One of the first things you learn about Madrid is the importance of tapas.
A Brief Lesson on Tapas:
I mentioned in another one of my blogs how different the daily eating schedule is in Spain. Breakfast is not of the most importance, but the most popular meal early in the day is chocolate con churros. Lunch happens late, as well as dinner. The meals are much lighter than they are in America and spread out across a much greater time span. Tapas are great because they are versatile small dishes to be enjoyed at really any time of the day. From my experience, tapas were most often eaten around 10 PM -- a quick bite before going out for the night. There are some classic Spanish tapas that are found everywhere in Madrid, the most ubiquitous being patatas bravas, croquetas, and jamón. Patatas bravas are roasted potatoes with a sauce that can be best described as a tomato aioli. Croquetas (my personal favorite) are fried fritters with mash on the inside that most often include cheese and ham. Jamón is thinly sliced ham shaved right off the leg of the pig.
As a foodie, I had a mission to try as many tapas as possible from as many restaurants I could while in Madrid. One of my friends came up with the idea of a “tapas trail”. The plan was to pick a few restaurants in the iconic La Latina district of Madrid (known for its food), and try a selection of tapas at each place, so a group of four of us tried it out. We decided on the following restaurants: Txiri Miri, La Taberna de Los Castizos, and Juana La Loca.
-
Txiri Miri
First up at this restaurant was the patatas bravas. These were hands down the best I had tried in Madrid. Followed by those was a steak pintxo. A pintxo is essentially something on top of a slice of bread -- also amazing. Then came the garlic shrimp. While the shrimp was good, the other two dishes were much more impressive. Finally, we had a plate of jamón. We tried to eat as slowly as possible because this was the first stop of three.
-
La Taberna de Los Castizos
After a short walk to prepare myself for another set of tapas, we made our next stop. We had to go with a lighter selection of tapas here for obvious reasons after the first restaurant. Here the first order was for croquetas. They were delicious, but sadly not the best I have had in Spain. (Side note: I’d recommend Rosi La Loca for the best croquetas.) The next dish here was roasted pimientos de padrón. These are green peppers home to Padrón, Galicia in northwest Spain. They simply roast them and cover them in coarse sea salt. This was my first time trying them in Madrid, and I thought they were great! They weren’t really spicy, but more savory. To me it is surprising, but the Spanish do not eat spicy foods for the most part. These tapas were accompanied by another plate of jamón, but in this restaurant, we got to watch the ham being shaved off of the pig leg right next to us.
-
Juana La Loca
In comparison to the first two restaurants, the final stop was a nicer tapas restaurant. We had to wait a little bit for a table, but that was definitely for the best. I was not sure how I was going to eat even more. Here we first ordered tuna tartare. This is not a classic Spanish dish, but it was recommended by the waiter. Our last “dinner” tapa was a pintxo with spicy chorizo, honey, and a fried egg on top. This was probably one of the most delicious tapas of the night. Lastly, no meal is complete without dessert. Even though we had probably eaten enough, we ordered some dulce de leche cake. It was a small baked cake with creamy dulce de leche filling served alongside banana ice cream. I would say that this cake was probably one of the best desserts I have ever had in my life.
With the final stop, the infamous tapas trail came to an end. This was probably one of my favorite things I did during my time in Madrid. Not only was it fun to try new foods, but it was great to do it at multiple restaurants and spend time in a new neighborhood. All the restaurants were within walking distance, and we started around 8:00 and ended at 11:30 PM. It took a while, but I would highly recommend it. If you are studying abroad in Madrid feel free to use this trail as inspiration!