlaid on barbecue and you get the drift.

Those gracious buildings and leafy streets, the dog-walkers deftly handing seven or eight large hounds in one group, the generous parks, the European buzz, the style - this, sprinkled with empanada shops, and 'whiskerias' - this is what draws you in.

Highly charged La Boca at the waterfront - think, Montmartre on acid - pulsates with life. Here, you can almost slice those bold colours that don't just brighten the amazing cartoon-like statues which hang from first floor windows or lounge on street corners, but spread over walls, balconies, roofs and windows. These few streets really rock.

Aerolineas Argentinas, established in 1950, is the national carrier for Argentina.