I happily discovered recently that GMAT preparation courses are available here in Madrid in English. I attended the course and will write a review soon! Check back in April for details.
Phillip Stark
Founder
MAPMagazine.com
In the land where toast with olive oil and churros dipped in hot chocolate are the typical breakfast, how would bagels fare? Beigol Bagels, which opened up barely two weeks ago, is about to find out. Although there are a couple of bakeries that sell bagels and its necessary ingredients, Beigol Bagels is the first sit-down and chill out café in Madrid solely dedicated to the consumption of these round wonders. Behind this place is a native New Yorker who’s longing for bagels got her through making her own, an idea later amplified with the opening of this friendly bagel sanctuary.
Yes, that’s right; all that’s sold in this café is either made or prepared in its kitchen. This includes the different kinds of bagels: normal, sesame, garlic and onion—cheeses and toppings, which brings us to Beigol’s second perk after guaranteed freshness: variety. In here you will find traditional combinations, strange Spanish infusions and sugary creations that can place a bagel as a good option for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. Let’s start with the conventional kinds so as to not scare off the traditionalists: bagels with cream cheese or butter, with ham and cheese or with cream cheese and salmon. There is also the Spaniardized option, bagel with olive oil and crushed tomatoes, or with a tortilla stuck in the middle—all these range between 2.50 and 3.80 euros.
For the more adventurous there are the special combinations for 5.00 euros each: pizza bagels; chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo, and fried plantains with cheese bagels. Of course there are also a variety of ingredients for the old “make your own” option, where there bagel is 2.50 euros and the toppings range between 30 cents and 1.60 euros. Among these are chorizo, ham, egg salad, tuna and mayo, salmon, plantains and many other vegetables. Sweet options aren’t lacking either they have bagels with nutella, sugar, honey, sweet apple, and marmalade, all between 2.60 and 3.80 euros. There are a couple of other items on the menu for those who don’t want bagels—gazpacho, a soup of the day and dessert brownies—but coming here for something other than bagels is like going to the Museo del Jamon for chicken cutlets. Be sure to try some of their tasty drink options though, like the natural juices and chocolate milk, all under 2.00 euros.
Beigol Bagels wants you to come and read, work or waste time with acquaintances for as long as possible, for its designed precisely for that. The two sofas and window lounge chairs are soft and comfy, the music is background noise and the lighting is artsy and not too bright. There is a small but valuable bookshelf filled with names like Conrad, Wilde, Joyce and Garcia Marquez, the walls are covered with art or photography of local artists and Wi-Fi is readily available. Theme nights are on the way of being organized. So far Wednesday’s are reserved for cycling enthusiasts and Thursday’s are dubbed international night, where Spanish and English learners can come and learn from each other. Plus, the café’s schedule make it a multipurpose place indeed: it is generally open from 10:00 a.m. till late at night, so it’s not only a place to get all three meals but also a fully equipped bar that serves beer at 1.20 euros and all other liquors between 5.00 and 7.00 euros—a well rounded place worth going to!
Beigol Bagels
Calle de Melendez Valdes, 29
91 162 53 89
Metro: Moncloa or Arguelles
Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays 10:00am – 12:00am / Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday’s 10:00am – 2:00 am / closed on Tuesdays
By Daniel Sznajderman
What immediately comes to mind when you hear the words Barrio de Lavapies? Immigrants, colorful buildings, dirty zigzagging streets, drug peddlers and a whole lotta Indian food would be the probable answer of many people that have been to this popular neighborhood. This particular article focuses only on the last point (sorry there, drug seekers). There are enough Indian restaurants in Lavapies to fill its streets with waves of hot curry and ride them with naan surfboards, but if you find having a huge amount of choices to be rather overwhelming I’d like to humbly recommend a sure thing: the Anarkoli Indian Restaurant. Located in the neighborhood’s main street, it is a place to have a feast of traditional and odd Indian dishes full of that which characterizes Indian cuisine outside of India: intense flavor and ever present spice.
The restaurant is clean and simple with one room that serves as a bar and waiting place for takeout orders and an ampler room for dining. The brick walls hold various posters and paintings of Indian religious figures and of the country itself, but these are not too overwhelming in number or variety—the food is what you should be concentrated on anyway, and the food is good. If as mentioned before you have a problem with having too many choices then bad news with the menu, this place has almost too many dishes to count. To give some idea and direction the menu is sectioned so forth: entrees (2.95 to 4.95), tandoor oven cuisine (5.00 to 13.50), chicken and lamb dishes (6.95 to 8.25), vegetable plates (3.95 to 5.50), the all inclusive two person meal (approx 32 euros) and a large selection of breads (3.50 each).
