Travel: My Madrid
From traditional tabernas to trendy tapas bars and bustling markets, Madrid’s food and drink culture is as expansive as the city itself. Get to know its varied neighbourhoods one by one, advises Shawn Hennessey
Madrid can be an overwhelming experience, but it turns out that the trick to savouring Spain’s capital is to take it in bite-sized pieces. It took me several visits over the past 30 years to finally warm to what I at first felt was an impersonal, sprawling metropolis.
Then I learned from friends who live here to take it barrio by barrio, and get to know the very different personalities of each neighbourhood. From trendy Malasaña to upscale Salamanca; from multicultural Lavapiés and hip Barrio de las Letras to traditional La Latina; each barrio has something unique to offer.
Happily, there has also been a surge of great new wine bars with a focus on small producers, both Spanish and international, plus chefs returning to the fundamentals of Spanish cooking. You can taste the past and present of Madrid in dishes such as the classic callos a la madrileña (tripe stew) at El Fogón de Trifón (see Facebook), or try innovative adaptations of traditional todo la vida (lifelong) favourites at Media Ración (www.mediaracion.es).
Local wines are also back in vogue. Vinos de Madrid acquired its DO status in 1990, and since then has been gaining a reputation for higherquality, small-production wines. The DO is divided into three demarcated sub-regions: Arganda, Navalcarnero and San Martín, each of which makes its own distinct styles of wine.
Many wineries such as Las Moradas and Saavedra in San Martín have embraced wine tourism, while specialist single-parcel producers such as Comando G and Marañones in the mountainous Sierra de Gredos area are committed to reviving native Garnacha and Albillo vines.
Back in Madrid you’ll find no shortage of food markets, but if you want to try a more castizo (rootsy or authentic) experience, then try the places where locals still go to shop and snack. Mercado Vallehermoso in the district of Chamberí combines a small-producers market of 22 stalls with a variety of wine and tapas bars. Meanwhile, in boho Barrio de las Letras, bordering on Lavapiés, Mercado de Antón Martín is a hip version of an unpretentious local market, with bars serving tapas, craft beer and wine dotted throughout.
The Matadero in Arganzuela, a former slaughterhouse that has been transformed into an international living arts centre, is a constantly changing creative space combining art, cinema, design and culture, with an artisan local food market on the last weekend of each month.
While San Isidro is probably the most traditional of Madrid’s annual festivals, the fiestas of San Lorenzo in Lavapiés and La Paloma in La Latina are the lively ones, with a buzzy streetparty vibe and parades. The latter features competitions of chotis, a style of traditional Madrileño music and dance with Bohemian roots.
Madrid is not only a moveable feast, it’s a fast-moving one. Even longtime residents can find it difficult to keep up. It’s impossible to see or taste it all at once, but with each visit you’ll find new reasons to return.