We did not know much about Montevideo when we decided to spend two nights there, but we were intrigued by the little we had heard.
How we got there…
For this flight, we flew with Latam Premium Economy again from São Paulo. The first time we did this was when we flew from Rio De Janeiro to São Paulo at the start of our South America trip.
At São Paulo airport, we whizzed through the dedicated Premium Economy check-in. The check-in desk was a little strange. Once our bags had been weighed and tagged, they were then pushed to the sit behind the check-in guy. There was no sign of them making their way to a luggage belt and onwards to the plane. I crossed my fingers, hoping the would make it. We have one of those “tiles” that you put in your case and it locates where your bag was last seen. We didn’t invoke this for fear of what it might tell us.
The Latam Lounge Terminal 3, São Paulo Airport
Our travels wouldn’t be the same without at least one stop at an airport lounge. For this trip we had access to the Latam lounge in Terminal 3. It definitely wasn’t the best lounge (ooohhhh Quantas First Lounge at LAX you still hold that position dearly). However, it also wasn’t the worst.
We had arrived at a fairly quiet time and not only did we manage to bag a seat but one that had charging facilities.
The self service buffet had a good selection of different foods both hot and cold. I sampled the spinach and ricotta cannelloni, a couple of mini quiches some roasted new potatoes plus a selection of cold meats and salad. The potatoes teamed with the meats and salad, was the best part.
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog1-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-2-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-3-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-4-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-6-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-7-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-8-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-9-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-10-1024x768.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-food-travel-blog-11-768x1024.jpg)
![Food at Latam Lounge Terminal 3 Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-airport-latam-lounge-terminal-3-travel-blog-food-5-1024x768.jpg)
My husband tried some of the different roasted meats but they were all found to be a bit chewy.
We also tried some of the crisps, in both red onion and sausage flavours, which could quite easily have passed for dog biscuits.
The flight – Latam Premium Economy
We made our way to the gate, which happened to be about a mile away from the lounge. Upon arriving at the gate we found that boarding had commenced although none of the signs other than at the gate had indicated this.
Those requiring special assistance were making their way to flight and then boarding stopped. There was no announcement for about another 20 minutes. Then the announcement was done by word of mouth rather than a tannoy.
The special passengers who thought they had made it to the plane were swiftly evicted. We were told it would be another 20 minutes before boarding would start again. Then hallelujah boarding recommenced after about 5 minutes. The poor specials, most of whom looked like they were having trouble walking, had to struggle back on to the plane for a second time. Whilst all of this was going on luckily most of the Group 1 passengers ahead of us had dispersed and we had found ourselves at the very front of the queue (after the specials) for boarding.
Before we flew to South America, I had checked the Latam baggage allowance and realised that our carry on suitcases were 4 centimetres over the allowed width. We decided that we would chance it and thankfully this paid off. I realised as I watched the other passengers board from our front row seat (1A and 1C), I hadn’t needed to worry. There were people with hold sized bags boarding the flight!
After all of the kerfuffle, plus many people having to put their bags in the hold due to no adherence to the baggage allowance. Four centimetres is neither here nor there there ha ha! We finally took off about an hour later than planned.
Once in the air, we were offered a small toasted baguette with cheese, ham, gherkins and some minced meat (type still unknown even after eating it).
![Food on Premium Economy Latam Airlines Flight Sao Paulo to Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-montevideo-uraguay-latam-airlines-food-travel-blog-1024x768.jpg)
![Food on Premium Economy Latam Airlines Flight Sao Paulo to Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sao-paulo-brazil-montevideo-uraguay-latam-airlines-food-travel-blog-1-1024x768.jpg)
This was served with more dog biscuits but at least with these there was a mildly spicy dipping sauce to soften. Meh is the only word ( if it is even a word) that sprang to mind. Dessert was a little glass filled with strawberry’s in a sauce. This was topped with a white mousse and a sliver of a chocolate meringue. All in all very disappointing. There wasn’t even any gin served on the flight so had to make do with beer.
Once we landed at Montevideo airport, we were through so quickly and the airport was really quiet.
Where we stayed…
![soro hilton hotel montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hilton-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-travel-food-blog.jpg)
Our chosen abode for the two nights in Monetvideo was the wonderful SORO, Curio Collection by Hilton.
