It was a short four days in Montevideo, but I packed a lot of eating in. There wasn’t a lot else to do as it poured rain and howled wind most of the time. Luckily, I don’t mind checking out restaurants, you know? I already covered a couple of new chivito uruguayos in a post a few days ago, along with exploring one of my favorite sandwiches a little more broadly. So here’s the rest!
I don’t recall where I first read about Candy Bar, Durazno 1402, on the border of Palermo and Barrio Sur. I made notes that it was touted as an amazing, sophisticated and elegant cocktail bar with creative tapas. Several reviews out there place it in the trendy, upscale neighborhood of Parque Rodo, though that’s about a kilometer east, and a couple of economic classes above, where the bar is actually located.
This is not what I pictured, either outside or inside. Sophisticated and elegant just doesn’t fit with plastic barstools, weird kitsch, and cheap wooden chairs and tables. Their cocktail menu is limited, and craft beer seems more likely. And those tapas, it turns out, are only available at night. During the day it’s sandwiches and burgers.
Everything about their eponymous house burger screams that I’m going to love it. Great looking bun, nice thick patty, gooey melted cheese, grilled onion, mixed lettuces, a thick slab of tomato, a house dressing that I’m drawing a blank on. And, I almost loved it. All the flavors are there, the meat is beautifully seasoned, everything amazing except one thing. It’s dry. It’s so overcooked it’s a dull grey-brown in the middle. I asked for it rare to medium rare, they said that was how they cook it. And on pointing out to the waiter that this was… not that, he opined that it was, and that this was the way they always cook their burgers. The same, apparently, with the fries, which were basically burnt on one side – I gather they’re oven baked. So close, but yet, so far. Especially for a $16 burger accompanied by a $4 lemonade (which was quite good).
For dinner, it was off to Café Misterio, Republica de Costa Rica 1700, in the Carrasco Norte section of town. Now, I had lined up several restaurants that have gotten acclaim over the last couple of years, and they were all in this section of town. It’s pretty upscale, and not near to any of the other stuff I wanted to do, like museums and wandering. And the hotels are all pretty pricey. But I hadn’t reckoned with a couple of things. Ubers/taxis have gotten expensive, and the cost of going back and forth to these restaurants from the west side of town probably equaled the difference in hotel prices. Plus given the rain, all the wandering went out the window. And add to that that I had no idea that the city of Montevideo basically shuts down for the long Carnaval weekend. Virtually every museum and gallery that I wanted to check out was closed from Friday through Tuesday. Many restaurants, thankfully none of the ones on my list, were closed too. As one Uber drive said to me, “We might close for part of the day on Christmas and New Year’s, but we take Carnaval seriously. Everything’s closed, including government services.”
I had made all my reservations for early hours, but also, apparently, with Carnaval, no one was going out to eat much. This is a Saturday night at a restaurant that’s on Latin America’s Top 50 list. By the time I left, around 9 p.m., there were six other people there.
Nice little bread service – a couple of flatbread strips with a salmon pate at one end and chopped liver at the other, and excellent olives in between. I’m not sure why one would want to add olive oil, but okay.
“Whitefish of the day, peach curing broth, pickled blueberries, furikake.” The fish was a type of drum (corvina rubia), and on its own fine, and it’s a reasonable portion for a crudo dish. The broth was a bit weird. I didn’t really get the peach in it, and it just had a sort of muddled, not overly pleasant taste to it. For just shy of $18, not a winner for me.
“Shrimp, carrot, and daikon kimchi potstickers off the griddle, chive, mint, and cilantro leaves.” These are not potstickers off the griddle. They’re boiled or steamed dumplings – no golden brown, lightly crunchy surface. And where did this bowl of soy ginger broth come into play? I see chives, but no mint nor cilantro. Did I get the right dish? Yes, apparently, and “this is the way they’ve always been served.” Okay then. I mean, not bad, just not what I expected, maybe change the description on the menu, and maybe a touch pricey at $15 for six dumplings.
“Lemon curd tart. Yogurt ice cream.” Why am I having dessert? I haven’t been thrilled with the first two courses, and I’m not really a dessert person anyway. But somehow, I let myself be talked into this one. Overly thick pastry, the base is just as thick as the sides, and just the barest layer of lemon curd atop, this is more of a lemon iced cookie than anything else, and it’s dry as a bone. The iced, or frozen, yogurt, it ain’t ice cream, is more or less flavorless. Biggest disappointment of all three dishes, especially at $13. Add in the $7 cubierto charge for the one thing I did really like, the flatbread, a bottle of water, a glass of wine, and a tip, and this just okay meal comes in at $60 after getting the official tax refund (which I actually didn’t know I was going to get, so it was a nice surprise when every meal I charged on a card ended up with a partial chargeback).
