Eating in Salto

The grills are public

The best meal in Salto is the one you cook yourself. Every public park in Uruguay has parrilleros, brick grills with a firebox at the side, and at Termas del Daymán they stand on the lawns between the pools. You buy the meat and the firewood at a supermarket, find a free grill, and the afternoon is yours.

The method matters, and it is not the Argentine one. Across the river they cook fast, over charcoal. Uruguayans cook slowly, over wood: the logs burn down in the firebox, the embers go under the grill a shovelful at a time, and the meat sits high above them and takes its time. An asado is less a meal than a way of spending four hours, and nobody hurries.

• What to buy: short ribs (asado de tira), the classic cut, flank (vacío), chorizo and black pudding (morcilla). Salt is the seasoning, with chimichurri after if you like. Bread, a tomato and onion salad and something to drink go with it.
• Firewood, not charcoal. The word is leña. It needs about 45 minutes to burn down to embers before any meat goes on.
• Budget: about US$15 a head when you share.

Cooking your own asado at the hot springs is day one of my backpacker itinerary. The park has the grills and the supermarket on the way has everything else, so there is nothing to bring but an appetite.

The chivito, Uruguay's national sandwich

A thin steak, ham, cheese, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise in a soft bun, usually with chips. Ordered al plato, it comes without the bread, on a plate with the same things plus Russian salad. One is a meal. It is on every menu in town, and it is what people here eat when they do not feel like cooking.

Mate, all day

The gourd and flask under every arm on the riverfront is mate: yerba leaves and hot water, shared in a circle, passed clockwise, drunk to the end and handed back. It is not a café drink, and nobody sells it by the cup. A gourd, a metal straw (bombilla) and a bag of yerba cost about US$10 in any supermarket. With the flask filled at your hostel or hotel, you are set for the rest of the trip. Being offered a mate is about the friendliest thing that can happen to you in Uruguay.

Citrus country

Salto grows most of Uruguay's citrus, and you see it from the air before you land: orange and mandarin groves in rows around the city. Winter is the season. From about May to September the mandarins are at their best, sold by the bag at roadside stalls and in the markets. Sitting in the winter sun on the riverfront peeling them is such a local habit that it has its own verb, lagartear, to lizard. Fresh orange juice is on every breakfast table for the same reason. North of the city on Route 3, at km 525 and on the way to the Arapey hot springs, four local women run Empalme KM 525, a stand with cheeses, jams and preserves, drinks and something quick to eat, much of it made in Constitución, Belén and Palomas. It opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

What else is on the table

Where to eat, and how to pay less

The restaurants are in the centre and at Daymán. Dinner is late: kitchens fill up from 9pm, and many places close on Sunday evening and on Monday. A tip of about 10% is usual and appreciated.

• Foreign cards. In season, restaurants take the whole of the VAT off the bill when you pay with a debit or credit card issued abroad. It happens automatically, it shows on the receipt, and over a week it adds up. The scheme is renewed each year and has run from mid-November to the end of April, so outside those months it is worth asking.
• Cash. Roadside citrus stalls, the market and the smallest places take pesos only, so it pays to carry some.
• Vegetarian? Possible, with a little effort: pasta, pizza, Spanish omelette (tortilla), salads and the market. The phrase is sin carne, and the sauce is worth checking.

The tax rules are explained in full, with dates, in the FAQ.