La Mallorquina bakery is Madrid’s sweet-tooth mecca. With its aromas wafting about the Puerta del Sol, this pastelería has been a local and tourist favorite since 1894. Its name derives from the original Mallorcan owner, and it’s not the only contending confectionery with a regional name; try the nearby El Riojano, est. 1855, for traditional [...]
Although the long days of summer are beginning to come to an end, don’t pull out that coat just yet. We all know the heat can return at any moment, so there’s still time for a cold, sweet treat. Over on the east side of El Retiro you can find one of the [...]
It might be midnight on a Saturday, but that doesn’t deter the two grannies sipping Fino (sherry) in the doorway from gossiping away like they just stopped by for a quick pre-lunch tipple. From where they stand a narrow wooden bartop stretches inside, chalked numbers on the dark wood in front of each group of [...]
What fun! Apparently it’s called El Cisne Azul, specialises in wild mushrooms and impromptu opera madness, and is located at Calle Gravina 19 (map).
We drew up a map this weekend to help show a group of friends around some of our favourite La Latina bars. This is one of the greatest barrios in Madrid for feasting on tapas - Cava Baja has around 40 bars alone! The map is available here below, and includes the following bars:
Toma Jamon, [...]
Tucked away in a very narrow street in the heart of old Madrid (Calle de la Paz, 4 - map), this authentic Castillian bar doesn’t seem to have changed at all in the last 50 years. It’s speciality is a delicious sweet wine and a dessert known as “Torrijas” which, although usually only on [...]
Zinc bar top and vermut on tap. Marvelous. How long can this sort of place last? As long as the owners I suppose, and it looks like this lot have a few years behind the bar in them yet, thank goodness.
Get down to Calle San Andrés 4 (map) ASAP and order that vermut. Oh, and [...]
…especially in February. Although you have to be very careful with drinking Vermouth before lunch, especially the good stuff like this, straight from the tap with a little added fizz. And even more so when followed by a bit of Rioja with your menu del dia… So, if you do come to the Antigua Casa [...]
Michael Carlin went to Spain on a Fulbright research grant 3 years ago. He was writing a dissertation on twelfth-century liturgical manuscripts from León, and despite going everywhere in Madrid, kept coming back to the Taberna del Almendro:
I know of no more satisfying experience than the Taberna del Almendro at Calle del Almendro 13 (in [...]
Katie Goldstein is a recent college graduate who teaches English to public school kids by day and writes about her beloved Madrid by night. Check out her excellent blog, España Profunda, on the city and what lies beyond.
We asked Katie to recommend one of her favourite Madrid haunts, and she sent us details of the [...]
Apparently when one of the Time Out editors came to Madrid to tie up some loose ends on the Madrid Guide (which I highly recommend by the way), she declared that this little Madrid secret would not be going into the book. “There are some places,” she said, “that you just don’t put into the [...]
¡Toma Jamon!, the name of this favourite in La Latina, means ‘Eat Ham’. And that is exactly what I do when I’m there, from the moment I get through the door, until the bottle of wine is finished and we head on elsewhere. Ask for the house Crianza, I think it’s Rioja, but who cares [...]
Madrid has more suitable venues to get steaming drunk in than the whole of Belgium… or Norway… or the rest of Europe put together (depending on who you listen to). And more ways to get plastered, as well. A night on the Fino? Rounding off the evening with one glass too many of Vermut de [...]
