Travel

Gastronomic walks around Madrid
www.drinktime.ru, 26 February 2009

I have business trips to Madrid at least once a year.

Usually there is no time for sightseeing, although I try to find at least a couple of hours during each trip to visit a good museum. Of course, I saw Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Alcala and other main touristic attractions, but until recently they remained separate pieces of a Madrid jigsaw.

Luckily, the last trip was different. We had a full morning left for a walk in the city centre. And we saw Madrid from an angle at which it is rarely viewed. We walked around a culinary city, with its stories and heroes. Without them, like without its architectural monuments, Madrid wouldn’t be itself.

Of course, the Spanish capital of the 21st century is full of trendy and avant-garde dining establishments, but restaurants with black, formulae-inscribed walls and swans in toilets by Philippe Starck can be found also in Moscow. Madrid has plenty of unique places which are the subject of the city’s pride just as much as its squares and museums. Many are located next to famous touristic attractions. Thus, there is an advantage of doing two things at once — filling up the stomachs and enjoying the city’s sights.

At once we started with sweets. Up from the Prado Museum goes the San Jeronimo Street. Descendants of Luis Mira have been running a confectionery shop there for 167 years. Madrid dwellers know it as Casa Mira (Carrera San Jeronimo, 30). Windows are decorated with displays full of sweet things, and the shop is renowned for its turrons (nougat) and marzipans. There is a little plaque on the pavement in front — such commemorative signs accompany all historic culinary places of Madrid.

Moving on in the same direction towards Puerta del Sol, after about 200 metres we came to Lhardy (Carrera San Jeronimo, 8). Nowadays it is Madrid’s genuine antique dining establishment, but the restaurant was considered the finest and most aristocratic in all Spain when it was opened 170 ago. The decor and ambiance haven’t changed much. A delicatessen shop and a bar are at the ground floor — Madrid dwellers like to have a traditional aperitif there which consists of a cup of chicken broth (from a samovar!) and a glass of Jerez. The restaurant itself is on the first floor. Little bells are still installed on the walls next to each table. Why? That’s how one used to call for a waiter. The cuisine is traditional/historic, something on the level of the Russian cuisine in Moscow’s Yar.

If after leaving the restaurant you turn to the left in the nearby lane, you won’t fail to see another popular place for those with a sweet tooth. Antigua Pasteleria del Pozo (Calle del Pozo, 8) is as old as Lhardy and bakes wonderful pastries and cakes. If you get to Madrid before Epiphany, don’t be surprised by two-hour queues. It is only here where Madrilenos buy a traditional Epiphany cake roscon de reyes, with a little surprise that is hidden inside.

Then we headed towards the main square Plaza Mayor, but before made another stop to snack on hot chocolate and churros (crunchy oil fried flour-and-water sticks which are dipped in chocolate). Where? In Chocolateria San Gines (Pasadizo San Gines, 5), a cult Madrid café. The place is frequented by everyone, from teenagers and housewives to white collars. The café is open almost around the clock. They say that it is busiest at four in the morning when the lovers of Madrid night life come to Chocolateria San Gines after a disco.

Having crossed Plaza Mayor and past Botin, which has an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest restaurant (since 1725), we continued our way in the old town, on the Cava Baja street. Our guide said that he especially likes to come here in the morning when appetising aromas of oven baked meat spread in the air. They come from Posada de La Villa (Cava Baja, 9). The former inn with centuries old history is now known as one of the best traditional restaurants of Madrid cuisine. The chef apparently liked us — he even got a lamb from an authentic stone oven and showed how to make famous cocido madrileno on the open fire. Yet, it is perhaps best to order oven baked dishes in Posada de La Villa, and to have cocido in another place.

Which one? Malacatin (Ruda, 5). If there were a cocido madrileno lovers’ club, its members would be often gathering in this small family restaurant. There is a special ritual involved in serving the dish. First pickled cucumbers, onions and peppers are brought to whet the appetite. Then waiters put on the table separate plates with all cocido ingredients — a boiled chicken, lamb’s leg, pig’s leg, ham, pig’s fat, blood sausages, chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, leeks, tomato sauce and a soup bowl of thick broth with noodles. All this is then spooned on individual plates to get something akin to a very thick stew. In Malacatin they recommend to eat cocido for lunch in order to have the rest of the day (and also evening and night) to digest the rich meal.

If you decide to cook something yourself, you would probably need to go to the market. Mercado de La Cebada is only several metres away. It looks like a former Soviet farmers’ market, but in three years’ time it will be replaced by a stylish building where fruit and vegetables, as well as sellers and buyers will be quite comfortable.

There we bid a farewell to our guide, who is not an ordinary guide, but an owner of a specialist agency that organises food tours around Spain. We had a wonderful and tasty walk, and I finally learnt to find my way in the centre of Madrid.