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Food is a major part of the Madrid experience.
The range of Spanish and international cuisine available
is extensive. There are fine restaurants specializing
in traditional Spanish dishes, and there are others
specializing in the new wave of Spanish cooking
that is supplanting France as the center of what
was originally called nouvelle cuisine.
Somewhere in between are the traditional and ubiquitous
tapas bars, offering the Spanish version of finger
food that includes such delicacies as gambas a la
plancha (grilled, unpeeled prawns), tortilla (the
famous potato omlette), and the equally famous Jamon
Serrano and Jamon de Bellota (the latter being the
superior of the two and the best ham you can ever
hope to taste in your life, made from acorn-fed
pigs).
La Cava Baja is one of the most charming old streets
in the city, and it also happens to be gastronomic
heaven. One American food writer calls it "Tapas
Alley" because of its many tapas bars. But
the truth is that there are tapas bars on virtually
every Madrid street at which to snack, usually standing
up at a bar or seated on a bar stool.
And whereas Madrid restaurants are open at the
usual meal hours peculiar to the city -- 2 p.m.
and later for lunch, and from 9 p.m. onwards --
tapas serve food all day and well into the night.
Meanwhile, the new wave of Spanish chefs features
minimalist decor and a creative cuisine of highly
imaginative dishes creating unexpected combinations
that are as far removed from the old staples of
paella, and the tortilla as one can get.
The divergence from traditional Spanish fare begins
with the size of the portions. Classic Spanish cooking
is served in generous amounts. A new cuisine meal
consists of a procession of amuse guele courses
-- small dishes to surprise and amuse the taste
buds. With the menu changing almost daily, a meal
can begin with a dollor of pina colada sorbet served
on a white ceramic spoon followed by tiny fried
eels, and then cubes of pork in an exotic fruit
sauce, and so on for 10 courses or more.
Visitors who prefer heartier fare, particularly
in winter, should go elsewhere. Perhaps to a restaurant
famous for its cocido, a typical winter dish which
is basically a slow cooked stew of different meats
and vegetables.
The explosion of imaginative new cooking has conicideed
with a leap in quality of Spanish wines.
Surprisingly, Madrid has its own wine, made within
the city limits. The village of Navalcarnero is
a center of Madrid wine making, with several bodegas
producing drinkable Cabernet Sauvignon and other
wine types. But the wine lists of your average Madrid
restaurant will include the top red wines from Ribera
del Duero, La Rioja, classy wines from Galicia (Rias
Baixas) and Rueda, and ordinary table wines from
La Mancha and Valdepenas.
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