Bar Arocena
- Getting there
- Carrasco neighbourhood, near Montevideo's airport side of the city
Why it’s in the log
Anthony Bourdain filmed in Uruguay twice — once for No Reservations, once for Parts Unknown — and called Montevideo one of the most underrated food cities he'd covered. Bar Arocena, a neighbourhood bar in the Carrasco district, was where he ate the chivito: Uruguay's national sandwich, and by his account "the Everest of steak sandwiches."
The chivito here is built to order and built large — steak, ham, bacon, mozzarella, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato, red pepper, mayonnaise, stacked on a bun until it barely holds together. It's a bar in the plain sense, not a restaurant dressed up as one: counter seating, a regulars' crowd, a menu that doesn't extend much past the one dish it's known for.
Come hungry and split it if you're not used to a full Uruguayan portion — this isn't a snack-sized version of the sandwich.
“A "terror-inspiring heap of protein" is Bourdain's own description, and it undersells how good it actually is.”