Guess who is going to Madrid tomorrow. Yes, that would be me!
My sister and I will have a smashing good time in Madrid because we love spending time together and we are both Spanish-speakers. We have agreed that on this trip she will be responsible for the gastronomic part of the voyage and I will take charge of the cultural program.
I’m very glad my sister has taken it upon herself to figure out the food because I never managed to have a good meal in Madrid. I mean, not a single time. Actually, in all of Spain, I remember once having a really sensational bowl of fish soup in Valladolid and then also having a fairly good meal in Cordoba. Other than that, I’d always come back half-starved from my trips to Spain. I still remember this particularly vicious salad that I was served once in Toledo. The wilted leaves of some lettucy product were glistening with huge chunks of salt. Tiny pieces of cucumbers were practically encrusted in salt, too. Brrr. . . But I trust my sister to feed me well because she knows better than anyone that if I don’t get fed on time, I become very cranky.
I love Spain. This will be amazing. Stay tuned for photos and updates.
Clarissa's Blog 
Enjoy! I have always been curious about this restaurant – http://labola.es/home
Also to spend money, this: http://www.restauranteordago-madrid.com/index.htm
And finally: http://www.tabernaantoniosanchez.com/
I am envious.
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I hate you (does that make you feel better?).
I kind of sympathize with the food (though I suspect we have very different tastes).
There’s so much about Spain that I love to pieces (it’s still my favorite kind of Spanish with hardcore naco Mexican in fairly close second) but Spanish food has always been a mixed bag for me (I lurve real mexican and andean cuisine, kind of blah about caribbean don’t know much about the rest).
There’s a lot to love in Spain (horchata, cured ham, goat cheese, tortilla, ajo blanco, and the two best fishes I’ve ever had*) but theres a lot that just misses. I hate crunchy rice (which infects most paella and similar dishes) and wonder why they’ve ever heard of peeling shrimp ahead of time or washing the sand out of mussels. I love empanadas but they make the crust way to thick. Also, I’ve never had good gazpacho there – it’s always kind of watery and tasteless (I make a mean gazpacho if I do say so myself).
*I don’t know what they were, one had a backbone but no bones in the very white flesh which melted in your mouth and the other was firm and almost chicken in texture like but with an unchicken like in taste and just heavenly with the big ugly lemons they use in southern Spain.
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No, you don’t, no you don’t. I mean, hate me. 🙂 🙂
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Yes I do!
I just mean it in the neurotypical way that means “I’m so jealous and wish I were going to Madrid too”.
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I will post photos and you will feel like you are there.
No, not really.
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My first “real” European country was Italy, where it seemed like every meal was amazing. (I’m not counting England, which I have been to as well.) But I was very let down by the food in Spain. At least for a lot of our trip, we were staying in a house with family, so my aunt and mother made us some delicious meals! But I felt like we must be doing the food side wrong, since I didn’t enjoy hardly anything we ate there…
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I’m glad to know this isn’t just me! I was thinking that maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places.
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Funny… I spent months in Madrid and the best food I remember is kebab served in las afueras.
Spain has a mixture of the best restaurants in the world… and the most banal restaurants too.
Enjoy your trip!!! Take many pictures!!! Go to Cuenca!!!
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Ooh. . . Kebab. . . 🙂
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en las afueras…
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Glad to see you found them!
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