Why does a drink need a cover?
Madrid is my second home. I have no good reason to love this city. It has no views. I do not have many friends there. Yet I keep coming back to Madrid. I have been there 5 times in the past 2 years. I get an itch to go back every 6 months. We match somehow. I remember the first times I went to Madrid. 20 years old, it was one of the first European cities I went by myself. At the time, I was not a big pork eater. I blame that for not falling in love with Madrid at the first site. Still, my first visits to Madrid was still filled with excitement. Every meal, I felt as though I was in an Almodovar movie. How good is he in capturing the colors and the feeling of Spain in general. When I went back many years later, I still had a recollection of where everything was. Now though, I had a desire to eat like never before. I rediscovered Madrid a bite at a time.
Madrid is known for its tapas- meaning a top/cover to a drink. Only with the systematic consumption of this food can you be ok from the all day drinking you will be doing. It is a must to drink all day in Madrid, you will see many doing the same. A genius invention of small glass beers (go for local favorite Mahou) to wine in the evening, the days in Madrid are best spent slightly tipsy from morning to evening.
What to Eat @ Madrid
Casual Eats
Everyone will tell you to go to Mercado de St Miguel. They are right go there. It is one of the many open food markets that has been popping up around the world. There are big tables in the middle. You can pick different foods from different vendors and come to the middle to eat. Finding a table is a challenge but the foods are great. I recommend the cheese stand and the tapas stand right next to the cheese.
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| Mercado de St Miguel is filled with unique delights. From cheese to tapas to sweets to oysters. |
As you will be eating and drinking all day at Madrid, it is good to give quick tapas breaks. The best spot to do that is Plaza de St Ana. It is festive in the nice weather and a wide selection of tapas places. You will not go wrong. Order a couple glasses of wine or beer to go along with your meal.
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| Plaza St Ana, by Sol neighborhood is your hub for mid-day tapas and drinking. Also what it is great for is people-watching. |
If you want another quick bite, go into a Museo del Jamon (a museum dedicated to jam) There are so many all around Madrid (one right by Sol) . Get a couple sandwiches stuffed with iberico.
Right in the center of Sol area is my favorite patisserie, La Mallorquina. You see the big display with amazing sweets. I go there for Pepito con Crema- an amazing dough desert stuffed with cream.
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| Goes great with coffee. One is enough per trip but I went back for a second serving! |
The Belle Artes building (right across from the Prado museum) is a very nice setup for a before dinner drink and appetizers.
Go to the neighborhood - La Latina- on a Friday or Saturday night. There are some tapas joints that are good. But the point is to go from one joint to the other having a tapas and a drink at each until it is 2 or 3 am. If you over do it you will be one of the many in the neighborhood who is drunk and loud and happy.
Nice Eats and Innovative Eats
Botin is the oldest restaurant in the world. Hence it is touristy. However you should go for lunch. Some go for dinner but the food is heavy. You have to order a whole suckling pig or a baby lamb.
Innovative cuisine in the shopping district of Madrid. You have to order the Russian salad and the dried tomato appetizers. The atmosphere is also very pleasant. From the door it looks like a store.
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| This is the Russian salad mixed when ordered at the table at Pan De Lujo. Next to it are the succulent tomatoes. |
Nice tapas spot with innovative tapas. The atmosphere is amazing. Get the re-constructed patatas bravas and the sardines.
My favorite restaurant in Madrid. The most innovative restaurant in town, nestled in a residential neighborhood, you can order anything but what you have to definitely order is the warm potatoes in a jar with truffle oil. Also make sure to order the scallops as well. It is a gastropub so it comes with a great wine menu as well. If you speak Spanish, the wine menu is in the shape of a test asking for you preferences in music, films, and other questions about your mood and dispositions. When you follow the lines, supposedly you reach to the wine of your liking.
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| The potato jar in Gabinoteca is a piece of heaven. You will not be disappointed with anything you order. |
What to do at Madrid Besides Eating @ Madrid
Both Prado (classic art) and Reina Sofia(modern art) are great museums. Reina Sofia has great Dali and Picasso pieces. Prado is the home from Goya.
Plaza Mayor is a must-see. As cheesy as it gets, join the other tourists, pay a bit too much for your cafe con leche because of the location and take photos with the cheesy entertainers.
Madrid is also good for shopping. Go around Sol and Gran Via and get what the Spanish fashion has to offer you. If you are into high-end shopping go to the Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid.
For a good flamenco show go to Casa Patas. When you enter it is a tapas bar behind it is the location where they host the show.
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| Amazing show as Casapatas. You will be surrounded by tourists. When was the last time you went to a spot to watch your national dance? |
Sit at Plaza St Ana and watch people. Be amazed by the amount of alcohol being consumed early in the day. Decide to do the same when you return home. Without the atmosphere in Madrid the drinking is not as much fun (experience speaking)
Go out at Chueca neighborhood. Great bars and gay bars. Late night gay-tapas bars are amazing. So is the club Studio 54. In this neighborhood Calle de Horteleza and Calle Fuencarral are huge shopping streets.
Visit Hakei a great new clothing brand from Spain and Salvador Bachiller for amazing bags and luggages. They are all around town
Also for great men's wear- visit right by Plaza de St Ana- the Eduardo Rivera store.
Did you know that South of Spain, such as Seville is 2 hours with fast train from Atocha Station?
Where to Stay at Madrid
I stayed at many. If you are going to pick a budget hotel go for around Gran Via or Sol. If you want the nice ordeal Hotel Wellington is my best.
What to Think @ Madrid?
Start drinking early and ask yourselves--- why not do this everyday? Why the rush to get everything done?
When having a sip of your drink and a bite of your tapas- think about the value of small bites and drinks. Why do they go so well together? Why not do this all the time to avoid the belligerence that comes with over consumption of alcohol on an empty stomach?
When having a Pepito de Crema -- ask yourself--- can I have two of these or would that make me a complete glutton?
When watching the flamenco show- when they are clapping -- ask yourselves- do their hands hurt?
When going around from Mercado de St Miguel to dinner - after a whole day of eating and drinking ask yourselves-- Can I keep going and repeating doing the same thing?
I hope that the answer to your last question will be : "hell yes!"