My partner attended an international standards meeting for work, and I tagged along. Neither of us would have chosen to go to Madrid in July otherwise, but the weather gods favoured us; the worst daily high was 33C, best 28C, and the rest in between. Those highs tended to happen around 4-5pm. I could take longer walks in the morning or to/from lunch, as long as I mostly stuck to the shade where possible. We had four days of food (the fifth being Dia de Santiago, a regional holiday that closed many restaurants, so we had to scramble for lunch, but it was our last day and we flew out before dinner).
Our hotel, and the conference site, was the Meliá Castilla hotel, in the tony suburb of ChamartĂn to the north (metro stops Cuzco, Tetuán, Valdeacederas). As the accompanying spouse, I was free to wander; my partner joined me when she could. ChamartĂn made Lisbon feel shabby (even though we live in a reasonably upscale part of it), but it was interesting how quickly the atmosphere changed when we walked to neighbouring Valdeacederas, with narrower streets, older low-rise buildings, and more humble businesses and restaurants.
We got in late Sunday night, and I was on my own for Monday lunch, a problematic time in general. So why not check out the “best burger in the world” as reported in an earlier thread here? I went to the branch of Hundred in ChamberĂ, arriving a little after noon. There were already about ten people seated, a few outside on the sidewalk terrace, but most inside. I suspect they arrived early to snag the Paul Finch burger, made from 120 day dry-aged beef, of which only ten are available daily. I had decided to skip it in favour of the Loser, only 90 days, with cheese, caramelized onions, and gochujang.
Reviews suggested that the cooking was minimal and one should order “well-done”. I cannot bring myself to do this unless I know I will not get a hockey puck. But I did up my usual “medium” to “medium well”. Does this look like medium well to you?
This was somewhere between medium-rare and rare. I wonder what one gets if one orders well-done? Probably a hockey puck. No matter, I could deal with it. Was it the best burger in the world? It did not dethrone my personal best (Kumpel und Keule in Berlin) but it was a good burger. The caramelized onions were not too sweet, meaning little or no sugar was added; the gochujang was not too assertive. The sweet potato fries were above average (usually they are too limp) and the beer (house brand IPA) was respectable. Service was friendly and swift. On the negative side, I could have used something with more structure than the brioche bun, and the decor (frat house and cliché American college / summer camp) was personally off-putting.
I went to a PhotoEspaña exhibition a little further south, and then backtracked to visit Alma Nomad bakery, much praised here.
I picked up a caracola de pistacho, caramelo, y praline (“caracola” means snail, and this is like a French pain aux raisins but with their own spin on the fillings) and a croissant de avellana y gianduia (like an almond croissant, baked then split and baked again with filling, “gianduia” being chocolate-hazelnut and “avellana” being chopped hazelnuts on top) to share with my partner at her late-afternoon coffee break. Even midway between lunch and dinner, the optimal serving size for each of these was about one-third. We finished the caracola but half the croissant was left and I had the rest for a late lunch dessert the next day. The pastries were well made but really rich.
My partner’s boss had suggested a dinner that evening with three other co-workers, and I was left to choose a place. It was Monday, and they all work at a nonprofit, so while the meal was paid for, the budget was not unlimited. For these reasons, I chose Garuda, an Indonesian restaurant about three blocks south of the hotel. I would not normally choose Indonesian food while in Madrid, though it is what I mostly eat in Amsterdam. I like it a lot, but cannot get it in Lisbon. The reviews I could find were quite positive, and the space was large, with tables spaced farther apart than usual and high ceilings. I had more experience with the cuisine than the others (though still not much) so I made suggestions and cobbled together a menu for all of us. The platings were not particularly photogenic, and I don’t expect anyone reading this who is not living with Madrid to even consider this place, but I will include photos and descriptions, because it was a good meal and the others appreciated it, I think. Overall, flavours were vivid, service was friendly. They have lunch menus with several choices of starter and main, ranging from 14-16€ (seafood costs more). I did not see the final bill (I could calculate it from the posted menus if I wanted to) but the restaurant is on the cheaper side in general, for what is offered.
Mango salad. I had expected shreds and a thicker sauce, but no matter, the flavour was excellent.
On the left, “hekeng”, a dish previously unknown to me. This is a forcemeat of ground chicken and shrimp, wrapped in sheets of tofu skin, sliced and deep-fried. On the right, sate, but unusually this is goat, lean boneless cubes. Each of these came with their own specific dipping sauces and both were excellent.
Nasi goreng, the Indonesian fried rice very commonly found, but this was a very good rendition, and the plate was cleaned off by us.
Rendang sapi was not quite as good as I wanted; I would have liked a thicker, more integrated sauce. But the taste was right.
The seafood dishes were more photogenic but also more problematic. Really good flavour on the shrimp in yellow curry, but the shrimp had been grilled in their shells, and were overdone, making it difficult to get the meat out. The grilled fish (ikan bakar) was also overdone. In retrospect, I should have swapped at least one of these out for one of the duck dishes (I offered a duck salad, but one of our party had the cilantro gene and vetoed it).
We ordered one mango with sticky rice to share, and it took a while to arrive, I suspect because they were steaming the sticky rice to order, which is good. I don’t seem to have photographed it. Spain has the same problem we do in Portugal; they don’t import the really good Ataulfo or Manila mangos.
One more post on restaurants new to us, and then one on revisits.