Notable entries include the traditional meat somosas and the spicy lentil soup, the latter goes well with some naan bread, which is offered in its traditional form but also with garlic, meat and cheese. You can also order the peshwar naan which comes doused with almonds, coconut and sugar—though that hardly classifies as a side dish anymore! Chicken and lamb options are ample, with dishes such as mango chicken, and the explosive paneer tikka which comes as a mix of meat, cheese, yogurt and spices. For 13.50 euros there is a mix grill plate that combines chicken tikka and tandoori, lamb kebab and fried king prawns.
For those who can only think of innocent animals being slaughtered when reading this list of recipes, don’t worry—there’s stuff for you cow huggers as well. The malai kofta is a cheap dish of potato balls with almond cream, while the mitar paneer has fried cheese, onions, tomatoes and peppers. If you’re a curry lover (you know, the kind who can’t help always getting curry despite having other dishes to choose from) there are plenty of curry options when it comes to the type of meat, rice and spice level. These are usually 8.00 euros each except the mixed curry that comes at 12.50 and the vegetarian at 5.00 euros. Well, there you go—next time you are walking in Lavapies on a sunny day or are itching for Indian food, drop by Anarkoli.
Anarkoli
Lavapies 46
91 467 60 00
Metro: Lavapies or Tirso de Molina
Open daily from 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
By Daniel Sznajderman
To go to the main Food and Tapas page click here
El Corral de la Morería is Madrid´s best known tablao, offering arguably the best flamenco performances in the city. Flamenco isn’t its only strength: the food has earned the hard to get recognition of the Michelin Guide. The flamenco spectacle runs from 22 to 23:30 and then again from 24 to 1:30 in the morning—the musicians are first rate and the dancers are amazing, most are young artists that have risen to be among the best of their generation. As for the food, the menu has a wide selection of exquisite Spanish delicacies than can be ordered á la carte or by fixed menu. It is an expensive place—the cheapest starter is 17 euros and fixed menus can cost up to 99 euros—that also charges 34 euros as cover charge for the show. For detailed information and reservations click here.
To go to the main Flamenco in Madrid page click here
To go to the main Food and Tapas page click here
By Daniel Sznajderman
o2 has enough merchandise to accessorize any room in your home: stylish salt and pepper holders and fashionable toasters for your kitchen; cool comfy pillows, psychedelic lamps and a shiny vintage turntable for the living room; funky calculators, magnets, and a red phone out of Dr. Strangelove for your desk (have to look professional of course). More than aiming to be professional or elegant though, o2 shoots straight for the hip, trendy and plain cool. The surprising part is that instead of coming off as laughable or excessive it pretty much achieves its goal: the store is worth a stroll just to look at the ingenious models and great designs of everyday items that are on display.
Located a few meters away from the Puerta del Sol, the two floor store is bigger than it looks from the outside, and every pocket of space is filled with some product or other. The first section is dedicated almost solely to body accessories comprised of beads, jewels, stones, crystals, almost all beautiful intense colors. The back of the store is filled with household items, some that can be quite useful and others that are just decorative. One sure thing is that the hefty prices aren’t there only because of product quality, but also because the product’s design transforms it into total eye candy.Vintage cameras from the sixties (the Lubitel Universal 166 +), insane pens and key chains, laptop skins fashioned to look like an old world atlas, alarm clocks that belong in a Looney Tunes episode, plus—and brace yourself for the kitchen—all kinds of glassware, shiny martini drink shakers, animal shaped cutlery, coffee cups with wings, and cheese graters that look like part of a fashionable lady’s dress. Upstairs the show continues with thin round wall clocks—one themed to the image of a bulldog, another of Marilyn Monroe, one that looks like a flat planet earth—hippie style clothing, colorful candles, school bags shaped like matchboxes and the huge battery shaped cylinder to dispose batteries in, duh.
As far as costs go here’s an idea of the price range: Cups, glassware and cutlery costs between 4.25 and 6.75 euros, while other accessories of the sort go much higher: salt and pepper shakers can reach up to 40 euros, an ice tray is 25 euros, cooking utensils go at around 35 euros. The cool phones and clocks easily top 100 euros. Heck, there’s even ambiance CD’s tuned to relaxing jazz, soothing Zen, erotic Elvis Presley (for real), but for 14.95 each better look for these in any normal music store.