Upon arrival into the boutique hotel, we were invited to take a seat to check-in. Once the process was complete, we were given the keys to our room and some vouchers for a welcome drink.
We had booked a King Bedroom with a river view. The room was spacious, particularly the bathroom and shower. All of it was super modern. which was a relief after the Melia we had stayed in the night before.
![The Bedroom at the Soro Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton Montevideo, Uraguay](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-bedroom-travel-food-blog-2-1024x777.jpg)
![The Bedroom at the Soro Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton Montevideo, Uraguay](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-bedroom-travel-food-blog-1-1-1024x779.jpg)
![The Bathroom at the Soro Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton Montevideo, Uraguay](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-bathroom-travel-food-blog-2-1-1024x768.jpg)
![The Bathroom at the Soro Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton Montevideo, Uraguay](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-bathroom-travel-food-blog-1-1-768x1024.jpg)
![The Bathroom at the Soro Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton Montevideo, Uraguay](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-bathroom-travel-food-blog-3-1024x852.jpg)
As a Hilton Honors Gold member, we received some lovely presented chocolates and a personalised welcome note.
![The Loyalty Gift at the Soro Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton Montevideo, Uraguay](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-loyalty-gift-travel-food-blog-1024x768.jpg)
In addition to the lovely room, the hotel also had a nice little gym on the top floor. The treadmills had a view of the sea. Up on the rooftop, there was a terraced area with a hot tub. From here you could see the beautiful and dramatic sunrises.
![soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-view-from-rooftop-travel-food-blog-wm](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-view-from-rooftop-travel-food-blog-wm-1024x632.jpg)
When we left the hotel, we handed back our welcome drink vouchers, which we hadn’t had chance to use. The receptionist kindly offered us some bottles of water to take on our trip.
What we did and what we ate..
Breakfast at Tomas Restaurant
On our first morning, we decided to take advantage of the free breakfast offered by the hotel (and one of the perks of Hilton Honors Gold). The Tomas Restaurant was located on the 1st Floor.
We asked for some fried eggs to be made. When they arrived, the bottom was crisped to perfection and the yolk was soft with a slight run, A great start to the day.
![Fried Eggs and Toast at Tomas Restaurant Soro Hotel Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-breakfast-egg-on-toast-travel-food-blog-1024x768.jpg)
There was also a great selection of cakes on offer, which we couldn’t resist.
One of which was the crumbliest, most divine lemon sponge.
![Cakes at Tomas Restaurant Soro Hotel Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-breakfast-cake-travel-food-blog-1024x731.jpg)
![Cakes at Tomas Restaurant Soro Hotel Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/soro-hotel-montevideo-uraguay-breakfast-cake-travel-food-blog-1-1024x581.jpg)
After our hotel breakfast, we wandered two streets up from the hotel to a bakery called Bertha, almacén de pan.
They had a nice but petite selection of sweet pastries. We had planned to return there the following day but found out they were closed on a Sunday! We were too full to contemplate anything more to eat at that moment.
Port Market and the Centre of Montevideo
We then got an Uber to the Port Market. Thankfully, this was more civilised than the one in São Paulo. However, it was not really a market. It was a mix of Parillas and souvenir shops. One of our aims on visiting the market was to check out one of the Parillas for a potential dinner place. However, when we got there we found out that the market closes at 6pm each day. As we wondered around the place, we were asked by every Parillas if we wanted to dine with them. Given it was still wasn’t even 12pm and we had a good sized breakfast, we declined.
After this we continued to walk around the centre of Montevideo. The area around the market seemed to be a mixture of independent restaurants, shops of all kinds and a lot of premises that either weren’t open that day or shut permanently.
As we wondered through the centre we saw some extravagant architecture like Palacio Salvo, which for a brief time had been the tallest building in Latin America.
![Palacio Salvo, Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/palacio-salvo-montevideo-uraguay-travel-food-blog-768x1024.jpg)
We also saw a couple of pieces of street art. This included this piece by @cobreart which is a tribute to Eduardo Galeano a writer from Montevideo.
As well as this one of the watchful gaze of this lady dressed in a dress covered in fruit.
Both of the above were found in the Ciudad Vieja area of Montedvideo.
