Mad About Madrid

Rodilla sandwich bar

Rodilla has to be one of my favourite "Fast Food" restaurants in Madrid. It offers a huge range of sandwiches, from foie gras to prawns. My favourite sandwich just has to be 'ensaladilla' - which have tuna, mayonnaise, peas and artichoke. Their sandwich bars can be found all over Madrid, including Puerta del Sol, Plaza de Callao, the Goya area and Argüelles. They also do nice salad bowls, too.

Autumn brings the mushrooms (setas)

In Autumn the mountains around Madrid are full of wild mushrooms. Last weekend, my brother-in-law Vicente took his two young children out picking mushrooms (setas) and told me that he couldn't identify one of the varieties, not even in his book. However, the Royal Botanical Gardens in Madrid will, hopefully, come to the rescue as every Monday they allow people to bring along their pickings to have them checked out. You should also keep an eye open in Madrid's restauarants for these delicacies!

Restaurant and Street Guide of Madrid

Here's a guide (in Spanish), from the Madrid White pages people, that you may find useful for finding restaurants in Madrid (some with menus). They also have handy street maps that link into to them.
Restaurant Guide

For those who are looking for any addresses in Madrid, this could prove useful:
Madrid Street Map

Alternatively, you could buy the Lonely Planet Madrid City Map from Amazon

See also: Maps of Madrid

El Corté Inglés

Practically every traveller to Madrid has ended up in El Corté Inglés. El Corté Inglés is Spain’s most popular department store. Established in 1935, it can now be found all over Spain, it even has its own brand of out-of-town hyper stores. The store sells a vast array of goods and services, from clothes, houseware and CD’s to holidays, food and electronic goods.

El Cuchi - Mexican Restuarant

'El Cuchi' is a Mexican restaurant situated just off the south side of the Plaza Mayor, in c/ Cuchilleros. Great Mexican food in this busy place where ‘Hemimgway never ate’ – a dig at all the bars around the Plaza which say that Hemingway did eat there!. Novelties include having your bread placed not on the table but in a basket above your head and a waitress who walks around the restaurant serving shots from a ‘holster'!
Metro: Puerta del Sol (lines 1, 2 and 3)
Address: c/ Cuchilleros, 3 Tel: 913 664 424

Plaza Mayor

The principal square in Madrid is the Plaza Mayor, which is south west of the Puerta del Sol. Built between 1617 and 1619, and restored in 1790 after a fire, it is in a part of the city known as “Madrid de los Austrias” (the Hapsburg monarchs having built it.), or what I prefer to call “Old Madrid”. It is probably one of the finest plazas in Spain, though Salamanca comes a close second (that’ll upset some people!).

The centre of the square is occupied by a statue of Philip III who was responsible for the construction of the square. The Plaza Mayor was once the focal point of the old city, where bullfights, royal coronations and even the inquisition took place.

Concert gigs - Robbie Williams, Van Morrison, and others come to Madrid

This is a list of concerts for the coming month in Madrid:
Robbie Williams - Date: 22nd October; Venue: Palacio de Vistalegre; Time: 10 p.m.; Price: 35-75 Euros.
Tickets: www.telentrada.com(902 10 12 12) or Music Store Madrid Rock (on c/ Gran Vía)
Deep Purple - Date: 25th October; Venue: Multiusos La Cubierta de Leganés (Maestro, 4); Time: 10 p.m.; Price: 20 Euros
Tickets: In the following stores: Fnac, Madrid Rock and Crisol or BBVA (www.bbvaticket.com, Tel:902 15 00 25)
Iron Maiden - Date: 2nd November; Venue: Palacio de Vistalegre
Tickets: Madrid Rock
Blur- Date: 3rd November; Venue: Sala La Riviera; Time: 8.45 p.m.; Price 25.9 Euros
Tickets: El Corté Inglés
Van Morrison - Date: 5th November; Venue: Sala La Riviera; Time 8.45 p.m.; Price: 25.9 Euros
Tickets: El Corté Inglés

Chocolatería San Ginés

Love chocolate, then this is definitely the place for you. Next to the Church of San Ginés, just off c/Arenal, you will find a favourite haunt of many Madrileños – Chocolatería San Ginés. This place serves thick cups of chocolate with churros (long sticks of fried dough) in a white-marbled bar. It has been around for well over a hundred years and is still popular with people of all age groups. It is busy in the early evening and absolutely packed from 4 o'clock onwards, after a night out on the tiles!

Pasadizo de San Ginés 11 (91 365 65 46). Metro: Sol, lines 1, 2 & 3.

Restaurante Ultreya

My wife and I just love going to this place. It sells quality food from the Galician area of Spain. Along the walls of the restaurant/bar you will see a large display of photos, paintings and mementoes relating to the 'Camino de Santiago'. My particular favourites are 'pimientos de padrón (small green peppers which occasionally 'bite'!), cecina de león (strips of dried beef accompanied by fresh tomato), pulpo (octopus) and pimientos rellenos (stuffed red peppers). They also offer a good wine selection - try the Galician wine Albariño. The restaurant is located close to Metro: Goya (line 2)
c/ General Pardiñas, 26 TEL. 915 782 370.

Art Exhibition

Just had to put in a plug for a friend of mine, Gemma Ruiz, who is exhibiting her paintings at the Hotel Sofitel Madrid Plaza de Espana. So why not take some time out of your schedules and go visit this exhibition. If you need any more details about Gemma's art, just let me know. The exhibition goes on until the 16th November.
Metro: Plaza de España, line 6 and 10.