I had the best sangria, Jamón Iberico, and other tapas while sitting at the outdoors tables of Cervecería Alemana on Plaza de Santa Ana in Madrid.
I’d just arrived to Madrid from a long, tiring train ride from Bilbao after attending the Gastronomika Conference in San Sebastian. I was tired and hungry, and a glass of sangria seemed perfect to wash down the tapas dishes that were to be my supper.
Spanish Jamon. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
From previous visits to classic Madrileño eateries, I knew to go to Cervecería Alemana near my hotel. It was a Hemingway favorite, where they still have a table by the entrance window reserved in his honor.
The Cerveceria is known as an intelligencia hangout, serving some of the best German-bottled imported beers, but it was a very hot early evening quite unexpected for late October. So I thought that a pitcher of cold Sangria would be far more appropriate than a beer to wash down my tapas.
Plate of pickled olives and pimento. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
Sangria and tapas in Spain or an alcoholic beverage and meze are a classic Mediterranean indulgence on hot days. The name Sangria relates to sangre, the Spanish word for “blood” and is attributed to the sangria’s deep red color when it’s made with traditional dry red wine.
Tapas pickled eggplant and pimento on bread slices. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
In the Spanish eateries and bars that I’m familiar with, they use either an inexpensive Rioja or a less expensive red from Priorat to make their sangria. If you wish to make some at home, use a dry red wine priced between $8 and $15 per bottle.
Spanish is, of course, the preferred wine, but any Italian, California, Portuguese, or Greek red at that price range will also be just as good. I think French Burgundies are too “heavy” to be used in sangria, as well as too expensive. You don’t want to pay chateau prices for, in essence, a cooler.
The fruit should be ripe but crisp. I like strawberries in my sangria, but that’s a newer version of the classic drink. The traditional fruit and wine recipe doesn’t call for strawberries. It calls for only citrus fruit and crisp apple slices.
Andalucia tapas. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
To accompany any wine in Spain, there are tapas. They are almost always a piece of air-dried meat or cheese or pickled fish. Nowadays, there’s even something more elaborate skewered with a toothpick and served on a piece of bread.
Most bars will offer pieces of Manchego cheese or slices of Jamón Iberico (salted and dried meat from black-footed Iberico pigs), a portion of albondigas (small meatballs in a sauce), slices of pickled octopus (pulpo gallego), pickled anchovies (boquerones or boccherones – you will find both spellings on Spanish menus), baby squid cooked in its ink (chipirones en su tinta), and many more.
White pickled anchovies. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
There are also snails cooked in onion sauce, large crab shells stuffed with changuro gratin (flavored breadcrumbs, pimiento, celery, and crab meat) Basque-style, green or black pickled olives, large shrimp cooked in garlic sauce (gambas al ajillo), stuffed or pickled mushrooms, or any other cooked, pickled, or raw tidbit that the bar or restaurant specializes in.
The operating word is: never drink on an empty stomach!
Albondigas of Cerveceria Alemana. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
In the past, tapas were offered on a few plates at the bar, and they were free – a single piece or small portion with each glass of wine you purchased. Today, you have to pay for tapas, but they’re inexpensive and tasty enough for patrons not to worry much about the cost.
To your health!
Traditional sangria. Photo by Nick Ross.
Sangria Recipe
Ingredients: – 1 (750-ml) bottle of dry red wine – 3/4 cup fresh orange juice – 1/2 cup Spanish brandy or rum (I like the Carlos I, known as Carlos Primero) – 1/2 cup sugar – 1 orange, sliced
– 1 lime, juice of – 1 apple, sliced – 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries, to taste – 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
Method: 1. In a large pitcher, combine the wine, orange juice, lime juice, brandy, granulated sugar, and cinnamon stick.
2. Slice the orange and lemon into thin rounds.
3. Peel the apple, and slice it, as well as the strawberries.
4. Keeping a few citrus rounds out as glass garnishes, add all of the sliced fruit to the pitcher, and mix.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve, ideally for at least 2 hours or even better, overnight.
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Train between Spain and Morocco? Fingers crossed this happens! They might build a tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar to link the two countries from Madrid to Casablanca. Wouldn’t that be something?
Fast train. Photo by StockSnap.
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Fewer vacation rentals in Hawaii? The governor of the state signed a law this month that gives individual counties the power to convert short-term rental properties into long-term ones in an effort to deal with the housing shortage.
