El Drugstore offers quite an array of seating choices, indoor, outdoor on the plaza, and even in an antique car parked on the side street, but on this day they had live music inside, so we took a seat near the stage.
(To see more about lovely Colonia, click here)
We ordered chivito for two and beet soup, por favor. The soup was tasty and unique, but the chivito actually suffered a bit from an attempt to make it a touch more fancy.
Not that it was bad, and the cuts of meat were much better, but we preferred yesterday’s simpler version.
The undisputed star of our lunch turned out to be the dessert, a crepe creation that we ordered by pointing at our neighbor’s table and indicating that we wanted one too.
The crepe arrived warm and smothered in orange sauce with fresh orange slices and chunks of chocolate.(To see more about lovely Colonia, click here)
As luck would have it, El Drugstore, had a chalkboard advertising a maté special.
Drinking yerba maté is often a communal ritual, so we only needed one cup. The waiter brought us a thermos of hot water, a silver straw called a bombilla, and a small hollowed out gourd filled with the crushed plant.

The maté plant is a relative of holly and has been used to make this sort of tea for centuries, mostly in the southeastern parts of South America.
So we poured the water into our gourd, let it sit for a minute, and then gave the bombilla a good suck. First impression… awful. We tried again, still awful. It remained awful no matter how much we tried. Guess there’s no risk in us getting addicted.
We’re positive that El Drugstore only serves the finest of ingredients. The food, service and entertainment was fantastic. It’s a quirky, funky little restaurant with a great feel.
We’re certain that the yerba maté served at El Drugstore was the best yerba maté ever. So, it must be an acquired taste.
To see more about lovely Colonia:
https://www.gypsynester.com/colonia-uruguay.htm
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com