A lunatic rampage of unnecessary accessorizing? You can make a strong case for that, but how unnecessary it has to be is up to you. If you’re not looking for something for yourself then even better—it is the perfect store to find an original and good quality gift.
o2
Calle del Carmen, 8
91 532 46 83
By Daniel Sznajderman
RESOURCES FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS LOOKING TO PREPARE FOR MBA PROGAMS WHILE IN MADRID
MBA SPAIN – consultancy and GMAT training in Madrid
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COMING SOON.
Standing inconspicuously somewhere along the narrow Calle de Infantas, Zara is not the kind of place you’d expect to have a good reputation and widespread popularity. Yet this small restaurant has been known to locals as the place to go to eat Cuban food for nearly thirty years. Its cozy, simple ambience and nonchalant staff makes costumers feel at home and the food, as today’s lingo so rightly expresses, is the bomb. Lodged between bigger buildings, the sliding door leads to a small space that looks a bit like a cabin with rough walls and a bent wooden ceiling. The decoration is intentionally plain, with just a couple of maps of Cuba and a small olden time sign of La Habana. The place, however, is not dirty or crookedly built: on the contrary, the floor and tables, covered in traditional red and white checkered tablecloths, are impeccably clean. This must be so because of the tight shift run by the restaurant’s owners, an elderly couple, he a Spaniard and she a Cuban, who first opened the place in 1978 as a café and then expanded it into what it is today.
The restaurant offers virtually all the traditional Cuban dishes—as well as some Spanish and infused ones—that will make those that are used to the food happy to eat it again and those that are new to it happy to have discovered it. The menu’s backbone is rice, black beans, meat and chicken, ingredients that although common, are seasoned here to produce a distinct flavor. Common not only in Cuba but in large parts of South America is the “ropa vieja” dish. “Old clothing” refers to seasoned and juicy meat cut into little strips, which comes accompanied by rice and beans—here in Zara, they offer their own black rice as an alternative to the customary white that is delicious. Just as commonly well known are the chicken and rice dishes and the “arroz a la cubana”, rice with fried eggs and tomato sauce.
What makes this restaurant authentic and worthwhile is that it also makes food using ingredients that, opposed to rice and chicken, aren’t very common on this side of the Atlantic. Yuca (cassava in English), a root vegetable and common side dish in Latin America that can be served fried or boiled, is tasty and should not be passed up. Another celebrated sidekick are tostones: fried plantains that are as eagerly eaten by little children as toothless old timers wherever they form part of the daily diet. Heading towards sweeter things, the place offers a variety of fresh juices, and by that I mean thick, colorful, tasty juices. Such fruits are also used in desserts, notably the guayaba paste, fresh pineapple and coconut in sugar based syrup.
Drinking enthusiasts and dependants need not worry: although not a bar, Zara offers plenty of alcohol, from standard beer and wine to more tropically inspired drinks like pina coladas, daiquiris, and of course Cuban rum. Also available is ice cold sangria (we are in Madrid after all) and a variety of cream liqueurs like Cointreau and Baileys. As far as prices go, Zara is neither cheap nor expensive—a big meal for 3 would for instance cost around 60 euros. The general price breakdown would be: soups and entrees cost between 3 and 5 euros, meats and seafood between 8 and 15, and desserts and drinks are around 6 or 7 euros.
Zara
Calle Infantas 5
91 532 20 74
Metro: Gran Via
Open Monday through Friday from 13:00 p.m. to 17:00 p.m. and 20:00 p.m. to 23:30 p.m.
By Daniel Sznajderman
To go to the main Food and Tapas page click here
The question is obvious: standing in the usually crowded calle de las Huertas, where bars and clubs almost pile up on top of each other, why go into La Trocha as opposed to the others? It’s not the only place that offers up jazz and caipirinhas—the mob of bar promoters and drink offer hander outers that spot you, like army recruiters spot high school dropouts, will make that abundantly clear. It’s a safe bet that going to La Trocha once will answer that question: one visit is all you need to sense the quality, dependability and good vibes that come out of this popular bar. Open daily from 16:30 p.m. to around 1:30 a.m. (it closes around 3:00 a.m. on weekends) the place is a great blend of jazz and tropical flavor. Somewhat like a long passageway, the wooden bar stretches along most of the local and faces a line of chairs and small wooden tables, while there is a small area in the back with a wider room. The walls are covered with framed posters of jazz legends as well as pictures from places like India and Tibet, and the colors that fill the walls are mellow and old fashioned.
