Did I ever say that the centre of Madrid is like an open-air restaurant? An outdoor buffet party?
Café terraces are everywhere! They are on the streets, at the big squares, small squares, they are on small narrow alleys, at every corner, they are simply everywhere. The only place I have seen so much gathering of outdoor cafes was Plaka below the Acropolis in Athens, Greece (I will re-blog this). Barcelona could be a runner-up but I swear that in the centre of Madrid it was was flooded with tables and chairs.
We were lucky to find a nice table at the terrace at this restaurant.
A typical Spanish tavern restaurant in Madrid is called a ‘mesones’. Blondine and I had our dinner at Plaza Mayor, at one of the mesones located outside. I had meson hopping here 6 years ago and we ate inside in the tavern as it was winter, which happens to be part of the basement of Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor and its surroundings are not on even ground, it slopes down on one side.
This time Blondine and I ate outside, at the Rincon de la Cava Meson because they looked very inviting and we were able to spot a free seat. If I am not mistaken this was the same meson I ate at before where an old Spaniard serenaded me with Tagalog songs such as ‘Leron, Leron Sinta’ ‘Bahay Kubo’ and he even sang ‘Bayang Magiliw’ the Philippine’s national anthem! Click here to see the foto: Dutched Pinay with the Tagalog singing Spaniard
Because this is dinner we planned on eating very little. We ordered a tortilla and anchovies with olives, our favourite, some bread and chilled local white wine.
Light dinner after all the pigging out during breakfast and lunch.
The outdoor terrace was a busy street on Calle Cava de San Miguel.
Our view across the street.
It was a lovely evening. We had a nice seat and we enjoyed people watching while having our dinner. Madrid truly is an open-air restaurant.
This is the restaurant by day.
Travel Period: June 2011
Destination: Madrid, Spain