Catering in Punta del Este

For personal and business reasons I often require catering services or have the chance to taste the fruits of their labors, so I thought it would be good to mention a few. Budgets vary widely, and so do style, quality of the food, staff, etc.


First off, among the Punta del Este English Speakers´ Club membership there is Vivian Tausk, who in addition to speaking many languages is also fluent in Middle Eastern food as well as international cuisine. 094 720054



Next I have to mention Portas, whom we have used over and over again for many years. Portas is a traditional "confiteria" from Maldonado, that is, a bakery with party service, as they say in Uruguay. In our experience what distinguishes Portas is its extremely reasonable prices (cheap) and the dependability of its service. The food tends to be old fashioned, unimaginative and not too high quality, so we use them for "infrastructure" as I say, and their freshly baked bread. They bring drinks "on consignment," meaning anything not consumed goes back with them. Because they are so reasonable we use them often, and provide the food ourselves or from a different caterer. 
221733 or 225660


Another favorite in the budget category is La Sandwichería, which to my surprise has gone upmarket with fancy schmanzy catering services and, as they themselves advertise, "eventing" which I refuse to accept as a word. As their name implies, their traditional fare is cocktail sandwiches, pretty delicious. 

But I had the chance of sampling their "eventing" a couple nights ago and was most impressed by their service as well as by some of the food. The pasta was tasty, the fried leeks rolls were weird, the "asian" chicken with vegetables looked unappetizing. Again, I would keep them in mind for service and sandwiches and I would request a sampling of other stuff, to stay on the safe side. No idea how their prices are because we always buy only sandwiches from them.
(042) 243993 or 094 298299


On a very homey note there´s the duo of Silvana and Simon, formerly of Piriapolis, formerly of Spain and formerly of Uruguay and England respectively. Silvana is a great cook and Simon is a very affable guy, so you feel like you have a couple of friends taking care of everything, rather than more formal waiters running around. Also very reasonable in cost. 099518662

On the higher end of the spectrum, we tried and hired View Point on several occasions last year and found it to be outstanding. View Point has a restaurant on Calle 20, and across the street a coffee shop with delicious pastries and sandwiches. The catering is as expensive as it gets in Uruguay, but the food is outstanding and the service is very professional. They are very meticulous with the preparations, including a tasting at the restaurant. 448015 or 448016



Another option is to resort to Montevideo caterers. Lo de Mechi is known for their delicious desserts, cakes and petit fours. We often have stuff brought from them for cocktail parties, for example. Their mousse de maracujá is awsome, as is their mousse de dulce de leche. The petit fours are incredible. The savory finger food is not so impressive. Price-wise it´s not cheap but great value and half the cost of anything comparable in Punta del Este.

02 6010720

Another excellent option in the "fancy" category is Elena Tejeira. We have hired her services in the past for an event with our most demanding clientele and got nothing but compliments throughout the day. The food was original and delicious and the service was top notch. The only thing is that once you add all the extra costs due to their "traveling" from Montevideo to Punta del Este, the refrigerated truck, etc., the cost is the same as View Point. But I will definitely hire them again at some point.