Today we had the most amazing walking tour of Madrid. It was particularly good because it was a FOOD tour! Our meeting point was Plaza Mayor, which we reached much sooner than we had anticipated so we had a look around.
It was built during the 17th century when the ruling Philip of the time decided to move the capital from Toledo to Madrid, which wasn't much more than a village at the time. It has seen bull fights, parties, fires & the unpleasantness of the inquisition. It is currently going through a massive upgrade, which meant that the sounds we heard were predominantly jack hammers!
Our tour was led by Paula & there were 9 in the group, representing the USA, Israel & of course...Australia & New Zealand! Our first stop was breakfast & consequently a drooling gaze through the window at all the possibilities.
Our gaze was drawn away for a moment to look down at our feet, to see the special plaque awarded to food selling shops who have been in business for a very long time, this one, since 1897! We sampled two types of pastry rolls filled with custard & the other chocolate. Jeff & I had thought we'd just have half & take left overs back to finish later. The first mouthful cancelled that stupid idea!
Next stop was at a Covent. Beyond these doors are an order of cloistered Nuns. To keep a little money coming in, these women bake cookies! To buy them, one has to ring the bell & wait.....
...eventually the door clicks open & we walk to a hatch with a large old lazy-susan in it. The purchaser calls out to ask what is available today, the answer is given with the options rotated around so a choice can be made. Money is placed on the lazy-susan & rotated back to them! We chose Almond cookies which were small, soft & delicious. Not too sweet & sugary like the biscuits we are used to in Australia.
Walking further around it was time to sample something savoury & Mercado de San Miguel was our destination. Let me just say that this was definitely my kind of market! I want to go back & look at everything! Today, however, we had two taste sensations to try. The first was olive skewers! Forget your usual kebabs...these were to die for! Robust olives with a variety of accompaniments all happily compiled on a stick! Mine consisted of quails egg, fresh sardine, olives & pimento peppers. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
This was washed down with another discovery for us...vermouth. It is a popular aperitif here, so much so that they have it available on tap!
We're not big day-time drinkers, but this was delicious... it was red from a caramel syrup added to it. We certainly felt the alcohol content as we went merrily swaying off to the next stop!
Which was a tiny little family run place across from the market. No fancy signage out the front, but oh my.....the BEST tortilla inside! It is a egg & potato dish, a little like frittata/omelette. This particularly melted in the mouth.
This morsel was washed down with local cidre & to get a little effervescence into the glass, it is poured from a height! It was a VERY dry cidre & I was grateful to be given only a small quantity!
The Despensary of Carmen (Carmen's kitchen!) was where we were introduced to these delicious little empanadas filled with tuna, boiled egg & a creamy tomatoe sauce. The most impressive thing about these was the pastry...definitely not supermarket variety! It was thin & a mix of short & flaky. So delicious!
La Bola is a very historic restaurant here & has fed a lot of important & famous people over the years. The current owner (granddaughter of the original owner) declares Richard Gere to be the nicest celebrity she has served! Why do they come....for the traditional Madrid Stew!
We were given the unique opportunity to actually squeeze into the tiny hot kitchen & see, not only all the clay stew pots cooking away, but a demonstration on how it is made. The ingredients include ham on the bone, lard, chicken, spicy sausage, blood sausage, potato, chickpeas & water. It cooks for about 4 hours & I am SOOOO sorry that this blog doesn't provide you with a means of smelling just how GOOD it smells. We had the stew broth with some noodles & the flavour was very meaty, but very good.
The next stop was an eatery that hasn't been around for a long time, but is becoming a very popular eating spot with locals. It was here that we had a lesson in olive oils & tasted a few, followed by shrimp & prawn croquettes, & washed down with a glass of apple sherry. Bottles of this sherry lined the walls, which looked amazing. Cant say I enjoyed this drink though, it was a bit too dry for my taste.
It was time for a lesson on ham (jamon)! After standing agog in this amazing shop with jamon hanging everywhere, we sampled 3 different types.
Both Jeff & I liked the Iberico de Bellota best, a black pig fed on acorns, free range & then cured for 3 years. Just look at the price per kilo!!!!!!!
Amusingly, we went from meat sampling to an area where tickets for bull fights can be bought & is also where bull fighters like to come & party after they've fought! The little eatery we went into, another family run treat, had old bull fighting prints adorning the walls. Here we dined on a lunch of Tapas, including calamari, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, aubergine & potato bravas with 2 sauces. This was washed down with a deliciously refreshing drop, a kind of wine spritzer called something like Tinto de Viana! The meal was further topped off with a another sherry tasting (this one more enjoyable). By now you're wondering what the photo above is & why it doesn't look like tapas? Sorry folks...we were too busy eating to take photos!!!!!
The final destination was to a gorgeous little sweet shop that sold these variations of Turrens. A kind of soft nougat made with almonds & hazelnuts. It is the oldest recipe of all that we tasted today as it stems back to the Moors, who brought their almond trees to Spain.
As if that wasn't enough, our final slurp was a glass of Madrilinos (spelling possibly a bit off here!), a liquer made from the fruit...
...of the Madrilinos tree which lines the street of Madrid & appears on the coat of arms, alongside a clearly hungry bear!!!
What an amazing day! We have been eating & drinking for 5 hours & have covered 8.32km! A terrific way to explore the older parts of Madrid!
(Apologies for spelling & grammer mistakes, I'm understandably, a bit tipsy & really cant be bothered editing! )
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