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.
At the entrance to Puerto Del Mercado. We went there by bicycle, hired from the hostel and you pay a guy to look after the bike - this seemed to be the safest option.
The menu is vast and has a host of things to choose from - order as little or as much as you want and they put it on the barbecue and cook it in front of you! I chose Chorizo, Rincon, Salchincha and Morchillo and we shared them. Beef and pork meat are the most common barbecued food. You get given sauce and bread with your meat.
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!
The menu - prices are individual in Uruguayan Pesos. At the time my bus from Parque Rodo to Plaza Independencia cost me just 17 Pesos, and a 1litre beer was 100 Pesos so you can see the barbecue was quite cheap for what you get. Some of the options were meal deals, but Wesley and I chose the "pick and mix" idea, choosing our own and sharing them. We did this in order to get some variety for our money.
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.
At the entrance to Puerto Del Mercado. We went there by bicycle, hired from the hostel and you pay a guy to look after the bike - this seemed to be the safest option.
The menu is vast and has a host of things to choose from - order as little or as much as you want and they put it on the barbecue and cook it in front of you! I chose Chorizo, Rincon, Salchincha and Morchillo and we shared them. Beef and pork meat are the most common barbecued food. You get given sauce and bread with your meat.
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!
The menu - prices are individual in Uruguayan Pesos. At the time my bus from Parque Rodo to Plaza Independencia cost me just 17 Pesos, and a 1litre beer was 100 Pesos so you can see the barbecue was quite cheap for what you get. Some of the options were meal deals, but Wesley and I chose the "pick and mix" idea, choosing our own and sharing them. We did this in order to get some variety for our money.
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!
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For more information on Uruguayan cuisine, Mate in Uruguay and Uruguay football trip head to Jonny Blair's travel lifestyle website for more cool stories.
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