I am very serious when I say that tapas is the best choice for both lunch and dinner and I DO realise that it is not meant to be eaten as either. There is something whimsical about being able to share a variety of small plates with a few cheeky drinks instead of eating a large meal, so tapas for lunch and dinner (for now) it is. Hence, with Casa del Abuelo and Casa Toni visited, my quest for another tapas bar continues. Let’s see where we go next.

Casa Amadeo los Caracoles, plaza de Cascorro, 18, 28005

With another day in Madrid well underway: I went for a morning run in El Retiro (Matas worked from the hotel), we decided to have lunch somewhere in the neighbourhood of the apartment we were supposed to look at later in the day. This is how we found ourselves at Casa Amadeo los Caracoles, a tapas bar known for caracoles or snails.

Caracoles (€13) came in a tomato sauce flavoured deeply with braised pork fat and chorizo. I would have preferred the dish to come out hot but I think the snails are being slowly braised in the sauce for hours and higher temperature would just make them tough. Anyway, the fact that they were lukewarm did not detract from their taste. As I said, braised in a rich and fatty tomato sauce, the snails were very tender with deep earthy notes. I liked!

What really surprised me and tasted even better than the snails was bacalao rebozado (€9) or battered fried cod. The batter was light and crispy and the fish was steamy, moist and fluffy. With the little addition of marinated peppers on the side it became a very nicely balanced dish. Casa Amadeo is definitely a good place to try it! I cannot say the same about the patatas bravas (€4). They were good too but save yourself some real estate and do not get full on just another plain old patatas bravas dish. After having them once, they feel so boring (if you know of a place that does an interesting patatas bravas iteration, hit me up)! Take into account that this warning comes from a person who LOVES a potato in any way, size, shape or form. But really, save your real estate for something more interesting!

Anyway, if you find yourself strolling through the flea market of El Rastro on a Sunday afternoon, do stop by Casa Amadeo los Caracoles for snails AND bacalao (and maybe not even in that order). Ieva’s seal of approval granted. Also, this is one of our new local places, so I feel obligated to say that. *insert a winking emoji*

Casa Alberto, calle de las Huertas, 18, 28012

Dinner time found us at Casa Alberto. We came here to try a few of the dishes I was curious about. At the moment my goal is to try as many of the different tapas there are and get them at the restaurants/bars/tabernas (I promise I will learn the difference) that are either famous for them or just known to have a good iteration of the said thing.

We always start our meal with a drink which usually comes with a little snack while we look through the menu and work through deciphering what is what. The fact that I now have some rudimentary understanding of Spanish definitely helps in picking what we want and ordering the said thing. Service in Spain is a rather laid back affair. It works, it just does not necessarily work the way you would like or expect it to. However, since living in France and Singapore, I truly do not care that much and am not too bothered. That said, the service at Casa Alberto was one of the most nicest I have ever encountered in Madrid! Truly top notch!

We started with rabo del toro (or rabo estofado as it is called at Casa Alberto), otherwise known as braised oxtail a.k.a. one of Matas’s favourite dishes. Since we wanted to try a few dishes, we ordered our oxtail as a half portion or media ración (full portion costs €15). It still came out looking like a full dish with a big pile of homemade fries and I even wondered whether the server understood me and gave me a full portion instead. The meat was super tender and fell off the bone easily. The sauce was rich if a tad salty but the fries soaked it all up and all was well. Another dish that I wanted to try at Casa Alberto is called mollejas de cordero and it translates to lamb sweetbreads (can someone explain that to me?). This was a full portion of mollejas (€14.50) and they came out on a bed of crispy shoestring fries. The sweetbreads had a good taste and a nice chew to them, however, we do find the food in Madrid to be very heavily salted in general, and that does not exclude Casa Alberto.

I have to highlight the vermouth at Casa Alberto. I liked it so much so that for a minute I thought of it as the best vermouth I have had in Madrid. That very soon changed when Matas and I popped into Madrid y Darracott (fine wine and vermouth purveyors) and bought a few bottles on the proprietor’s recommendation; one of which came out as my new favourite vermouth as of now (more on that in a separate post, maybe?). Anyway, what I was getting at is that you can buy a bottle of Casa Alberto’s vermouth to take away. A bottle of 0.75l will set you back a lowly €12.50. An offer of which I will avail myself next time I am at Casa Alberto.

Ieva’s seal of approval granted for both of these places! And I will be back. It is just that I still have to make rounds through a gazillion of other tapas bars in Madrid and it might take a minute.

One more day, two more tapas bars

We are enjoying this way of life very much at the moment. I guess this will have to change once we establish some sort of a daily routine. We are both looking to sign up for a gym (I also need some yoga in my life). On top of that I am going to my first Spanish language class soon too. I will have to see how that goes. But as of now, it is one more day and two more tapas bars. I say bring it on! See you next time where we continue to ride this tapas train. And then some!