Great discoveries on the Asian restaurant front (Madrid, Spain) - II

The second discovery was even more pleasant.
Oam Thong, in Corazon de Maria 17 (just in front of the back exit of the parking of the Silken Puerta de America, aka you can just park there and enter in the restaurant within one minute)
This is the best thai restaurant in Madrid (Krachai, see below is not far behind) Much better that Thai Gardens, at least in terms of food quality and prices. However it is true that the service was slow (only 3 people serving a rather large dinning room).
The decor is nice, light browns and lovely lights and since the moment you enter the place you know. The food was great. Good amounts (not huge), great taste, had some lovely beef on red curry, a great soup and some entrees that were just delicious. To end up, one of the best ever sticky rice (with Mango ice cream) that I have tried (and I am not a huge fun of dessert, so this is rare for me to say and praise)
Don't know what you are waiting for, next time somebody tells you about not having good Thai restaurants in Madrid, just go there, they will change their opinion forever!!!


And once you enjoy this one you can still try another one :-)
I have been in Restaurante Krachai +34 918 336 556 Calle de Fernando VI 11 (near the house in Chueca) several times. The decor, all in white upstairs and more lounge style downstairs is phenomenal. The restaurant is rather small so make sure you do reserve, specially for dinner on Friday and Saturday. Overall the food is very good but if you are hungry, please share a menu degustacion with your couple, friend and family. For only 30 Eur, you get to sample a very generous amount of different plates that it seem coming in small quantities when you start and you don't know where to stuff the last pieces when you are about to finish. If not the overall menu is large, always with very interesting propositions that will make your choice difficult but always certain you will choose well. Large but not least for an Asian restaurant in Madrid it does have a great wine selection (both Spanish and some interesting non-Spanish wines)

Great discoveries on the Asian restaurant front (Madrid, Spain) - I

As you saw on one of my recent posts, we keep trying and selecting different restaurants on the Asian front in Madrid. Not only that but there is more thai ingridients at my house these days than ever before, so eating curries and similar is becoming a norm, a good one I may say

So lately I did try a couple of restaurants. Nobody has recommended them to us but I read some reviews and I had a good feeling about both.

Fisrt one was Phuket Thai, in calle Atocha 115 (91 3896359) (almost in front of the side entrance of Reina Sofia Museum). On appearance it may remind you of the cheap chinese reataurants that you can find on dozens around the city. Even funnier if you take a closer look you may realize that this restaurant used to be an old meson (typical restaurant castellano) and they have just done the minimal changes on the decor to look a bit Asian. Paper napkins, aka not a fancy restaurant on the Thai Gardens style;. But hey you come here to have a good meal at a good price is that is precisely what you get.
The pad thai is some of the best I have tried in town. Very good Tom Yam (seafood) soup and in general large portions. The "menu de degustacion" seemed interesting and an attractive option if you are not in the mood for thinking that day
3 of us were very happy with the choices although Andrea was not that convinced
Definitively worth the try and quite large so you may be able to get a table late on a Saturday without a reservation

A wine from Baleares (yes from the island): AN2

One of my discoveries last year was to find an amazing wine from Baleares, not your usual wine producer region in Spain (not a usual DO). In general most of the wines made in Mallorca are geared towards the thirsty tourist hordes and do not aspire to excellence.

From the winery Anima Negra, which has been making some of Spain’s top wines since the mid-90s. Anima Negra works mostly with the island indigenous varieties of Callet, Fogoneu, and Mantonegro, blending them (but usually in small quantities) with Cab Sauvignon or Syrah.
Their most famous wine (in terms of retail popularity as they have another wine on the 60Eur range that is produced not every year) is AN 2. I have tried both AN2 2005 and 2007 (this one is the one in most of the shops these days)

IN this case the AN2 has aged 12 months in French & American oak, and I have seen it retailing usually around the 20€ (aka not cheap at all) :-) but still worth it
It has a light but brilliant colour, in a way weaker than usual spanish wines. The smell will surprise you, cherry and mineral notes, original to start. In the mouth it will surprise you. It is both original and complex, quite earthy and with red fruit for sure. It finishes well

It will tell you something and make your food way better that you thought :-)

(Updated) An amazing surprise from Jumilla from a wine shop in Chueca (Madrid) that is doing great things

I was the other day on one of my favorites wine shops in Madrid, a not so old shop in Chueca formerly knows as “La carte des vins” and now Bianco& Rosso in Infantas 18 (within the plaza Vazquez de Mella).

http://11870.com/pro/bianco-rosso

I did buy several bottles to take with me to Vilnius but wanted to take a couple of interesting bottles for lunch with my parents and family

He recommended to me a wine from Jumilla, so knowing it will be a good one clearly qualify for the “interesting” part (until not so long ago Jumilla was know was very cheap wine of very low quality, almost Sangria wine. However several winemakers has risen the bar in the region and have been producing several award winning wines)

The bottle this time was Juan Gil 2005 from the Bodegas of the same name. To start with the label is really elegant and classy. A rare avis on its design on the Spanish label ecosystem

The wine is made from the typical grape in the region Monastrell (Mourvedre) is made from 45 year-old Spanish vines and aged for 12 months in American and French oak.

With a colour that may remind you lots of the Catalan Priorat, dark red, almost black intense/Inky purple color with light oak, black fruit and hints of tea and tobacco on the nose. Full bodied. A bit of blueberry and a long black cherry finish. It is smooth but leaving your mouth as a thick mouthfeel. We had it with a couple of spoon plates (potatoes with mushrooms and beans with rabbit), what a combination.

More amazing even is that the wine usually retails for less than 10 Eur. A definitive buy to surprise always your host