These spots are ideal and comfortable for drinking and chatting while listening to music that is not too loud for conversing or too faint to enjoy. Remember though, if you want seats during weekends try to come before 12 o’clock, otherwise you will have to stand like the rest of the crowd that barges in as the night progresses. What you find at those hours is a lively but not savage crowd of mostly older people—it is more common to see a group of 30 or 40 something’s than a group of teenagers. This does not necessarily describe the bar’s youthful staff, who are undoubtedly one of the reasons this is an enjoyable place. It seems that they follow the philosophy that the best way to keep customers is to treat them nicely and with familiarity. They don’t mind offering you a shot or, ah screw it, taking that last drink out of the tab, if that means you’ll want to come back. And that is the kind of place La Trocha is: one to come back to instead of being “that crazy spot” that you try out once.
Going back to the question of why go to this specific bar and not the others in the same area, the short answer simply is: the caipirinhas. Yes, the bar has rums, vodkas and whiskeys, just like any other in Huertas. But their incredible caipirinhas are really the main product and cornerstone of the place. I won’t say they are the best in Madrid: I haven’t been to all its bars and besides, just as with tapas, beer and sangria a lot of folks know places they will swear serves the best caipirinhas in the city. But I will mention they do serve the best ones I’ve had in Madrid or any other place. The sugar cane rum, lime and lemon drink is mixed thoroughly in balanced amounts, thrown into ice and then crushed to create a mouthwatering cocktail. Traditional caipirinhas made from cachaca or “flor de Caña” (both sugar cane variations) and ones made with rum and vodka are either 6 or 7 euros each, the same price range goes for other liquors. Wine prices range between 4 and 18 euros. If you’re looking for tapas or food though, there are none offered here.
La Trocha
Calle de las Huertas 55
91 429 78 61
Metro: Anton Martin
Open daily from 16:30 p.m. to approximately 2:00 a.m.
By Daniel Sznajderman
When it comes to food, Madrid is known to be especially cosmopolitan. It seems that every type of culinary experiment and tendency can be found in and around the city’s streets and boulevards, and Las Noches de Moscú is a perfect example. Set up a few blocks from the tribunal metro—on one of those streets that get downtrodden by partiers on weekends—this genuine Russian restaurant will transport you to good food and a warm atmosphere as soon as you walk in the door.
The place is small and colorful, not more than eight tables surrounded by walls decorated with a sense of folklore that you’d imagine exists more in this restaurant than in Moscow itself: part of the ceiling is built in the shape of a dome that Russian architecture has made famous, the walls are filled with reproductions of 19th century traditional Russian portraits and the indispensable babushka dolls, and the food is served in traditional porcelain dishes. Of course, such decorations are of backburner importance compared to the quality of the food—happily, all that eye candy isn’t there to distract customers from the meals. In fact, the courses are mostly succulent and satisfying pieces of Russian cuisine that, with the exception of a few rather luxurious dishes and drinks, are priced at amounts not seen since the Iron Curtain days.
The menu offers different sections of food with soups and salads starting at 3.50 euros, fish and meat from 6.50 euros, blini-blinchinki’s (traditional crepes) at 6.00 euros, and desserts ranging from 2.00 to 5.00 euros. Among the essentials are well known Russian dishes: the beef stroganoff (12.40) is just right while the “borsch moskovita” is the traditional warmer upper, a delicious soup with onions, beetroot and other vegetables and a hint of white cheese (5.40). Dishes with herring are a specialty of the house, a particularly good combination being the “salat ish padshuby” (5.80 Euros) which comes with potatoes and is marinated with onions and carrots. If you’re feeling particularly oligarchic, there’s always the good old blini with black caviar (22.00 euros for 100gr worth). The black bread and salmon crackers included in the meal aren’t bad either. Finally, desserts are meant to be refreshing and aren’t as heavy as the main courses. Among the recommended are the Kamchatka yogurt (3.50 euros) and the lemon sorbet with vodka (5.00 euros).
There is variety when it comes to drinks as well: juice combinations are mostly 3.00 euros (the beetroot, apple and orange juice mix is good); white, red, and pink wines range from 9.00 to 28.50 euros and vodka choices are not limited. A well worth it drink is the white Russian sangria. Whether it’s a drink that has been altered to fit Spanish culture or one that is totally made up, its mix of wine, cucumber, fruits and vodka is perfectly balanced. A big jug will cost you 9.80 euros and can be shared by three people—two if you plan to not drive back home. The relaxed ambiance and food attracts all kinds of clientele, from family to groups of young people, whom are well attended by the young staff.
Las Noches de Moscú
Calle del Marqués de Santa Ana, 37
91 531 04 11
Metro: Tribunal
Open everyday from 13:30 p.m. – 16:30 p.m. and 20:30 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
By Daniel Sznajderman
To go to the main Food and Tapas page click here
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