Airplane.
AIRLINE AND AIRPORT NEWS
Airport parking made easier: Did you know you can book preflight airport parking in advance through AirportParkingReservations.com and premium valet parking through ParkSleepFly?
Don’t want to lose your luggage on a flight? Fly into Japan’s Kansai International Airport (KIX), where they haven’t lost a piece of baggage in 30 years, which is the airport’s entire history!
Travel luggage.
The world’s cleanest airports? Japan also won the top award on this list, but not Kansai. That accolade went to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Others in the top 10 (clearly dominated by Asia) include: Seoul Incheon, Singapore Changi, Doha Hamad, Centrair Nagoya, Tokyo Narita, Kansai, Hong Kong, Taiwan Taoyuan, and Zurich.
Has tipping gone mad? The Detroit Airport is reportedly asking for tips at water-filling stations. Puh-leese!
United Airlines giving you a chance to leave the middle: If you note a preference for a aisle or window in your United Airlines account, they’ll automatically move you from a middle seat if one becomes available.
JetBlue and Etihad Airlines news: Now, you can earn JetBlue miles on Etihad flights and vice versa, thanks to an expanded partnership between the two airlines.
Airlines behaving badly: Qantas Airlines just got fined $79 million for selling “ghost flights” in 2021 and 2022 – flights it had already canceled – and not refunding the money to customers. Naughty, naughty!
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this restaurant is the world’s oldest continuously operating eating establishment. Tucked into the street of the Cuchilleros, i.e. the Knifemakers, just a stone’s throw off Plaza Mayor, Sobrino de Botín (the name means Botín’s Nephew) is a famous Madrileño restaurant that I’m very fond of. I try to eat there every time I’m in Madrid.
Botin’s cellar tables. Photo courtesy of Restaurante Botín.
The building was built in 1590 and initially operated as an inn. So as not to compete with the butchers that sold meat in Plaza Mayor (Madrid’s original marketplace), the inn wasn’t allowed to have a full-fledged restaurant. Instead, travelers had to buy their meat from the butchers in the plaza and take it to the inn to be cooked in the oven.
As soon as that rule was lifted in the late 18th century, Botín changed from an inn to a restaurant. The inn was renamed to Casa Botín after Monsieur Botín took over, and then changed again to Café Botín.
Upon Monsieur Botín’s passing in 1753, the nephew of Botín’s Spanish wife took over the management and renamed it “Sobrino de Botín.” Currently, it’s run by three brothers, the fourth generation of the González family who are descendants of Botín’s wife.
Restaurant Botin’s original oven, purportedly burning continuously for 300 years. Photo courtesy of Restaurante Botín.
The restaurant currently occupies all four floors of the building and tries to preserve the original atmosphere of the inn. The cellar is from 1590 and currently used as one of the dining rooms. The kitchen’s wood oven, where many of the signature dishes are cooked, also dates from that year, and the flame in the oven has supposedly been burning continuously for 300 years – since the Botíns took over – never extinguished.
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, the Spanish romantic painter, worked at Café Botín as a waiter or by other accounts as a dishwasher during his teenage years, and the eatery was one of Ernest Hemingway’s favorite haunts during his time in Madrid. In his book, The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes, the book’s hero, talks about the restaurant: “…we lunched upstairs at Botíns. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta.” In his book, Death in the Afternoon, published in 1932 as a portrait of the Spanish bullfighting traditions, Hemingway also mentions Botín.
The staff is always quick to tell you that “Hemingway ate here” and show you his table in one of the upstairs rooms.
Graham Greene, who last visited Madrid in 1980 also mentions Botín in one of his last works, Monsignor Quixote (1982).
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and Nancy Reagan have all dined in the world’s oldest restaurant, seduced by its striking interior and outstanding food.
Botín’s roast piglet. Photo courtesy of Restaurante Botín.
Using imaginative recipes following centuries of tradition, Botín serves classic Spanish food accompanied by exceptional Spanish wines. It’s famous for its signature dish, roast suckling piglet – cochinillo asado – that is delicate with a natural flavor and a crunchy skin. Cordero asado – roast lamb – is the other roasted meat dish Botín is especially famous for.
