I know, I know. Part VI? How many tapas can one person eat? A LOT. That I can tell you from my personal experience. Part VI is very exciting to me because it contains two of my current favourite things in Madrid – one drink and one dish. So bear with me as we embark on another trip down the tapas lane!

Taberna La Concha, calle de la Cava Baja, 7, 28005

At first glance Taberna La Concha looked like a tiny hole in the wall. It was already very busy and quite loud when we came in around 19:30 but I was glad to see a corner table for two available so we immediately took it. Only later did I notice that they also have additional seating downstairs that appeared to by quite big judging by the number of people going downstairs to never be seen again (quite a few large groups came in while we were at La Concha). Although, if you are not sitting near the bar to see the action, what is the point, am I right?

I knew Taberna La Concha was known for their vermouth (they have their own) but I had not realised how elaborate the vermouth drink they serve is. Normally, some disinterested barman grabs the first available glass, throws a few cubes of ice in, maybe throws in a slice of lemon or orange if his fancy strikes him, he flicks the tap open and however much vermouth gets in while he is moving around doing his own stuff that is the vermut de grifo you are getting.

Not at Taberna La Concha you do not. Our waiter came to our table laden with a tray full of very un-vermouth-looking items and I was not even aware what that all meant before he started spritzing and pouring and dashing and prancing to make us a drink that is more of a cocktail than your regular vermouth. He first spritz a good amount of gin on the rocks and the olive-orange combo that was already in the glass, poured a glug of their own vermouth, finishing it all off with a good few dashes of some bitter. The whole process feels so elaborate and you end up with both: feeling entertained and a good drink at hand.

At this point in time I feel pretty decent about my ability to order drinks and food in Spanish and maybe navigate a little conversation if something is not available, etc. However, there are still times where something unexpected happens. This is exactly what happened with my order of cecina con queso parmesano, a type of smoked cold cut meat with cheese (€9), in whose place I actually got a tosta de sardina ahumada (€4.50). Which I am in no way complaining about. Both were excellent.

In other news, the service at La Concha was truly slow. So SLOW that we spent more than two hours ordering drinks, getting snacks, getting more drinks, getting more food, getting more drinks for the drinks that we drank while waiting for the food. You get the gist. I think even by the “speed” of the Spanish service standards this was an exception to the rule. Anyway, when we got our food, the food was good. We had ordered hatillo de morcilla, a blood sausage pouch (€4.50), and it was quite yummy. The blood sausage was hot and runny and the little pouch came apart to provide good material for sopping it all up.

La Concha also had a long enough list of jerez or sherry by the glass and at €4 a pop one of the sherries was the most expensive drink on the entire menu. Of course I had to try it. I am not a big sherry fan as it is a little bit too dry and woody (if that makes sense?) for me but I did enjoy this Palo Cortado that came with a little snack all for myself (I mean, at a price of four euro a glass it has better come out with a free snack stat).

Carilleras de cerdo estofado or braised pork cheeks (€10) was the highlight dish of the night. The meat was so tender, it fell apart at a little touch of the fork. I also liked the potato puree and sauce combo as the velvety creaminess of the potato provided a balance to the thick, salty sauce. This one is a must-order for sure.

There was a funny looking panel situated in the middle of the bar prompting you to either press for cava or for Manuela. I legit think someone was utilising this contraption as I kept hearing buzzing sounds throughout the night that only later clicked as belonging to this. I never saw anyone drinking cava, so it might have been a Manuela a person was buzzing for. If you do not know what Manuela is, I did not either. But after having read up a little bit about Taberna La Concha I learned that this is what their vermouth drink is called!

At the end of the dinner I was not making the same mistake again. We saw an opportunity to take a bottle of the house vermouth home and we took it. I still regret not buying that bottle at Casa Alberto, so I am making sure I am not missing another one of these. At home La Concha vermouth tastes a little bit sweeter than it did at the bar but I am pretty sure the gin and the bitters that they put in their Manuela changes its characteristics somewhat. Still a good vermouth at €12.50 a bottle.

Despite their morbidly slow service Taberna La Concha gets Ieva’s seal of approval. Manuela was great, the food was great. The bar itself is cozy and lovely. I would definitely put it on my to-visit tapas bar list for Madrid.

Casa Gerardo, calle de Calatrava, 21, 28005

I had said it before and I will say it again: proprietors lead their own lives, on their own time and you coming exactly at the opening time, frankly, are an inconvenience. Anyway, Casa Gerardo was one of the places I really wanted to visit, so when we came at exactly 19:30 I was a little disappointed it was still closed. We did determine that there was some action inside and we could see light beams peaking through the closed curtains, so we decided to walk around the block and check if they open up in a bit.

It was still quite cold in Madrid then and that night especially, there were cold gusts of wind coming through every which way to spite us. Hence, it did not take us long to go around the block but once we came around seven minutes later, the place was FULL! OK, maybe I exaggerate a little bit, it was not full full but it must not have been open for more than a few minutes and at least four tables have already been occupied!

The house vermouth and its pour was very lovely, so we quickly approved the place, especially after the free tapas came and they were very yummy indeed. Casa Gerardo is predominantly a cheese bar, hence there was also a big selection of wines all lined up on the counter (I would say 20+ bottles) for you to pick from. We ended up getting two different wines to go along with our cheeses: one light red and another bolder red. The proprietor gave us a little taste each so we knew what we were getting. Very nice.

We ordered tabla de queso, a cheese platter (€17.90), for which we even got a four page menu to pick our cheeses from. I think there were more than 36 different Spanish cheeses listed there with pictures, plus there were specials written on a few different boards around the bar. We ended up asking the proprietor to pick the cheese for us, specifying that we were interested in cheeses that are less common (read, I did not want a Manchego on my plate). Out of the five cheeses we got this way, all of them were excellent, representing different types, different ages and coming from a variety of different regions. Approve.

I approve of this platter so much so that I am going to bring every single person that comes to visit me in Madrid, taking them here against their own will if need be. I am only slightly joking. Be warned.

Pictured above are the ubiquitous potato crisps that you get as a free tapa more often than not. It is a boring snack but sometimes getting this free accompaniment works to our advantage. So, I have never had canned mussels before and these canned mussels or mejillones (€8.90) were calling my name. I wanted to order the giant mussels just to see how they look like but they were not available, so we settled for the regular size.

These canned mussels are like nothing I have had before. No, scratch that. They are canned, so they come out with the texture similar to canned sardines or šprotai (this one is for my Lithuanian friends). I have had canned sardines before, so I did know what to expect but the canned mussels still surprised me a little bit. Just like the sardines and maybe even more so, they had this super crumbly texture and a slightly oily acidic taste that I personally associate with canning. In the end, these mussels worked really well with the crisps. Success!