We are thoroughly oblivious about what regional holidays are celebrated when and San Isidro festival – the one that celebrates the patron saint of Madrid – left us unable to buy decent groceries, so we decided to have lunch at a vegan burger place nearby. Go figure!

Viva Burger, costanilla de San Andrés, 16, 28005, Madrid

Viva Burger is located on a slopping pedestrian street adjacent to a quiet square located behind a chapel. We walked through this square a few times before and we always remarked how cozy it felt here. Well, we finally made to this square for lunch. The outside tables of the restaurant we picked were occupied, so we were seated at a window seat inside as a consolation.

The drinks we had were nothing spectacular: a doble of Stella Artois that cost €2.50 and an average tinto de verano that cost €3.50.

They have quite a few vegan, gluten free and whatever other options that are relevant these days in the menu but since we do not have any dietary restrictions, we just ordered stuff that sounded good. Bombay burger (€14.90) came with a malted whole grain bun, grilled mushrooms and pineapple chutney with garam masala. While chingona burger (€14.90) was made with corn and spelt bun, avocado, alfalfa, pico de gallo and jalapeño. Both of these burgers were actually quite tasty, the flavour mostly carried forward by the sweet components of each burger.

Well, I have to say that I would not necessarily call these creations burgers but even as “sandwiches” they were more than OK. That corn and spelt bun was soft and tasted better than your average plain burger bun. Same goes for the malted whole grain bun which was rather crispy but the flavour was really good.

The real reason why I would not call this a burger was the fact that there was no cohesive “patty” in any of the sandwiches we had. But it also was not loose enough to go flying in every direction after taking a bite. This was probably the most off-putting thing about these patties that they balanced between the two states never feeling like it belonged to one or another creating this cognitive dissonance. And I know this sounds way too metaphysical when discussing a simple burger patty but this patty must have had an existential crisis of its own because there is no other way to describe it but weird.

Both burgers came with hand cut rustic fries with what was surely an attempt at a vegan mayonnaise. I call it an attempt because I have absolutely no idea what it was made of. It was white and balanced between being creamy yet curdle-y. Yep, not my cup of tea either.

You know what though, in all honesty, this was not bad at all. In no way did it scratch a burger itch but the food was actually quite tasty and if I was actually vegan, I would call this a pretty good meal.

Cultural update: San Isidro festival

As I mentioned above, Madrid celebrates its patron saint with quite a bang. I am guessing that many people took the long weekend off to have picnics, celebrate and participate in various events organised around town (Monday was a public holiday in Madrid the fact that we only came to know when the market was closed and we could not buy groceries).

Let’s meet what I can only assume is the statue of San Isidro Labrador himself. There is a church or rather a complex of religious buildings called The Royal Congregation of Saint Isidore of Madrid not too far from where we live. We literally walk by it every other day. I had no idea it played such an important part in Madrid’s religious life but we got a little taster during Semana Santa (Easter weekend) where one of the biggest religious processions took place.

I have not read up much about San Isidro Labrador or Saint Isidor the Labourer, so I only know that he was a very pious farm worker who cared about poor people and animals. I have no clue how he became a saint and, more specifically, the patron saint of Madrid. Anyway, apparently, his tomb is located in the aforementioned Congregation, so there is no question why the religious procession takes off there.

We did not witness the procession itself but while we were peaking into the church, we saw these people fixing San Isidro’s statue on the procession platform.

We are generally very lazy people, so we only went to a few events that happened just around the corner from us at Plaza Mayor. One of them was a classical concerted played by Madrid’s Symphonic Orchestra (OSM), another one was a performance of traditional dances and then we also saw a few music bands play in passing. Remember, this is a four day affair!

Just outside of the city there is a barrio (neighbourhood) called San Isidro that has an eponymous park and a chapel. Most of the bigger events were held there and at another park called Jardín de las Vistillas as well. If I read the programme correctly, there was music, dancing, food and all sorts of fun things that we were too lazy to go and explore. You know us well by now to not be surprised. *laughs guiltily*

There were fireworks on Saturday and Sunday nights that we managed to (barely) see behind the tops of the trees from our balcony. They both lasted more than 10 minutes and were not that spectacular (at least from our angle). I am just curious, how come these fireworks are still allowed in a city where dogs (and cats) outnumber people 2 to 1 (at least).

Anyway, I saw the statue of San Isidro being put on his procession platform and I call this festival celebrated to the best of my abilities!