Spin: Buenos Aires. Find: One of the world’s 50 best bars, Argentina’s most influential cocktail queen, and a tequila drink born from a pandemic beach moment that will make you reconsider everything.
THE SPIN
Buenos Aires was already on the wheel. CoChinChina made the list the moment Inés de los Santos came up in the research: Argentina’s most influential woman in the bar world, and the person behind one of the most quietly radical cocktail origin stories in recent memory. A legend. A glass ceiling breaker. A bad B.
The wheel didn’t hesitate.
THE BET
The room makes its case immediately.
A glowing tower of signs anchors the space, eggshell-inlaid bar tops shimmer with craftsmanship that rewards a second look
mirrored staircases tease hidden worlds above. It’s bold, cosmopolitan, and just theatrical enough to signal that tonight is not a night for playing safe. Buenos Aires glamour with a streak of mischief running all the way through it — high-design without losing warmth, polished without ever getting stiff.
This is a bar that knows exactly who it is. That confidence is contagious. And once you know the story behind its most iconic drink, everything clicks into place.
THE ODDS
During the pandemic, Inés de los Santos found herself sitting on a beach. Toes in the sand, painted. The world paused, strange and uncertain around her. And in that moment she thought — simply, clearly, with complete conviction — this is the life I deserve.
She turned that moment into a cocktail.
Not a concept, not a carefully workshopped flavor profile. A declaration. A declaration. A drink named after the feeling of sitting on a beach during the worst of it, pretty toes poking out in defiance.
That’s La Vida Que Merezco. That’s what arrives in your glass at CoChinChina.
Inés is one of the most influential women in the global bar world — and the bar she helms reflects that completely. Already on the World’s 50 Best list, CoChinChina runs on the philosophy that what you drink should match the life you actually want. French elegance colliding with Vietnamese edge, drinks built around moods rather than flavor profiles, a room that hums with the particular Buenos Aires energy of people who know exactly where they want to be and aren’t apologizing for any of it.
THE HAND
La Vida Que Merezco. The life I deserve. Tequila-forward, kissed with pineapple and vanilla cordial, brightened with lemon — bold, balanced, and entirely unapologetic. Order it. Hold it. Think about what your version of painted toes on a beach actually looks like. Then, if you’re feeling riskier — the Martini Umami. Shiitake, hijiki, savory and strange and completely rewiring in the best possible way. Everything you thought you knew about martinis, quietly dismantled in a single sip.
Or skip the menu entirely. Tell the bartender the mood you want to manifest — joy, daring, maybe even a little trouble — and let them pour you whatever the night calls for.
That’s the CoChinChina move. That’s the whole philosophy.
THE PASSPORT ROULETTE VERDICT 🎰
During the pandemic, Inés de los Santos sat on a beach, looked at her painted toes in the sand, and decided she deserved better.
Then she turned it into a cocktail.
Go to CoChinChina. Order La Vida Que Merezco. Decide what you deserve.
The wheel already knows the answer.
Cochinchina Buenos Aires is located at Armenia 1540, C1414 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
