Some tips for restaurants in Madrid (1)

Many times when people visit Madrid or they have friends over this fantastic city they always ask me for recommendations
Before I even come back to madrid I created a small list of tips for hotels, restaurants and places for drinks. Now I will probably update this one but let me start from the "classic" one:

Some ideas about restaurants

Luxury/ Romantic

Combarro
Calle Reina Mercedes, 12 (+34 91 554 7784
The place maybe is too big for a really romantic dinner but it is very nice and the seafood takes another dimension here
This luxurious restaurant serves Galicia's best seafood, cooked according to traditional recipes. Try the octopus a feira (steamed with olive oil and paprika), empanadas (tuna-filled puff pastries), sea bass or bream. As you walk in, the first thing you will notice is a glass floor with an aquarium underneath that is full of live seafood in genuine Atlantic seawater. The restaurant is divided into several dining rooms decorated with antiques, wooden floors, ochre-coloured walls and costumbrista paintings. Valet parking.

A couple of other 2 nice seafood restaurants with maybe a bit more couzy atmosphere are Gran Barril (Calle Goya) or La Taberna del Puerto de Fernan Gonzalez (better downstairs for raciones that in the restaurant, in barrio Ibiza, calle Fernan Gonzalez)

Menta y Canela
In Plaza Cuzco Now
Tfn: 91 359 11 94 y 91 359 69 33
Great food and you can get a very nice table in the garden (depending if the weather is good)

Good value and romantic

La Vaca Veronica
Dirección: Moratín, 38.
Zona: Centro.
Metro: Banco de España.
Tfn: 91 429 78 27.

Small place with very nice service, this place is really romantic and has excellent food (pasta fresca (pasta con carabineros is excellent), good fish and excellent cakes)
Also near the Santa Ana and The Palace hotel area. You will need to reserve

Excellent meet cuarto y Mitad. Bolivia, 21 (fairly near Santiago Bernabeu)
Madrid
28016
This place is really easy going and it could look like you got to the wrong place but meat best meet in Madrid and you really need a reservation for this one

Specializing in grilled meats since it opened in 1986, the best thing on the menu here is the Galician beef. It is best accompanied by fried potatoes and peppers. For starters, you can choose from a selection of salads, egg dishes, pork, sausage, and cheeses. Wash it all down with a fine wine or champagne from the excellent cellar, and try a homemade dessert. You are surrounded by a simple, tasteful decor of white walls and checkered tablecloths. There are two floors with enough room to sit 180 people and a lovely outdoor terrace in summer. Valet parking.

Taqueria Birra
Dirección: Plaza Comendadoras, 2.
Zona: Centro.
Metro: Noviciado.
Tfn: 91 522 80 49.
Tipo de cocina: Mexicana.

The location is superb, in one of the most lovely squares in Madrid. The terrace is usually open since marhc and really good mexican (not tex mex but traditional). Really spicy if you want
Tapas

Best tapas is to go to the area of the hotel Palace and in the back of this hotel there is 2 streets full of great bars with good beer and wine and excellent tapas


Also another great place for tapas in the other part of old Madrid (near Palacio Real) is El Almendro (the tapas here are more Andulucian style, with eggs, jamon, salmorejo, and buen fino)
C/Almendro 13 (Metro La Latina)
Madrid,
Telephone: 913 65 42 52
is an institution in the Latin district that combines an historic Madrid feel with tasteful modernisation. A young and hip clientele mix with the seasoned veterans, favouring the crafty new wines to tired old beer. But the house sherry is still popular with both sets and the tapas is the best in town.

New Zealand White Wine - Huia 2000

During our trip to New Zealand in 2000 (one of our favourite trips of all time) we have the opportunity to be there while the Marlborough Wine festival was going on. what a discovery!! I truly recommend going if you happen to be in New Zealand in February
We try lots of wines and certainly we did like the whites more than the reds
One of our favourties was Huia (www.huia.net.nz) and we decided to bring home a number of bottles (which it did become an odessey on its own) of sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riestling, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay from 2000
Last week we finished our last bottle which we have kpet for a while. A wondeful, Fresh, Fruity but dry Sauvignon Blanc.
This was to maintain vivacious fruit aromatics and flavour of this variety.
This wine shows a good aromatic intensity, layered with flavours ranging from apple and pineapple on my opinion. Great on the back of your mouth Huia Sauvignon Blanc is delicious with seafood, salads with cheese and not very strong fish

Let´s start - A white sweet Australian wine

Last night we put our friend Andreas Kubach to a test when the dinner host Silvia served a difficult French gelatin with ham and egg plate. Difficult difficult to combine

Andreas did surprise us with an Australian Yarra burn from 05. The grape was a viognier (very rarely used outside France). The result was really good. A cool and sweet wine (similar on my opinion to some german riestling) but not a dessert wine. Ideal for this plate or some interesting salads. A nice smell with some flowers and a bit of fruit and smooth on the palate

The wine seems to be selling for 17 USD
http://www.aussiewines.com.au/wines_online.php?pid=280