This is one of the places I looked at staying. It’s a little B&B, with rooms that look like you’d be happy just staying in all the time. It was also the only day that it didn’t rain. On the other hand, the temperature rose to 32C, or around 90F, and humid as hell from all the rain. It also didn’t last – it clouded up later in the evening and returned to stormy conditions. Alquimista Montevideo, Av. Bolivia 1323, in Carrasco, also has a well-regarded restaurant.
While air conditioning seemed non-existent, indoors with a floor fan still seemed the better option than sitting out in the garden. Basically the restaurant is the lobby of the B&B, and the few folk staying there kind of wander in and out, as did an older couple who seemed, perhaps, to be the owners. Or at least awfully familiar with the staff, though they didn’t interact with guests at all, so perhaps not.
The menu, surprisingly very… Argentine, especially given that they make a point on their website that it’s “Contemporary Uruguayan Cuisine”. It turned out that their current, and perhaps new, chef is Argentine and basically moved the whole menu that direction.. or something. The information seemed a bit vague. A delightful little provoleta, in its own little cast iron pan. Beautifully browned, and the excellent garlic bread was a great accompaniment. About half the size of a typical provoleta here in Buenos Aires, but then I’d usually split one of those with someone rather than eating an entire one myself, so it works out. At $11 it’s not a steal, but Uruguay has always been more expensive than Argentina – with the latter’s economic woes, that difference is stark.
A “rack” of lamb is not two adjoined chops. Nor is a sweet potato that’s been smashed onto the plate a “purée”. But the lamb is nicely seasoned, albeit a bit tough and chewy. The demiglace sauce over the whole thing is a bit over-reduced and salty. It’s an okay dish, but no more than that, especially for close on $24.
Service is friendly, if a bit inattentive. The waitress is also the B&B’s front desk person and busperson and all around general it seemed doing everything but the cooking person. At one point it took a bit to get her attention, which was fully committed to her cellphone, where it turned out she was “managing our social media presence”. Overall, a pleasant afternoon, just not all that special. With a lemonade and tip, $36 (versus the $40 before the tourist tax refund – which is apparently just partial, since it’s 10% rather than the 22% sales tax charged on the bill).
I’m on to the other place that got on my list because it hit the Latin America’s Top 50 rankings. Manzanar, Carlos F. Sáez 6463, once again in Carrasco. All four of these places that I’m covering other than the burger spot at the top are within a few blocks of each other. This place is on a little plaza behind the grand Sofitel hotel (which we will get to next) that’s ringed by various restaurants, most of which have popped onto my radar at one point or another.
It’s a pretty place, but feels more like a sort of trendy beach bar than the elegant restaurant it’s touted to be. A strange dichotomy of raw bar/sushi versus wood-fired oven cooking is the ouvre here. Service is friendly and reasonably attentive, though has its missteps, not the least of which is a lot of hanging out at the bar by the waitstaff. That and the one waiter who seemed to feel he needed to hover nearby me just in case, I don’t know, I needed company since I was dining solo. That, by the way, happened at Café Misterio as well. Like someone dining alone can’t quite be left alone.
A nice bread selection, with a really tasty flatbread and quite good rustic white bread, along with local olive oil. Also, though not pictured, a small cup of beef broth, which apparently, functions as an amuse bouche. They seemed a bit miffed that I didn’t finish it, but the other food arrived so quickly that drinking a hot beef broth with raw fish just didn’t work for me.
Here’s where service gets a bit wonky. I had selected one pair of nigiri from the raw bar, this lovely corvina, a type of drum, topped with spicy yuzu koshu and local caviar. My waitress felt I should go with a salmon pair with a different topping. I demurred, but she sent it anyway. I thought maybe she just wanted me to try it and was gifting it, but I asked, since it wasn’t what I ordered, and no, it was whisked away, to be tossed in the trash. Shortly thereafter, this plate arrived, and it was excellent. Finally, some excellent food.