A specialty to try is sopa de ajo, a local hangover remedy, made with an egg poached in chicken broth and laced with sherry and lots of garlic. Other very desirable dishes are baby eels in garlic sauce, “croquetas” that are crisp on the outside and melty on the inside, chicken fricassee in almond sauce, stewed partridge, and white asparagus with mayonnaise, among the many other delicacies on the menu.
Botín’s jamon Iberico. Photo courtesy of Restaurante Botín.
Their hand-cut jamón de bellota is from Extremadura’s acorn-fed pigs and is also delicious!
A reservation is a very good idea but not really necessary. The best time to eat is at lunchtime, however. Lunch in Spain is served between 1:15-4:00 pm.
The waiters are friendly and attentive. They take real pride in working for such a historic institution. If you imbibe, they have some exceptional Rioja or Catalan wines, or if you are having tapas, their Fino sherry is exceptional.
In Madrid’s Plaza de Oriente, across the street from the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) and very near to Madrid’s Royal Theater and Opera House, is a restaurant called Café de Oriente with a long history of excellent food that respects Spain’s culinary tradition, catering to a distinguished clientele. Sometimes, the King of Spain has been seen dining with his guests in one of the private rooms.
Café de Oriente scallops. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
For a long time, it has been the dining venue for the upper classes and Madrid’s intelligentia. Especially in the winter, everyone who’s anyone in Madrid will be found at this restaurant’s bar, eating and drinking at some time or other. Its proximity to the Royal Theater and the Opera and the food’s quality ensure a steady stream of patrons.
Café de Oriente carpaccio. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
The eating areas are on 2 levels: the cellar – in what was, I presume, the eatery’s wine storage space in the distant past; and the street level that has the bar and numerous tables in an opulent Belle Époque setting plus private rooms for event dining or to accommodate patrons when the main dining spaces are full.
Café de Oriente cellar dining area. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
Outside, on the plaza, there is an outdoor covered space used mostly in the summer for al fresco eating with tables near the restaurant’s entrance. In the winter, that space is heated.
They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and at the bar, you can have drinks and tapas any time of the day till very late at night. There are prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner that are very good. I prefer ordering lunch from the a-la-carte menu to pair with the wine I’m drinking. And most of the time in the early evening before dinner, I have tapas at the bar with an Amontillado or Fino that I drink when I’m in Madrid.
Café de Oriente fried crab. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
The food is definitely classic Spanish but with a number of newer dishes showing Mediterranean influences like the chipirones (baby squid) cooked in its own ink. The service is mostly wonderful in the inside areas, but in a few cases (especially in the summer when the outdoor space is very crowded), the service can be harried, slow, and rude. They definitely need more waiters outside when the weather is warm.
Café de Oriente chipirones en su tinta. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
One of the tasty appetizers I love at the Café is a duck liver terrine with smoked eel and caramelized banana, and another is fresh artichokes stuffed with veal cheeks stewed in Armagnac, accompanied by morel mushrooms.
Café de Oriente artichokes. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
Main meat courses that I enjoyed very much have been roasted piglet with a beautifully crispy skin, venison loin with chestnut puree and raspberry sauce, as well as lamb shank (similar to an Osso Buco) stewed in red wine, served with marrow, pumpkin puree, and pickled red cabbage. There are also spectacularly cooked fish courses, crispy mullet, and sautéed squid in a garlic and txakoli wine sauce, and cuttlefish in its own ink served with rice and mussels in escabeche.
Café de Oriente Italian-style lamb shank. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
And the desserts are not too shabby either. I loved the tiramisu and the dark chocolate soufflé with tangerine sorbet.
Café de Oriente dessert. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
Of course, all dishes are seasonal and change very often, but the ones above have been memorable during visits in the recent past. And the tapas at the bar are unrivaled.
Café de Oriente dessert with fresh fruits. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
The wine list is extensive with wines from some of the best Spanish viticulture areas including Priorat, Ribera de Ruedo, Rias Baixas, Penedés, Valdeorras, Rioja and numerous others, mostly long verticals. There are also champagnes and sparkling wines from France; Cava (they carry Juvé & Camps Reserva de la Familia and Segura Viudascavas that I’m partial to) and dry and sweet sherries, Tokajis, Rieslings from Germany, and many other international libations, though the Spanish wines dominate the list.
It is a great place to have tapas at the bar in the evening that are tasty and, all things considered, not that expensive.