Mirador panorámico de la Intendencia de Montevideo
Mirador panorámico de la Intendencia de Montevideo – this was for me by far the best part of Montevideo. On the 22nd Floor in this municipal building, you are provided with most amazing 360 views across the city. I could have spent my whole day there taking photographs. This is a video taken from the lift…
There were plaques attached to the walls to point out key landmarks. All of it was completely free to visit, On the day we went, which was a Saturday it was very quiet with only a handful of people up there with us. At the top there was also a cafe and toilet facilities.
Walk along the coastline
We then made our way back to the hotel along the coastline. Stunning scenery although the sea/river was very brown.
Our walk took us past Parque Jose Enrique Rodo, which had we been there for longer we definitely would have spent some time exploring.
We then followed Rambla Presidente Wilson all the way to the southern most tip of the city.
It took a couple of hours to do the entire walk. We did navigate off to check out some potential food places for the evening and go into the Fresh Market supermarket , which was very impressive.
La Otra Parilla -Pocito
![La Otra restaurant, Montevideo](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-grill-travel-food-blog-1024x461.jpg)
Exhausted from all the walking we had done that day, we wanted to stay local. We were struggling to find anywhere that was casual but not too casual. I asked the receptionist at the hotel for suggestions. He gave two. The first was a place called Dilema but when we looked online they didn’t have any availability for the evening.
The second suggestion was for La Otra. We had seen this place when we had been searching on Google but we weren’t a hundred percent sure about it. Now that it had been recommended, we decided to give it a shot and made a reservation for 7.30pm.
Located at Tomás Diago 758 in the heart of Pocito’s, La Otro is a classic Uruguayan barbecue place. The restaurant was already almost full when we arrived, which generally is a good sign. As soon as you enter you are faced with the massive flaming grill (as pictured above) The extraction was so good as you didn’t leave the place smelling like you had been sat next to a wood burning fire all night.
We were served by a friendly guy who spoke good English, which was great as our Spanish is even worse than our Portuguese.
First up, we started with a Caipirinha – the Brazilian national cocktail. We hadn’t had the opportunity to try when we were in São Paulo. The cocktail was made with cachaça, sugar, and lime. It was very sweet and lacked the bunch you would find with other lime based cocktails, such as Margarita.
![Caipirinha cocktail at La Otra](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-cocktail-travel-food-blog-768x1024.jpg)
We shared this sausage to start and it was juicy and garlicky.
![Grilled sausage at La Otra](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-grilled-sausage-travel-food-blog.jpg)
![Grilled sausage at La Otra](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-grilled-sausage-travel-food-blog-1-1024x652.jpg)
For mains we had:
Top Sirloin, which came as fairly slim slices of steak which was cooked as requested, medium rare. However it was a little on the tough side, which overrode the pleasant flavour.
![Steak at La Otra](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-steak-travel-food-blog-1024x520.jpg)
Chicken – the skin was crisped to perfection and the meat was very tender. I opted for the leg rather than the breast.
![Grilled quarter chicken at La Otra](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-grilled-chicken-travel-food-blog-1024x686.jpg)
Alongside this we had sides of fries and a jacket potato with Roquefort cheese plus a mini green salad.
The potato came wrapped in the tin foil it had been baked in. There was a lot of cheese, some might say too much. The potato itself was massive. I didn’t even manage to eat half of it and early on had to avoid the cheese, which was very overpowering. In hindsight, I should have just ordered the version with butter.
If the green salad was “mini” (as per the waiters words) then I can only image how humungous the normal size one was.
![Mini green salad at La Otra](https://tasteofthewanderlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/la-otra-restaurant-montevideo-uraguay-salad-travel-food-blog-1024x649.jpg)
Again, I barely scratched the sides on this.
With all this food, we ordered a bottle of the Uruguayan wine. This is a grape called Tannat. It went well with food but didn’t have depth of a Primitivo.
Overall it was a pretty mediocre meal but at least we hadn’t had to walk far to eat.
In Summary…
I’m glad that we made Montevideo part of our itinerary. The hotel was excellent, proving you don’t always need to stay in an 5 star hotel to experience luxury. Along with the Mirador panorámico de la Intendencia de Montevideo and the walk along the coastline, this was the highlight of our visit. Had we stayed longer, I have no doubt that we would have experienced some higher quality food too. Next up Buenos Aires.