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Haven't been to Mercado de la Paz, but looks like an excellent choice: http://www.marketmanila.com/archives...e-ayala-madrid
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Having a late lunch is quite common on weekends, and is a great idea for your first day in Spain. It's what we usually do on the first day after a long overnight flight. Then it's time for a few hours of sleep before getting back up and heading out in the early evening hours for a walk around the city to clear your head, indulge in a few tapas and wine, and then it's back to bed around mid-night. We find it's an easy way to adjust to the time change and we always feel fairly normal the next morning.
As far as how late you can make your reservations will depend on the restaurant. We usually make reservations for 2:30, as most restaurants close their doors at 4:00, but you will be allowed to stay well past that time. The Mercado de la Paz is one of our must stops when in Madrid. La Boulette has some of the best prices on packages of great jamón. |
Wow, Mercado San Miguel looks great - sort of like the Ferry Building in San Francisco (which I love). And what a great website that Market Manila is!
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Wow! And despite what the blogger wrote on the Mercado de la Paz page, the prices for items like the Bomba rice are far less than they are in the US..our local store carries Calasparra Bomba rice for $14.95 per kilo!
And good olives are usually about $8 per pound, not per kilo! Robert that is a great idea and one that I will follow. I am thinking Casa Rafa for that first meal since they are open Sunday, too; closed Monday. Any thoughts? (I cannot see their actual hours on this site...) http://www.buenpaladar.com/restauran...UER%CDA-RAFA_0 |
The Mercado San Miguel is very interesting, and a popular neighborhood destination. When we stopped by last month, on a Sunday afternoon, you could barely move it was so packed. It may have been a combination of the weather (bright blue skies) and the weekend, but I felt like I was a sardine in a can.
According to El Mondo (http://www.elmundo.es/metropoli/rest...305_ficha.html), Casa Rafa opens for lunch at 1:30 and closes at 3:45. |
Gracias, Robert!
Casa Rafa should be a great place for our first meal in Madrid--we arrive from JFK early on a Sunday morning, so will plan on a big lunch that day. How far in advance do I need to book a reservation for Sunday lunch? (I will ask the hotel to do this for me) |
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Oh Scrunchy you posts always make me sooo hungry!! What a wealth of information here too.
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Goodness, I will never get to the Prado with all the eating I have to do in Madrid! I know that I need to sample cocido so will try to go for lunch at Lhardy!
Question: Carabineros are red shrimp, correct? Are these the shrimp in this photo? Or are these camarones de la ria? http://11870.com/pro/casa-rafa/media/d12bccf0 |
It seems "gambas" (prawn in the UK? / shrimp in the States?)
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Think those would be camarones, looks very much like our Norwegian shrimps. Carabineros are much bigger.
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IMHO, the words camarón/camarones mean TINY prawns IN MADRID, gamba roja is red shrimp from the Mediterranean sea, bogavante is clawed lobster?, cigales are Norwegian lobster or crawfish? Carabineros are large red prawn?
Too complicated! Best order the whole "mariscada". |
No, not too complicated! I will take notes! There is nothing worse than having to pester the waiter to translate the entire menu.
In the US we usually refer to those (in the photo above) as shrimp. Most, but not all, of the shrimp we get here are the farmed ones from South America and I usually stay away from those. We have nowhere close to the varieties of shellfish that you have in Spain and I am so excited to try each of these! Por favor, traeme una mariscada grandota! |
Hello again! Time to refine my list for Madrid..
Robert, I like the look of the Asturian Couzapin and the menu sounds intriguing and the prices very reasonable. And it may even be within walking distance (??) or a short taxi ride, of the Ritz.. I would love to have your opinion, and the opinion of others who have been there, on whether Couzapin would be a good place first-rate traditional Asturian dishes..(I am afraid that my travel partner is far less experimental in a culinary sense than I am; the carta here appears to have many options for him..) |
Bookmarking!
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I liked the Couzapin, it's more casual and can be entertaining, and very Asturian. And yes, it's walkable (about 20 minutes walking around the park) from the Ritz, just out the door and to your right. It's shorter walking through the park, but it gets dark quite early in January. You can take a taxi back, or walk off the food.
Maribel has her new Madrid Dining Guide up. You'll find a few more interesting places to check out in the same neighborhood, several in fact. |
Robert thanks so much.
I had missed the fact that Maribel had just published a new dining guide for Madrid, so I have more reading to do.... |
Maribel's new, updated guide is wonderful!
On her advice, and online reviews, I took a good look at the many delectable-sounding places in what Maribel refers to as the Ibiza area, east of Retiro park. I was able to book Casa Rafa for a 3pm lunch on a Sunday. I also booked, for another night, Taberna Laredo. The hotel concierge made the booking for me. He told me that the earliest dinner reservation at Taberna Laredo was 9pm. Question: Would that mean that the restaurant will be closed until 9pm? Or just that, while the bar is open for tapas, there is no dining room service before than time? |
ekscrunchy, it is usually the latest ... the bar will be open but not the dining room. There are restaurants where you can get an 8:30 booking, but usually the earliest is 9 o´clock.
Rgds, Cova |
I am just bringing this back up to see if anyone has a recommendation for cocido, which I have never tried.
Am I correct in thinking that this dish is usually eaten for lunch? Can it be ordered only for one person at the table? What do you think of these places, for cocido, especially: Casa Lucio Malacatin http://www.malacatin.com/entrada.htm# La Bola (too touristy??) http://www.labola.es/ If not these, where would this dish best be sampled in Madrid? |
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