Croissant or medialuna? It’s all the same thing? No way!
The traditional French recipe uses much more butter than the Uruguayan or Argentine versions, known as medialunas.
It’s the butter that helps make the beloved bun deflate and stay perfectly crispy on the outside, but in compensation, the Latin version wins in sugar. With a sweeter taste, it can also be brushed with a sugary syrup.
Just like the croissant, it’s not hard to find stuffed medialunas, especially with dulce de leche. My favorite is the medialuna calentita rellena de jamon y queso or, in plain English, piping hot and stuffed with ham and cheese.
So favorite that on each trip I try one every day trying to make a selection of the best ones. And the bar goes up.
Here are the five best of the moment in Uruguay, for those who want to venture into the caloric and delicious world of medialunas. And a tip: giving up hotel breakfast helps with the mission.
Torrante Café
In Montevideo the favorite until today is the medialuna of the Torrante Café . Located in the Cordón neighborhood, the house prepares the sandwich on bread from Federación Panadería Urbana, a bakery specializing in natural fermentation that supplies several places in the city, in addition to having its own points of service.
From the counter at Atorrante they come out warm, lightly toasted and with just the right amount of ham and cheese. They are small, but delicious! So much so that it’s worth ordering two. Goes well with a typical, well-drawn cut coffee.
S. José 1300, 11100 Montevideo, Department of Montevideo, Uruguay / Tel.: +598 96 601 300 / Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 9 pm; Saturday from 10am to 5pm.
brave pan
Still in Montevideo, in the neighborhood of Pocitos, there is a angry . In full expansion, the modern bakery that belongs to the same family as the traditional Panaderia Nueva Malvin and the grill Pedro’s Kitchen it gets it right in baking and, obviously, in the medialuna.
Although it’s a little bigger than I’d like (but that’s only because I have so much to eat), it has a perfect crust. On the outside it is a little sweeter than the average, but it combines with artisanal ham and creamier cheese.
It deserved a little more careful assembly, but it still deserves to be included in this top 5. The unit I went to also lacked a good coffee machine, after all, a good medialuna calls for good coffee.
José Ellauri 532, 11300 Montevideo, Department of Montevideo, Uruguay / Tel.: +598 93 613 388 / Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 8 pm.
La Rebellion
Punta del Este surprised me with two beautiful medialunas: the one on the La Rebellion I would call it a hybrid. Although it appears as a croissant on the menu and is butterier than most, it is also sweeter than the average croissant.
The bakery, which has been in existence for just over two years, gives a nice modernization to the gastronomic scene of Punta del Este. The well-prepared cappuccino adds points to the experience, in addition to the house having a tempting showcase of delicacies and selling products from small producers.
It is a place to come back again and again.
La Galerna 638, Punta del Este, Calle 21 between Rambla and Gorlero / Tel.: +598 99 695 434 / Opening hours: every day from 9 am to 3 pm.
france.co
Another medialuna that caught my attention is also located on the Peninsula, in Punta. THE france.co pasticeria doesn’t have good coffee, but it definitely won me over at medialuna.
With a different cut for inserting the filling (seemed more aesthetic than functional to me), the well-melted cheese, the more flaky and toasted dough (giving it a caramel touch), it was very pleasing.
La Rebellion and France are just a five-minute walk from each other. You can even compare the two, tracing both in one day. Facing the challenge?
20 – El Remanso y, 20100 Punta del Este, Department of Maldonado, Uruguay / Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 8am to 9pm.
Rhizome
To close the tour, how about a visit to José Ignácio, in Rhizome La Juanita ? The space, which is also a hotel and a bookstore, houses a well-maintained cafeteria, where everything that comes out is delicious.
The blue cheese chipa (like a cheese bread) is delicious and often tempts me. But the medialuna mounted here is so perfect that I keep repeating it. I say assembled because the bread is produced in the bakery next door: Padaria José Ignácio.
I went there to do the test to see if it was equally delicious in its place of origin, but to my disappointment it came cold and with a clumsy filling. To make the experience worse, the coffee was once again disappointing, from those famous brands in capsules, extremely roasted.
For those who didn’t understand my implication with coffees, I suggest reading the article about some coffees originating in Uruguay and also making the journey to the places on foot to consume a little more of this Uruguayan edible heritage with zero guilt.
Los Lobos between República Argentina and José Ignacio, La Juanita, Maldonado, Uruguay / Tel.: +598 95 030 549 / Opening hours: Thursday to Tuesday from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm.
About Giuliana Nogueira
Giuliana Nogueira is Brazilian, psychologist, photographer and communication advisor. She is neither an oenologist nor a sommelierè, but she is an oenophile, especially passionate about Uruguayan wines and Uruguay. She keeps Instagram @Instatannat , talking more about Uruguayan wines than the Uruguayans themselves. Whenever he can, he travels to the land of our neighbors, who know how to receive very well.
* The texts published by Insiders and Columnists do not necessarily reflect the opinion of CNN Viagem & Gastronomia.
Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
