Freshly fried sweets, golden and crispy; a cup of velvety hot chocolate on the side; striped eggplant rings from the grill; silken mushrooms with chorizo; a pile of potatoes dipped in spicy sauce; handmade chips, crispy and salty; slices of jamón serrano; plump Nocera olives; and crumbly herb morcilla… My sister Penny and I ate all of these by the end of our first day in Madrid. Maybe we can be a little tolerant, but when you’re staying in a city that runs on its own stomach, it seems rude not to go with the flow.
Madrileños are notorious for eating late, mostly because dinner is the last of the five meals.
Madrileños are notorious for eating late, mostly because dinner is the last of five meals, starting with a light breakfast – usually coffee and pastries before an early snack at lunch.almuerzo), a full sit-down lunch, usually between 2 and 4 p.m.comic), followed by coffee and cake (merienda) and finally dinner. Once you understand this, Madrid really starts to make sense: it’s a city full of century-old pasticcerias, hole-in-the-wall tapas bars, neighborhood markets and dimly lit bodegas, all packed with eateries. Someone is always eating somewhere. It was usually us during our visit.
Things start well with the discovery of Los Artesanos 1902 (chocolateria1902.com) – arguably the city’s favorite churreria – just around the corner from our hotel. History and tradition are a big part of Madrid’s food culture; Many restaurants have been run by the same family for generations. Churros We devour the ones made by the grandchildren of the original owner, which we dip in rich mahogany-coloured chocolate; fried to perfection and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Everyone around us, from young people to old couples, eats and drinks the same thing.
Restaurants specializing in a single dish, such as chorizo stuffed mushrooms at Mesón del Champiñón, are common in the city (mesondelchampinon.com), into finger-lit bowls Gambas al ajillo At La Casa del Abuelo (lacasadelabuelo.es) – Another Madrid institution, owned by the same family since 1906. Evening gatherings consist of merry wanderings between bars, each chosen for a particular meal. We learn all this on the four-hour Devour Madrid food tour (devourtours.com) wrapping 2000 years of Spanish history around four tapas stops, Tinto too Verano – The city’s simplified version of Sangria, red wine topped with a light lemonade (unconventional but oddly drinkable).
I’m not always sure about food tours – you end up eating a wide variety of things – but this one was a winner. Our guide, Ana, took us through Moorish conflicts, Habsburg rule, and the harsh realities of Franco-era Spain, leaving us with a full stomach, a new appreciation for Spain’s volatile past, and a strong impression despite the city’s state-of-the-art cuisine. Its scene (there are now 26 Michelin-starred restaurants) includes markets, bodegas and tapas bars where you can truly eat like a local.
Dipped in mahogany chocolate, the churros are fried to perfection and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon
With this in mind, we set out the next morning to explore the city. Madrid is a great capital; Gran Vía could easily take its place next to Fifth Avenue in terms of scale and elegance, while Retiro Park stretches around the sweeping colonnades of the Alfonso XII Monument, a magnificent backdrop of the shimmering lake. It’s too cold for boats to set out, but warm enough for us to sit around with a cup of strong black coffee while we look at maps and decide which market to visit for lunch.
We settle in Mercado de San Fernando (mercadodesanfernando.es) in the popular Lavapies area. Every neighborhood has a market; The most famous, the Mercado de San Miguel, now attracts more visitors than the Prado gallery. San Fernando is more visible; A nondescript building containing a dilapidated maze of market stalls sells everything from meat and cheese to books and electrical appliances. We settled into a jumble of microbreweries and food stalls in El Colmado; On the counter here are huge empanadas the size of A4 notebooks, waiting to be cut into pieces and heated. Alongside the spicy meat, I eat bacon and chorizo, a delicious, light, buttery pastry, and wash it down with a glass. canaThe city’s rather small beer, served in 200ml glasses. Then we return to the hotel and wander into Mercado de San Miguel, but it looks more like Selfridges food court and we don’t stop.
In between meals, we find time to see some of the city’s fantastic works of art, opting for the more manageable Thyssen-Bornemisza over the massive Prado, one of the world’s most extraordinary private collections that includes works by everyone from Titian and Tintoretto to Warhol. Pollock. But the real joy is that the Sorolla Museum, Joaquín Sorolla’s former home and magnificent garden, has been preserved as it was when he lived there and is filled with dozens of his works. The paintings are a lesson in both Spanish history and art; He was commissioned by various organizations, including the Hispanic Society of America, to travel the country and paint everywhere from Andalusia to the coast of Valencia, providing an insight into rural life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
To grab our last lunch, we walk from the museum to the lush Salamanca district, famous for its designer boutiques and luxury restaurants. Even here there is a market to explore: Mercado de la Paz (mercadodelapaz.com), but every seat is taken at the bar counters nestled between the food stalls. Instead we sit at an outdoor table at Jurucha (jurucha.com), a few cañas and a simple tapas bar with a variety of foods croquet And pinchos gratinados (baguette slices topped with béchamel and melted cheese) costs less than €20 (£17).
By the end of our stay, we feel like, despite our best efforts, we’ve barely scratched the surface of this most delicious of cities. we didn’t try hand kokidoThe city’s iconic casserole, in which broth is served first and boiled meat and vegetables are served as the main course, or huevos routes, served over fried egg, chips and ham. But happily, that can only mean one thing. We’ll have to go back for second helping.
A five-night stay with Kirker Holidays, which includes hotels, Eurostar and train travel via Barcelona, plus a Madrid food and drink tasting tour, starts from £1,486 per person (kirkerholidays.com)