Juana la Loca is an exceptional suggestion.
Make that La Latina.
Just to add that Time Out, the Spanish version, had more praise today for Barmitón and Trèsde and added La Gildería if you hanker for a genuine gilda and a vermut.
La Gildería is on Calatrava 17.
And Cultivo is a great cheesemonger in this hood,
It’s on Carrera de San Francisco near the bread Obrador mentioned above.
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A few photos of the creative offerings at Juana la Loca
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Penelope,
If you’re still following your thread and you have a lunch still open in your dining itinerary, today we’ve made a highly recommendable discovery in the very trendy Trafalgar neighborhood. And the bous–it’s just steps away from Madrid’s most charming square, the Plaza de Olavide.
It’s SISAPO, a new Michelin Bib Gourmand, a small bistro with a post-industrial décor and delicious offerings a la carte or…one of the city’s best value tasting menus for 45 euros, 4 servings.
We opted for a la carte, and since today is “international hamburger day”, husband opted for the giant beef hamburger with fries while I opted for the secreto (pork loin) and for starters, the superb fresh poached artichoke from Tudela on a bed of cauliflower purée, topped with langostines and bathed in arbequina olive oil. Great bread, and to wash it all down, a new for us bottle of white Tempranillo from Navirius from the Rioja Alta plus cheesecake with raspberry ice cream for dessert, followed by chupitos of orujo on the house.
www.sisapo.es
This is definitely a repeater for us, and I urge others to give it a try. I should have added it to my list above on the “new, hot tables” in Madrid.
Add ima
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A definite, as my older twin daughter and her husband are visiting from Portugal in 2 weeks. Thank you for the recommendation.
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Are you a Madrid local as well?
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Yes, have been married to a Madrileño 32 years and we live in The Madrid Capital however, I was born and raised in Zürich, Switzerland.
Are you Italian ? We have a friend Giuseppe Damiano in Milano.
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That burger is still mooing 
Nice! With all these good tips from locals it’s tempting to visit Madrid again. No I’m not Italian - I live in the Netherlands. Love Italy though!
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Wow !
Yes, we travel to Italy 2 or 3 times a year as we have very dear friends who live in Italy and of course it is one of our favourite gastro eno destinations.
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Just another dining note for those Madrid bound…
Lunch today was at FISMULER, the very well-regarded bistrot of the Redruello family of the La Ancha group.
While a “hot” dining destination, it’s certainly not under the radar, as it’s been featured in the international press, been around since 2016 and has a branch in Barcelona
Like the Cañadío group, the Redruello family is known for its comfort food, its acclaimed tortillas, tartas de queso and their signature dish:
a pantagruelian “escalope”, a breaded, pounded pork scallop (looks like a Wiener Schnitzel), topped with a poached egg, chives and shaved truffles, served with an irresistible, buttery potato purée (parmentier), that can easily feed three!!
(You’ll see diners taken home their leftovers in their brown Armando paper bags.They serve 70 a day.)
Here the veal scallop is called the “San Román”. At La Ancha it’s made of veal and called the “Armando”.
Also Brittany oysters. The menus is stamped and changes daily—strictly seasonal and Km.0.
With an amuse bouche of mousse paté (duck/chicken/pork) with fermented cucumber, a starter of white Navarran asparagus in a cream sauce with anchovies (the season is about to end), a bottle of Campo de Navaherreros, a white garnacha from the Sierra de Gredos, excellent bread and the gigantic escalope, the bill came to a reasonable 72 euros for 2. (We eschewed coffee and the signature (3 cheese) cheesecake dessert, which we can buy at Pastelerías Mallorca.
I mention Fismuler because it’s very popular, has a cool, very spartan, retro-industrial Nordic look, takes reservations, is English-speaking, and singles can dine sans reservations at the long, 16-seat communal table at the entrance.
Closed Sundays but open Mondays, another tough day for gourmet dining here when many top restaurants are closed.
Candlelight at night and on some weekends, music.
Basque chef, trained at El Bulli, Patxi Zumárraga.
Michelin recommended and 1 Repsol sun.
(metro: Alonso Martínez)
https://www.fismuler.com/madrid/
The Redreullo dining empire has expanded to the new Hotel Thompson where they’ve opened the all day dining The Omar (a bakery + restaurant with great breakfasts), the speakeasy Hijos de Tomás and coming soon on the roof top terrace, the Tama.
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I am writing you from Toledo. I made zero plans in Toledo other than hitting baths and getting massages later today and tomorrow (for 60 Euros for both, compared to NYC prices, that is an absolute steal and I am here for it).
My flight out of NYC got cancelled thanks to BA operations (not smoke, as JFK was not impacted). So I finally arrived in Toledo over 24 hours after I had originally planned to. It was all ok as I got an extra night with Harvey (my doggy), and had to repack some things anyway (I packed way too much).
I still have holes for Madrid, but I am fine with that. Gives me time to just explore and try different things, which I am 100% ok with.
I know I am still WAY behind on writing up my France trip from last year (sigh, if only I did not have to have a real job), but I am going to try and do this one somewhat real time.
Admittedly, when I got to my AirBnB in the center of Toledo, I crashed last night, so I have not been outside other than walking from where my car dropped me to the AirBnB (an interesting two blocks uphill with luggage…lol). However, from what I can see, this is a gorgeous town with a lot of history, and I am excited to get out and explore it today and tomorrow.
I will say this, being delayed a day might have saved my bacon. I cannot imagine navigating these streets with bags with the Processions of Corpus Christi going on.
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Toledo is absolutely stunning. I’ll post photos from my laptop. Food offerings are pretty meh, but I was ok with that. I did go to Taberna el Botero the last night, and i really enjoyed it.
Arrived in Madrid today and in the car heading out to Sacha. Was very hungry on arrival, so popped downstairs to Jeronimo. It was excellent.
Hope to post photos tomorrow AM.
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Glad you enjoyed Jerónimo, as we did. Have fun in my favorite city!
Penelope, Unless I misread, you must be finished with your trip around now. Saw lots of ever-so-helpful information, reports and photos from Maribel on this thread, but did you ever write anything about your own experiences? We read lots about your plans…but perhaps you posted your report on a different thread…I’d love to read bout your Madrid meals–Sacha, Lua, and the rest…any chance of that happening soon??
Thanks every so much!!
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I read the title of her posts as “Toledo and Madrid June 8 through June 18.”
As I write this, it’s June 16.
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It’s been a long time since I was there, but Toledo was indeed stunning — I remember gorgeous blue skies as the backdrop for stunning architecture.
Reliving through your posts!
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So, tried loading from my iPhone and it didn’t go well.
I’ve got to get these on my laptop and go from there.
Also, I fly from Madrid to London tomorrow.
Restaurants I’ve been to:
Jeronimo
Sacha
A crawl from Ardosa to Chocolateria San Gines
La Lloreria (might be my fave)
I have to go back and check where all I was today. But I’m sitting at Barmiton writing this, about to head to Tresde.
I cancelled Castelados and Comptoir due to hangover/acid reflux issues on two separate days. Sigh.
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