While R. had just arrived in Madrid, after flying from Jo'burg via Franfurt, I made my way from Brussels to Madrid and arrived in the late afternoon, just in time for our first foray into the world of tapas!
We headed towards the Calle Gran Via, one of the main streets in Madrid. Both tourists and madridellanos bustled along the sidewalks. We decided to slip down one of the quieter side streets and came across a small nameless bar that was filled with locals - we had decided early on that this would be the criteria that we used to select bars and restuarants.
We sat at the bar, ordered "dos cervezas" and munched on free chips and dip! We managed to chat with some of the locals, and partake of what appeared to be the house speciality - mojitos! Just as we were getting ready to leave, the patrons - most of whom had been standing round the door and drinking on the pavement - rushed inside and the door and window was quickly bolted down! It appeared that there was a major incident occuring on the street outside the bar, and we were, for the moment, trapped inside! After a few minutes the door was cautiously opened and while the original fight seemed to have moved on, the street had taken on a surreal appearance with the contents of rubbish bins strewn about and set ablaze. Never a dull moment in Madrid!
We decided not to hang about and set off in search of a less action-packed establishment. We ended up at a little place called Cafe de la Luce and had tinto veranos - red wine and lemonade - and tostadas with jamon y queso - toast with serrano ham and brie.
We ended our culinary evening with dinner, after 23h00 in proper spanish style, at a small, and again very local, cafe. We discovered that spanish garlic is not for sissies!
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