Madrid and Sevilla reviewette...

[Maximilien]

Spend a bit more than a week in Madrid and Sevilla 2 weeks ago; my second time in two years.

Photos and name of places I've been : http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesorus...

Apart from the excellent evening at Sergi Arola's Gastro (see review in other post), I have been eating mostly in Tapas bar.

The real surprise was Maceiras on Calle De la Huertas in Madrid on a sunday night; I was lucky to find it in time; I was "this" close to go back to my hotel!! The setting is really nice, "bohemian" in style; and the food, simple fresh and tasty; and cheap.

For some reasons, I was less "explorative" in my restaurant search than last year, and probably spend too much time around the "south" part of the city (south of Grand Via); and stuck to more tourist area than I'm used to.

In general, the food was adequate, better than expected in some places, ordinary or worse in some other places.

It would seem that the more "cheap" the place looks the better the food will be or the price/quality ratio will be better; or the vibe of the place will be better; my strategy which worked best in Sevilla than in Madrid is to stay on main streets and when hungry find the first side street, and find something there instead the ones on the main streets.

In Madrid, Cerveceria Cervantes and Marisqueria La Paloma were the 2 best places; especially the later, great gambas à la plancha, oysters and boquerones; the former with nice "pinxto".

I've been to Txacolina and Tempranillo; both are bustling with activities, both have their charms. The best place for Jamon was "Toma Jamon", there, I got to taste the end of a ham and the beginning of another; the taste was a bit different; both were good.

In Sevilla, I planned 2 places, the other places were not.

The 2 places were Enrique Becerra and "El Rinconcillo"; both places were good, the later was better (IMO); at "El rinconcillo", at lunch time, it was a lot more fun, few tourists, lots of locals of all ages, all were going at it !! Jamon was the main thing and it was good, as well as the spinach and rice dish.

There were other places, some good, some less, but the "fun" or more traditional factor was better (Abaceria de Monsalves, "La Tienda" (cannot find the name) held by a women when I came in, small, simple and neighbourly

)

In general I've been happy, the food was good and the cost not too excessive.

One thing that is not ideal when "doing" tapas like that and doing more than one or two in one evening, is that it's hard to just "eat, drink, pay and go to next one" if doing it solo; I think it much more fun with at least another person, it's easier to taste more stuff and to pace oneself.

Max.