Intimate event catering · Buenos Aires
Intimate Event Catering for Up to 30 Guests
Birthdays, anniversaries, engagement parties, and private celebrations. Juan shops, cooks live on-site, serves the table, and leaves the kitchen spotless — not a catering company, a chef at your event.
Chat on WhatsAppSee sample menus
Juan Bernardini is a private chef in Buenos Aires — the city and its suburbs — with 30 years of professional cooking. He cooks live for up to 30 guests. His work has appeared in La Nación, Clarín and El Cronista, and he holds 5/5 across more than 440 Google reviews.
How it works
This isn't a catering company dropping off trays — it's Juan cooking live at your event, the same way he cooks for a table of two, scaled up to a room of thirty. Three steps, start to finish, handled over WhatsApp.
Tell us about your event
Date, guest count, neighborhood, and what you're celebrating — a birthday, an anniversary, or a private dinner for clients.
Juan designs the menu
Built around the season and the group, seated dinner or stations — you decide the format, he adjusts the menu until it fits.
He cooks, serves, and cleans up
Live, in your kitchen or venue. For larger groups he brings waitstaff and kitchen help. You host; he handles the rest.
Sample menus
Two starting points. The final menu is built with you, according to guest count, season, and format.
Seated Dinner, Three Courses
Plated · Ideal for up to ~14 guests
The classic format: starter, main and dessert, served course by course while Juan cooks live in your kitchen or the venue's. The dishes change with the season — in summer, look for things like beef carpaccio with greens and grana padano cheese, Peruvian ceviche with avocado paste, or ribeye with seasonal vegetables; in autumn-winter, beef mezzalune with mushroom sauce, fugazzeta-style entrecôte with crispy smashed potatoes, or cusk-eel over baby potatoes with pesto and basil jus.
(Juan has served a beet risotto at a private event before — Patricia Santos names it in her Google review below — though it isn't part of the fixed seasonal menu. See the full seasonal dishes on the Romantic Dinner page — same seasonal kitchen, scaled for your group.)
Finger Food, Standing Reception
Grazing format · For standing events of any size up to 30
- Salmon blinis with tapenade
- Spanish tortilla with blue cheese and crispy fried onions
- Mini sandwiches with cured ham, confit tomato, brie and arugula
- Curry chicken skewers with aioli
- Bife de chorizo bites with chimichurri butter
- Peruvian ceviche
Dessert: chocolate marquise with a dulce de leche center, or passion fruit cremoso with an almond base and mixed berry sauce.
(Juan confirms the final spread with you. Pricing is handled in the chat. Argentine Wagyu and dry-aged cuts are also available on request.)
Gallery
Past events from the @chefjuan feed — the room before guests arrive, plates going out, Juan working the pass mid-service.
What guests say
“The team was so professional and the food was delicious no regrets at all. They handled a party of 10 easily. Very punctual and Chef Juan was so kind! I will never forget the beet rissotto for the rest of my life.”
Patricia Santos, Google reviewFrequently asked questions
Why cap events at 30 guests?
Because Juan cooks live, dish by dish — that's the whole point. Past 30 guests, that stops being possible, so we don't chase it. If your event is bigger, message us on WhatsApp and we'll talk through the options.
What kinds of events do you cook for?
Birthdays, anniversaries, engagement parties, and private dinners for business — closings, client dinners, end-of-year gatherings. At a house, a country home, or a high-rise apartment, all handled with the same discretion.
Do you bring extra staff for larger groups?
Yes. For groups closer to 30, Juan adds waitstaff and kitchen help so service stays smooth from the first course to the last.
Can you accommodate dietary restrictions?
Yes. Vegetarian, vegan, celiac and other dietary needs are discussed while building the menu — tell us who needs what in advance and Juan proposes dishes for your group, rather than a substitution added at the last minute.
How much does an intimate event cost?
Guest count and service format — seated versus stations — move the figure more than the ingredients do. To set expectations, a chef-cooked experience typically costs 2–4× a restaurant night out. Send the details and Juan quotes it properly.
Tell us about your event
Two lines are enough to start: what the occasion is, and roughly how many people. Juan takes it from there.