Following on from my ‘One Way to do Montevideo’ review…

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2014/01/28/one-way-to-do-montevideo/

…this review covers how we sampled the delights and atmosphere of Montevideo’s Mercado del Puerto….

…which is most conveniently situated a 5 minute walk from the port gates…

 

 Completed as a fruit and vegetable market in 1868 with original castings manufactured at the K T Parkin this metal framed building is now a gastronomic and cultural tour of not just Montevideo but of the whole of Uruguay.

The visitor could easily be forgiven for believing a local myth that the metal structure was originally intended and shipped from Liverpool to be a railway station bound for Bolivia.  When payment was not forthcoming it was utilised as the original market in Montevideo…

This amazing building and its myriad of restaurants is pure theatre for food lovers.

Once on the inside it is easy to see how the ‘railway station’ theory came about, the heavily arching sectioned  roof and the central clock.

There are restaurants everywhere with a sprinkling of bars but the one thing they all have in common is Barbecued food…

 

*****

*****

So no shortage of choice on where to sit. The floor is just a mass of individual restaurants: high end, low end and many ‘dine at the bar’ facilities – great for watching your food get cooked on the BBQ fires.

Indeed, spoilt for choice springs to mind…

*****

Now that is what I call a BBQ…

*****

This was a hard call on which of the options we should chose to offer our patronage. In the event We chose wisely, sat at a bar from where we could watch the cooking and various prepared dishes…

…flashing past our eyes…

Being great carnivores, what else than two of the best Tenderloins…

Light on the fries and perfectly cooked…

…and washed down with a couple of Uruguayan Pilsners…

…and wow, what a great sauce on the side…

That one on the right was truly spicy.

But the food wasn’t all about what we were having, superb as it was. No doubt the male readers will have  noticed the local girls over my shoulder on the picture above. Well look what they were about to have… kind of a mixed Barbie I guess..

Tuck in girls, it all looks great…

And their mixed grill wasn’t the only scrumptious looking delights to waft pass our prime seat…

…there was something for everyone.

Now isn’t that a brilliant way to spend two hours in Montevideo and certainly no need to dash back onboard to join the buffet queue.

And now we come to the amazing bit, that little lot and those beers came to…

Yes, $61.00, food and drink.

PS. The Tip box was on on the bar. The team were very grateful.

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