It was already 10:30 pm and we were wandering the streets of Madrid in search of somewhere to eat. I understand why locals eat so late because the sun doesn't set until 9:30-10, It was past 11 when we were walking down one of the streets and a worker spoke Spanish to us and showed us a menu to here. We walked down the alley and another worker, who spoke English, explained what they served. The guy was trying to get us to go in and was so nice about it, we thought, sure...we're hungry, it beats walking around more. They cleared off a larger table for us and we were set.
Our waitress was very friendly and spoke "un poco" English, but we managed to order several dishes: jamon on toast, sausage with potatoes, grilled vegetables, and mixed paella with chicken and seafood. The partner isn't a big seafood fan so I had to compromise. Everything came out as ordered. We ordered the house wine at 11E a bottle. This was a temparillo which was very good. We've noticed that most places serve very good wines with a limited wine menu, which is a very good thing.
The jamon was good. We thought the potatoes with the sausage could've been a little more flavorful, I mean they was a spice to it, but perhaps a little more. The grilled vegetables were great! Tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and red and green bell peppers. We didn't eat the green ones because they're not our favorite. The paella was delicious! Flavorful rice with mussels, claims, baby prawns/shrimp, and chicken, some pieces with the bone in. Of course, we needed another bottle of wine. It was a very enjoyable meal.
While we were at the end of our meal, three women came in that spoke English and sat at a table across from us. They were all single because they were talking about meeting men in bars. One kinda gave the partner the eye several times. One of them asked us where we were from because she heard us speaking English, which sparked a lively conversation. They were from Nashville, and it was nice to speak to someone from the states. They were headed to Barcelona, so there might be a chance that we'd run into them. That tends to happen when we travel.
The service was excellent and everyone was very friendly. I would definitely be back, but maybe on a return trip since there's so much to see, try, and experience. Our meal was half of what it cost us at La Cueva, so I recommend venturing outside the comforts of the hotel area. read more