The Ultimate Spanish Food Tour
I arrived in Madrid early Saturday morning after an anxiety-filled morning! I had a 10:25AM flight to Madrid to meet up with my parents after spending a few days in Paris with me, they then flew to Barcelona and spent two nights exploring that city! I was thinking I would leave a bit before 7 am since the drive to the airport is about forty minutes. I woke up in a frazzled state around 7:45! I had slept through my alarm!!!! I quickly changed and called my uber. I arrived at the airport with almost two hours to spare, I went through security so quickly! This whole experience was almost laughable, my cautious traveler mentally I guess had been a bit over cautious!
We stayed in an apartment in the old town part of Madrid, many little back roads lined with restaurant after restaurant. I was amazed at much smaller Madrid felt compared to Paris, also the cost of living in Madrid is much lower than Paris!
That Sunday my mom had signed us up for a food tour of the best spots in Madrid! The tour started at 10:30. We started at a small coffee shop where we experienced the local's breakfast. A typical breakfast is a coffee and maybe a biscuit. I am slowing learning that Europeans do not believe in the American breakfast that I grew up having. Our first meal was home baked soletilla with warm chocolate to dunk the soletilla which is basically a ladyfinger. A very light biscuit with not much of a taste. Our second meal was all about the meats! We had very thin meats and learned about where the boars lived their lives before sadly ending up on our plates... to accompany the meat we had a red wine from D.O. Madrid. The third stop on our trip was a small restaurant across from the royal palace. Our guide Rafa told us that years ago the Royals had an underground tunnel connecting to the bar so that he would not have to walk outside! We were served a meat from a bull, I believe it was the tail of the bull... I am not sure if I really wanted to know that before or after eating the meal. It was baked in a pastry and tasted like a stew. Alongside that was sweet vermouth, it tasted exactly like doctor pepper but gave you a buzz! The fourth stop was to try out a stew that is cooked altogether but then separated when served! Apparently, it takes close to three hours to get the full experience of the stew so we only tried the broth but very delicious none the less. The fifth and my personal favorite was the tasting of the mushrooms, they were called cocido madrileño. Along with the mushrooms were roasted peppers, they were sweet, not spicy but sometimes they can be spicey! Thankfully I did not get a spicy one. After the peppers and mushrooms were one of Madrid's classic street food, the calamari sandwich with fresh lemon juice. Last but not least was dessert! Nouget is normally a holiday candy but recently a famous baker is now trying to make nouget a regular dessert. We sampled four different types along with that was a sweet liquor.
The food tour is an awesome way to see the city and also visit local resturants that I may have walked by without the help of the guide. After this long day of food I was ready for a nap!
We stayed in an apartment in the old town part of Madrid, many little back roads lined with restaurant after restaurant. I was amazed at much smaller Madrid felt compared to Paris, also the cost of living in Madrid is much lower than Paris!
That Sunday my mom had signed us up for a food tour of the best spots in Madrid! The tour started at 10:30. We started at a small coffee shop where we experienced the local's breakfast. A typical breakfast is a coffee and maybe a biscuit. I am slowing learning that Europeans do not believe in the American breakfast that I grew up having. Our first meal was home baked soletilla with warm chocolate to dunk the soletilla which is basically a ladyfinger. A very light biscuit with not much of a taste. Our second meal was all about the meats! We had very thin meats and learned about where the boars lived their lives before sadly ending up on our plates... to accompany the meat we had a red wine from D.O. Madrid. The third stop on our trip was a small restaurant across from the royal palace. Our guide Rafa told us that years ago the Royals had an underground tunnel connecting to the bar so that he would not have to walk outside! We were served a meat from a bull, I believe it was the tail of the bull... I am not sure if I really wanted to know that before or after eating the meal. It was baked in a pastry and tasted like a stew. Alongside that was sweet vermouth, it tasted exactly like doctor pepper but gave you a buzz! The fourth stop was to try out a stew that is cooked altogether but then separated when served! Apparently, it takes close to three hours to get the full experience of the stew so we only tried the broth but very delicious none the less. The fifth and my personal favorite was the tasting of the mushrooms, they were called cocido madrileño. Along with the mushrooms were roasted peppers, they were sweet, not spicy but sometimes they can be spicey! Thankfully I did not get a spicy one. After the peppers and mushrooms were one of Madrid's classic street food, the calamari sandwich with fresh lemon juice. Last but not least was dessert! Nouget is normally a holiday candy but recently a famous baker is now trying to make nouget a regular dessert. We sampled four different types along with that was a sweet liquor.
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