Semana Santa (Easter Week) has started on 11 April and many places take a little break during this time. Couple that with it being a Monday night and our choices for dining out become limited. So this is the story how we ended up in Lavapiés. Again.

Taberna el Sur, calle de la Torrecilla del Leal, 12, 28012

Taberna el Sur would not have been my first choice but some parts of Lavapiés are quite quiet on a Monday night with many places choosing Monday/Tuesday as their day off. At a first glance the place looked good enough although we immediately noticed that there were many more tourists than locals inside.

Like always, we started by ordering some vermouth (€3) and we were very surprised when two (complimentary) waters came instead. Followed by nothing. At this point I was beginning to suspect that the waiter did not quite get me when I ordered the drinks, so we had to flag the waiter again multiple times. This vermouth, when it finally came, was very very yummy. I spotted the name on the tap and will try to find it in the store (it is called Vermut Iris Rojo).

On the topic of water, I have some good news: starting 11 April, bars and restaurants in Madrid are legally required to provide you with tap water (you had to buy bottled water before)! I will start asking for agua de grifo immediately. I just need to learn how to tell the snappy bartenders and tetchy waiters that they are required to give it to me by the government. I will tell you how that goes.

For our food we ordered pulpo (€19.50) or octopus and I really wanted it to be good but it did not meet our expectations. It was not exactly rubbery to the point of being unconsumable but it was irritatingly chewy. It also came lukewarm. I think being fresh of the grill would have helped this dish immensely but the fact it took the kitchen ages to make it (or the waiters ages to bring it out) really dimmed the light on this one. Octopus. Lukewarm. Let that sink in.

On the other hand, they had something else that intrigued me. The worst nightmare of one of my friends: mushroom croquettes! These croquetas boleto (€8.50) were actually legit. You could really taste these were made from real wild mushrooms. I was wondering whether they could have gone as far as using porcini but whatever mushrooms they used, the taste was truly on point.

Would I come to Taberna el Sur again? I do not know. Both vermouth and mushroom croquettes were great but I will have to see if I can find these items elsewhere. Although this is relatively close to Atocha, so if anyone finds themselves needing an English speaking refuge, feel free to pop by.

Savas, calle de la Sombrerería, 3, 28012

Even before moving to Madrid I had this bar on my to-go list. Savas is run by a Lithuanian/Spanish duo and I was already intrigued by that. On top on that, it is based in an adjacent neighbourhood (before I knew this adjacent neighbourhood is of questionable repute), so if it is good, I would have a cocktail bar basically at my doorstep!

The bar is located in a small space and the other time we tried to come in on a Friday or Saturday night it was packed and people were queueing outside waiting, so we picked a Monday night instead. The bar was not empty by any means but it was relatively quiet.

The menu is not extensive, I think they have eight drinks available on the menu and then the bartender can mix you something off of the menu as well. Since I just wanted to try something different that night, I picked a cocktail called Milk and Honey without even looking what it contained. The drink was very, very good. From the name I expected it to be sweet but there was a perfect balance struck between the sweetness and acidity. Matas had a Cardamom Gin Fizz and it was very yummy as well. It had that nice aroma of the spice and a nice balance of flavours. We will be visiting again, of that I am very sure.

One thing that I did not like was the speed of service. Our drink order was taken right away but since there is only one bartender, it took him a long long while to get to making our drinks as he was serving two other groups of people that were quite large. I do not even want to think of how service goes on a busy night then…

Here is a kicker too: while we were waiting for our drinks, we noticed a photographer taking pictures left and right of the bar, the bartender, the patrons. When we got our drinks the guy came over and said that he is taking pictures for a Wall Street Journal write up on Madrid’s cocktail bar scene, so now we have to wait to taste our drinks since he has to get into the position to take a picture which he proceeded to do without waiting for our consent (I mean I am fine with that, whatever). But that is one hell of a way to end up in WSJ for sure.