But here’s another misstep. She had asked me if I had a particular order in mind for the four small plates I ordered, and I said no, just to send them one at a time in whatever order the kitchen felt was best. Now, I’ll admit, they stuck to the letter of that, if not the spirit. The food runner brought this plate, and then immediately went back to the bar and returned with the next, and then into the kitchen and returned with the third, and back to the kitchen and returned with the fourth. So I had all four plates out on the table in about 3-4 minutes of the first one arriving. My waitress returned to ensure I was happy, and I noted that I’d expected the plates one at a time, to which she replied, “we brought them to your table one at time”. $10.50 for two nigiri seems a little steep.
Absolutely superb, this dish of cured mullet over a thickened kefir, fermented milk, with lime, dill, and radishes, all over a crispy dehydrated rye bread. Best dish to this point of the trip, three days in. It’s bigger than it looks in the picture, it’s probably a good 5″ on a side, and well worth the $14.
Disappointing “tempura” prawns. This is not tempura. This is a thick batter of some sort, like you get at a mediocre Chinese takeout, albeit better tasting. The sweet chili sauce had no noticeable chili in it, just sweet, though the lime helped. Apparently, however, one of their most popular dishes. $16.
And, a different take on elotes, my favorite Mexican grilled street corn. Here, wood-fired oven roasted corn in a cheese and yellow chili sauce – similar in some ways to Peruvian huancaina, but not the same. Delicious. Almost $14 for an ear of corn cut in half. Pricey.
Add in a glass of wine, bottle of water, and a $4 cover charge, plus tip, and this came in at a whopping $73, reduced to $67 with the rebate. I’d come back and try more, though I think I’d focus on the raw bar end, which seeemed to be what most people were eating and really enjoying.
Okay, we’re on to the aforementioned Sofitel hotel (and casino) on the Carrasco waterfront.
It’s really pretty at night.
And the lobby is jaw-dropping elegant.
I’m here to check out 1921 Restaurante, Rambla República de México 6451, where the chef is a professional acquaintance from here in Buenos Aires, Maximiliano Matsumoto, who made his way up through the kitchen at Tegui, the Faena hotel kitchens, and then Aldo’s, and on to Tora. Unfortunately, it turned out that, once again due to Carnaval, Maxi is taking the weekend off, but he graciously arranged for his sous chef and staff to really take care of me. And, boy did they.
Beautiful setting looking out over the river. You can see it’s back to stormy conditions. It’s slightly odd sitting with my back to the room, but the view makes up for it. The sommelier takes charge of things, and we discuss thoughts on the menu and wines. I pick two dishes that I particularly wanted to try and ask him to pair a glass of wine with each.
But first, I am treated to a different plate that I just “had to” try, their foie gras paté with almond brittle, charred peach, and brioche bread. Yum. A quite good glass of Familia Deicas’ Cuvee Castelar sparkling to accompany.
And of course, you can’t leave without trying our peach ceviche. Not a fish ceviche, it’s cured peaches in a lovely citrusy broth with mixed herbs. Excellent. And, a glass of Cerro Chapeu’s delicious reserve Sauvignon blanc 2023 to go with it.
I had ordered this dish because I saw it on Maxi’s Instagram account and it sounded amazing. Fresh crab stuffed inside a daikon “cigar” with a mild chili cream and various oils and spices and wow it was good. A glass of one of my favorite local Chardonnays, the Pisano RPF 2021, hit the spot too.
This was the other dish I chose, a rabbit confit lasagna with grilled figs and it was everything I’d hoped it would be. And what a match with Pizzorno’s Pinot Noir reserva 2021!
And, apparently I’d overstepped in rejecting the lamb saddle dish, and the sommelier insisted I try that as well. Nestled under chard, accompanied by sauces that by this point I was beyond keeping track of, it was a) ridiculously good, and b) too much food, and I had to give up and only finish about half of it. And these, by the way, were all basically half portions of the dishes – done tasting menu style. Accompanied by not one, but two wines – Viña Progreso’s Cabernet Franc 2021, which I found a bit weird, and had a hint of rubbery taste to it, and Alto de la Ballena’s Merlot reserva 2020, which was stunning, but still too young to drink.
I vehemently waved off any suggestion of an array of, or even one, desserts, nor any more wine.
Setting, amazing. Service, impeccable. Food, exquisite. I can’t really figure on the pricing, since in the end, all I was charged for were the two plates I ordered and a glass of wine, and a bottle of water. I mean, it’s the Sofitel, it’s expensive, with appetizers running around the $15-18 mark and main courses from about $23-30. Wines around $10-15 a glass. The occasional perks of professional friendships meant I only paid $65, with tip. Not that I expected any different, but I am so happy that I loved everything about the experience so much!
And that rounds out the latest visit to Montevideo.
