Madrid: Must Try Local Food & Drink
 

What are some "must try" foods and drink? Looking for suggestions for our upcoming trip. Have seen these mentioned before:

Cocido Madrileno: pork stew
huevos Rotos: fried potatos & eggs
bocadillo de Calamares: fried squid sandwich
Churros con Chocolate: deep fried dough
Oreja a la Plancha: pan-seared pig ear
Pincho de Tortilla: Spanish omelette
Pata Negra: ham from a pig with black hoofs
Paella: seafood stew
Gazpacho: chilled soup
Bacalao a la Vizcaina: Biscayan Cod fish with chic peas and peppers, olives
Gambas al Ajillo: sauteed garlic prawns
Cochinillo Asado: roast suckling pig
Manchego Cheese: cheese made from a speciaal kind of sheep
Pulpo a la Gallega: Galician Octopus cooked with garlic
Chocolate covered figs
Malaga Wine
Wines from Jerez
Sangria
Mojito
cana beer
tinto de verano: carbonated lemonade
cafe con leche: coffee with milk
Vino tinto: red wine
Horchata: rice and cinamon drink
Sidra: cider
rebujito: wine and soda cocktail
Clara: beer and lemon soda

What else should we try? Where should we do it?

Spanish horchata is not made with rice which is the Mexican version. It's made with chufa, tiger nuts.

You might also look for leche merengada. Both will be served in ice cream parlors and pastry shops.

If you go to Malaga, have some conchas finas, raw clams on the half shell.

If flush, try angulas, baby eels, and percebes, Goose barnacles. Both VERY expensive.

That should care of the first day.

Many of the dishes you cited are regional that have migrated to Madrid. Others are catch all phrase that includes a wide variety of possibilities such as tinto vino. Others are not cited correctly such as "pincho de tortilla." The most common tapa is tortilla español and you can google the difference between pintxos, tapas, and raciones. Or churros con chocolate means deep fried dough but with a cup of the thickest hot chocolate you have tried to drink.

So go and enjoy what Madrid has to offer and maybe take a food tour, so you appreciate what you have been reading about.

Easy, do not eat the following:

SUSHI

CHINESE

ITALIAN

Oh my goodness, for chocolate & churros give this a try, absolutely decadent
http://www.chocolateriasangines.com/...San_Gines.html

We also did a tapas walking tour, small hole in the wall places, I think we went to 3 or 4 different places, it was fun and gave you a taste of many different tapas. If interested, just google. I can't remember the company we used but it was very inexpensive and we met in Plaza Mayor.

Enjoy Madrid, great city.

Paella is not classically a seafood stew. Although it is among the dishes that has migrated to Madrid, it is one of the dishes that is easiest to get a bad version of in Madrid especially in tourist traps around the plaza Mayor. So if you are going to eat paella, you should track down the name of a reliably good place to have it.

Although it is true that Madrid has developed a taste for many of the regional foods of Spain you might find that if you stick to the restaurants serving the truly local cuisine, comprised of ingredients from the immediate region, with menus that are appropriate to the seasons, you'll have a true taste of Madrid that you would have a very hard time finding outside of Madrid.

http://www.timeout.com/madrid/restau...sine-in-madrid

You have replies from you posting(s) on Trip Advisor.
Drinks: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ks-Madrid.html
Foods:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ds-Madrid.html
As Monsieur_Ghislain says ***I'm curious to know where you got your food and drink info. It seems a lot of it is a bit off the mark.***

I recommend the Bacalao rebozado/battered cod tapa at Revuelta, just off Plaza Mayor. The one thing I can't miss when in Madrid and an excellent little place. Great chipirones en su tinta/squid in its own ink tapa as well:
http://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant...ta-Madrid.html
Totally packed on Sundays at lunchtimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHu8zGsFuy8

Thank you all for the great feedback

As to the accuracy of my list, I used some notes provided by a co-worker and some googling. I welcome any and all corrections.

Haha, Dukey, we just visited our son in Madrid. He wanted a break from Spanish food and we had...sushi, Chinese and Italian. Also Greek. The Greek was phenomenal, the sushi and Chinese were surprisingly authentic, the Italian not so much.

My husband is a vegan, which we thought would be a great challenge in Hamland, but he found lots of options everywhere.

We were all obsessed with the San Miguel and San Anton markets where you can get a taste of everything. San Miguel is a must do (we went twice in 5 days)- San Anton, in Chueca, more upscale...you can pick out your own fish in the market and they will grill it for you and serve it in the happening rooftop restaurant.

Surprised croquetas are not on this list. I never eat fried foods, but those were my standard choice for tapas and I'm still dreaming of them. Also grilled padrón peppers and gazpacho andaluz, which is creamier than gringoized gazpacho because it has bread crumbs in it.

Desserts: I'm not a sweets person, but loved the chocolate truffles at the markets. The flan is delicious....pretty much identical to Mexican flan. And at both San Miguel and San Anton you can get guilt-free mini ice cream cones - the dulce de leche is a must try and the vanilla rivals Italian gelato.

We loved La Barraca, Madrid's top paella restaurant, very classy. Thought it would be touristy, but it was full of locals when we went. We had the famous cochinillo asado at El Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world. That too was full of locals celebrating special occasions. For a more foodie experience, 10 con 10 is the place.

Best coffee in Madrid (by far): Federal Cafe on the charming Plaza de Comendadoras in Conde Duque (arguably the coolest barrio). Also offers amazing breakfasts, desserts, and veggie options. For a snack get the rye toast with olive oil and avocado.

Finally, the best artisan bread in Madrid, perhaps in the world, at Panic bakery on Conde Duque.

And...left out my fave wine tip: red wine served chilled. We did this for a while when we returned from our last trip to Spain, but eventually reverted to our old room temperature habits. After this last visit, we're converts forever. Also loved the sherries, which were often complementary.

Go to Mercado San Miguel In Madrid. You can taste away the day. Google it.

I agree with yipper, was going to suggest on your "taverns" thread but it is pretty touristy. Even though it is touristy it is fabulous and you can go there at 18:00 and get food and drink, no problemo :)

and super overpriced.......

Veggie food outside the major cities is a little harder to come by. The joke is veggie food means they less pork in the soup.

Spanish cuisine offers very few good beef dishes. They still cut the wrong end of the cow.

Sherry is a fortified type of wine that comes from Jerez and that is what you should research. The word sherry is a bastardization of Jerez.

Spanish wines are grown in just about every region. https://www.google.com/search?q=span...2F%3B979%3B698

There are all types of bocadillos, not just the one you cited.

Bacalao is commonly offered throughout Spain.

>>>tinto de verano = carbonated lemonade<<<

I've never had this, but doubt it's lemonade. Tinto = red. Might be red wine and carbonated lemon soda (there are similar beer drinks).

Thanks for the updates

And don't forget caracoles, preferably at "Los Caracoles" where they serve one thing, caracoles!
Tinto verano is indeed red wine and carbonated lemon soda and they drink it in the summer.