We found ourselves out of dinner options a few times and somehow a random pizza place always cropped up on the horizon inviting our hungry selves to stop trying to find “something actually good” and give up, give in and just go with the flow. And that we did.

Pizzería Limonzello, plaza de Cascorro, 1, 28005

For that night’s dinner we were supposed to give our local market – Mercado de San Fernando – a try. This market is one of the most peculiar mercados in Madrid (of those that I have been to) and to this day (three months after basically moving next door) I still cannot for the life of me figure it out.

Mercado de San Fernando is clearly not a fresh produce market. On a few occasions where I tried to go in and buy something, there was one shoddy-looking vegetable, one chicken and one meat stall open… not an ideal situation having in mind Mercado de la Cebada (just up the hill) has a dozen of each! What it seemed to have a lot of though was different food and drinks stalls. There was one night we could barely squeeze ourselves inside (there was around 1000 people in there!) and when we did it looked impossible to order anything through the crowds so we told ourselves we will come another day.

Well, another day did come and when we came this time, barely anyone was in, 80% of stalls were closed and the rest just looked so sad and abandoned. More to do with basic drinks and very basic snacks than any real food really. At this point I completely gave up on this mercado and we left to find another dinner elsewhere.

Long story short, we wandered around and some places were too crowded, other places were closed, yet other places held no appeal, so after an hour spent trying to find a place, any place good enough for dinner, Pizzería Limonzello appeared from around the corner and that was it. We grabbed a table, ordered sangria (€4) and beer (€3.50), some food and breathed a breath of relief: dinner was finally being served. The drinks were nothing to write home about so we did not have any high hopes for this one…

And to our biggest surprise, the food was not horrible! I mean, it was not great by any means but it was not bad?! Pizza Diavola (€11) could have had a little bit more of that sausage on top but the crust was actually made quite well. It was thin enough to be crispy but doughy enough to have a good sour chew. Eggplant parmigiana (€8.50) was hot, saucy and delicious. I mean, with the amount of cheese inside, it would be hard pressed not to be delicious.

Would I recommend this place for an impromptu Italian dinner or a midday drink on the terrace? Heck no! This was a decent poor man’s dinner but that is it. I was just glad it did not turn out to be horrendously overpriced for something that was hardly consumable. The price was decent, the food, surprisingly, was decent too but without saving our hungry asses there is not much else to tell you about it.

Mamúa, plaza de Cascorro, 7, 28005

On that particular day we found ourselves desperate for dinner after a 5-hour drive back from Pamplona. It was a warm and bright Sunday night, we were slow and tired, so we did not want to venture out too far from home. Plaza de Cascorro is located literally five steps away from our home and we usually manage to snag a seat at one of our favourite bars. That was not the case on that particular Sunday night.

We walked back and forth trying to see if any tables are being vacated shortly but the thing with plaza de Cascorro is that there are so many bars and eateries and they all have a few tables jam packed one next to the other that sometimes it is hard to distinguish which tables belong to which place. A table of three guys caught our eyes because the waiter just brought them their bill so we quickly stepped closer hoping they will be leaving soon.

That was also not the case as they just kept sitting and chatting while we kept hovering and suggestively eyeing the table trying to make them leave quicker. Either they finally got the hint or decided it was time to stop tormenting us and they left. We quickly grabbed the table trying to get the attention of the waiter who was in no hurry to show up. Well, once he did he informed us, that we will need to order “at least one item from the kitchen” if we wanted to have the pleasure of sitting on the terrace at which point I was rather snappy with “oh yes, don’t worry, we will have food, jeez”. And this is the story how we ended up at Mamúa.

The service was very slow and it took a while for our drinks to arrive. Matas had a craft IPA (€4.70) and I ordered a double vermouth (€3.90) both of which were actually quite decent. The evening wind was picking up and the plaza gets pretty drafty which was not ideal, so I just hoped our warm food was arriving soon.

That was also not the case. It took a long time for our pizza Mechada (€13.50) to show up at the table. Right of the bat I would not necessarily call this a pizza. The crust was rather thin and brittle, hence, I would call this a flatbread or even venture as far as to call it a flammekueche or tarte flambée over calling it a pizza. It was actually not bad at all and might I even say good(?!). The crust was light and crispy, the toppings were well cooked, the cheese was not overpowering and it all came about well together.

We payed an additional €2.20 for having the pleasure of sitting in the cool-ish open air on the plaza Cascorro but this is the price you pay for an al fresco dining in Madrid. Would I come back? Surprisingly, I would say that I could. I think Mamúa is better known for its brunch and this pizza and the drinks we had tell me that this has potential to be good, so I do see myself coming back!