Alright, as I continue to try to catch up on all the review drafts I wrote while on vacation, at…read morethis point a whole 5 months ago... I know this one was exactly 5 months ago, because we touched down in Madrid on New Years Day, and this was the first place we ate (sounds like they've been here for aeons, so I doubt they've changed significantly since January.) My plan when we landed had been to just go down the list I'd made before we left of the best quick food places near our hotel, and eat at the first one that *was* open on New Years. I was worried there wouldn't be any and we'd be eating snacks from a convenience store, but nope! This place was indeed open.
Open, and an absolute *madhouse*. I'm not sure if it was just because it was New Years, they were open, and much of the street wasn't, or if they're always this crazy - but it was a decent wait to order, to the point that it wasn't *entirely* clear whether we were even waiting correctly to order, since the line had kind of turned into a blob. Ordering and picking up our food was slightly nerve-wracking with how crowded it was, and there didn't really appear to be anywhere inside to sit, so we figured we'd sit outside at the tables... that we got immediately yelled at for sitting at, because it turns out all the tables right outside their entrance, actually belongs to their next door neighbor. So if I were ever back in Madrid, I *would* totally consider getting food here again, but I'd just probably plan on bringing it back to the hotel, vs what we ended up doing, finding the closest nearby flat non-private surface and eating it standing up in an alley. It definitely felt like a cool historic building inside, though, would've loved to dine in, if it hadn't been wall-to-wall packed, which it sounds like they might just always be.
Food was great, though. We shared (this was plenty of food):
An order of the cider-braised sausages - wonderful. Bonus, we learned from personal experience, you definitely want to get an order of these sausages, as not only are the sausages themselves delicious, the resulting au jus was also great for dipping the other items into.)
An order of the ham and cheese croquettes - pretty tasty, though they did fall apart. Even tastier dipped in sausage juice, though then they *really* fell apart. Worth it though. Didn't look like you got a lot per order, but looks are deceiving - they were *rich*.
An order of their famous mushrooms - I was a bit surprised, given the name literally means "the mushroom bar", that they only had a single mushroom dish, though given the sheer volume of that one item they clearly sell nightly, I can see why. Anyway, as a mushroom fan... they were certainly tasty mushrooms, perfectly cooked, but in my opinion, just a bit oversalted.
Also had a glass of sangria for 2.50 euro - it is extremely good sangria, though the glass for 2.50 was pretty small. They also sell it for a better price by the larger container, but sadly, while I absolutely loved the European spirit of trusting people to be responsible after leaving with a to-go alcoholic beverage... they don't sell the *larger* sized sangria if you aren't dining in. Was too bad, as I absolutely would have loved twice as much of that sangria, but it clearly wasn't worth standing in a long ordering line a second time for it.
