By Jonny Blair
Markets are magical everywhere you travel and Montevideo offers a
lot of these. I went to a lot of them while in Uruguay and simply loved
them, whether it's a food market or a goods market.
The best one for food was the trendy "Mercado Del Puerto", situated down by the harbour in the Old City (Ciudad Vieja). That particular area of Montevideo is apparently a "no-go" area at night for lone foreigners due to poverty and robbery, so my hostel mate Wesley and I decided to eat there just before dark. However we also did an Irish Pub on the way and I later walked Panny Yu to her hostel in that area after I had moved in with my Uruguayan family. The market was safe and cosy and is mostly indoors. Trendy restaurants serving typical Uruguayan barbecue food and local beer are the norm. The atmosphere is fantastic.
The market is well laid out and very clean. You basically just rock over to a seat by each bar/restaurant and order from the bar. Some are slightly more posh with waitress service. We ended up at La Maestranza, a wee barbecue restaurant with a very pretty waitress who I believe was called Natali.
For beer I tried Patricia the local stuff, quenches your thirst for sure. Better to buy by the bottle and share it. Tap beer isn't really available. It was summer time when I visited.
You can get a bike to take you there and pay someone to look after your bike, which was actually quite safe!
You choose what you want from the many items on the menu - as much or as little as you want (and you can buy more if its not enough) and they fire it on the barbecue and cook it in front of you. When it's ready they put it on a plate and you share it. Wesley and I both had similar tastes so no arguments! We chose Chorizo, Morchillo, Salchincha and Rincon - 4 types of cooked (pork or beef) sausage and meat. You get bread and sauce to eat them with.
The bread, sauce and crackers is free and comes with it, you only pay for the meat and the beer and tipping is optional - I left a small tip.
During the meal a local TV crew came over to make a video so we managed to get on video while eating our Barbecued Uruguayan meal!! My Spanish wasn't great but at least I could say something to them!
A beer cost around 100 pesos and for the food it's best to do a pick and mix option which gives you variety and saves a bit of money as you are buying in bulk. The menu is straight forward and no problem with ordering.
The market is actually on two floors and at one point I popped upstairs to check out the view! I would strongly recommend trying the Parrilla (that's what Uruguayan barbecue is known as locally) if you happen to be in Montevideo!
The best one for food was the trendy "Mercado Del Puerto", situated down by the harbour in the Old City (Ciudad Vieja). That particular area of Montevideo is apparently a "no-go" area at night for lone foreigners due to poverty and robbery, so my hostel mate Wesley and I decided to eat there just before dark. However we also did an Irish Pub on the way and I later walked Panny Yu to her hostel in that area after I had moved in with my Uruguayan family. The market was safe and cosy and is mostly indoors. Trendy restaurants serving typical Uruguayan barbecue food and local beer are the norm. The atmosphere is fantastic.
The market is well laid out and very clean. You basically just rock over to a seat by each bar/restaurant and order from the bar. Some are slightly more posh with waitress service. We ended up at La Maestranza, a wee barbecue restaurant with a very pretty waitress who I believe was called Natali.
For beer I tried Patricia the local stuff, quenches your thirst for sure. Better to buy by the bottle and share it. Tap beer isn't really available. It was summer time when I visited.
You can get a bike to take you there and pay someone to look after your bike, which was actually quite safe!
You choose what you want from the many items on the menu - as much or as little as you want (and you can buy more if its not enough) and they fire it on the barbecue and cook it in front of you. When it's ready they put it on a plate and you share it. Wesley and I both had similar tastes so no arguments! We chose Chorizo, Morchillo, Salchincha and Rincon - 4 types of cooked (pork or beef) sausage and meat. You get bread and sauce to eat them with.
The bread, sauce and crackers is free and comes with it, you only pay for the meat and the beer and tipping is optional - I left a small tip.
During the meal a local TV crew came over to make a video so we managed to get on video while eating our Barbecued Uruguayan meal!! My Spanish wasn't great but at least I could say something to them!
A beer cost around 100 pesos and for the food it's best to do a pick and mix option which gives you variety and saves a bit of money as you are buying in bulk. The menu is straight forward and no problem with ordering.
The market is actually on two floors and at one point I popped upstairs to check out the view! I would strongly recommend trying the Parrilla (that's what Uruguayan barbecue is known as locally) if you happen to be in Montevideo!
About the Author:
To read more stuff like a Barbecue in Montevideo head to Jonny Blair's superb site about a lifestyle of travel for amusing travel tips and stories.
