Madrid: Restaurante Badila and Museo Reina Sofía

I'm going to do a few posts out of chronological order. We did visit the South of France following our stay in San Sebastian, then ended back up in Madrid. The city, the first time around just didn't impress us much we'd walked around a bit, eaten some decent, but not outstanding meals and were just a bit underwhelmed. The rather griminess and grittiness of the city along with the heat and such had not impressed much on us. This was to change soon enough. This time around, we were staying at an apartment right on Plaza de Tirso de Molina a very busy square in Madrid. It meant a walk of over a mile from Atocha Station, which wasn't so bad. You'd think that being in the middle of the crowds would make things worse; but the opposite was true. First off, the apartment we were staying at. Not just the view of the plaza.....

But the set-up as well with good A/C....quite important as the temps would be in the 90's until 9-10pm...no wonder dinner was eaten so late. But the double paned windows minimized the sound of the lively square below.

As a big bonus, one of the owners; Emilio apparently loved to eat. While checking in, I mentioned his great list of restaurants....then, just by luck, we started talking about Jamon....not Jamon Iberico....but Jamon Bellota, and the importance of how the jamon is sliced. We were in like Flynn! He asked us to stow our luggage, then walked us to his favorite local eatery..."nothing fancy, but very good, local style food"! It would turn out to be just the kind of place we'd been looking for. It was right down the side street, but there was no way we'd have found Restaurante Badila without him. Emilio introduced us to the owner....they found us a table in the packed little restaurant, which featured "menu del dia".....a menu of items available for the day.

The little place was packed.....all locals, looking for a good lunch at decent prices. The deal was a soup or salad, a main, dessert, and drinks (which included a glass of wine on weekends) for a set price. This would turn out to be one of our favorite meals of the trip....even without foie gras!

Things just started out perfectly for us as I'd ordered the Salmorejo.......which has become a staple in our household.

The wonderful "taste of sunshine" from the ripe tomatoes, the grassy-peppery flavor of the olive oil...it was refreshing on such a hot day and had that "aaah" factor to it. Smooth and creamy, onion for pungency, the jamon for a bit of salty-savory flavor. Man, this was so good......it left an indelible mark on me.

We'd had mollejas de cordero, goat sweetbreads before, but coated with a light crunchy batter to provide that contrast in textures....crunch and creamy was just right.

And provided in salad was just perfect for such a hot day.

The Huevos con Chorizo was probably the most mundane dish of the day.

But since the Missus loves eggs, this really didn't disappoint either.

The Estofado Carne was also delicious and quite different from what I thought I'd get.

The beef was so flavorful and tender, the sauce almost like a light béchamel.........this was delicious.

And there was dessert....which the Missus enjoyed.

No, there were no Michelin stars here. Just honest good food, the type locals like to eat. It really made our day and we started seeing Madrid in a different way. We started understanding things. A good meal can do that. In fact, I'm looking forward to returning someday soon. To the simple restaurant down a side street......

Thanks Emilio!

Restaurante Badila
Calle San Pedro Martir 6
Madrid, Spain

Emilio had left us to our own devices once he found us seats in Badila. We had the keys to the apartment and a list of places to eat and the rest was up to us.

It was getting fairly warm so we did the Spanish thing....it was siesta time!

When we awoke, the Missus had things planned out for us.......on our earlier visit we checked out the Prado Museum twice....during the free early evening hours. On our return trip, it was The Reina Sofia Museum's turn.

There were actually quite a few people waiting to get into the museum, but the line moved fast......and heck, it was free (between 7 and 9pm).

As I've mentioned before, I really don't know much about art. But this trip has really given me a greater appreciation of it. I was truly moved by viewing Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. One artist I do know of is Joan Miró whose works I recall seeing at the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu. I've always enjoyed his somewhat whimsical and almost playful works. So of course I enjoyed viewing his works here. Next time we're in Barcelona, we'll make sure to visit his museum.

There was of course, works by Dali, Diego Rivera, and many more, like this work named Un Mundo (The World) by Angeles Santos.

There was one particular work that I wanted to see. I'd mentioned gaining a real appreciation of the work of Picasso, then being moved by his painting and the story of the Bombing of Guernica. So the main reason for really wanting to visit was to view Guernica by Picasso. Just viewing a photo of the painting inspired us to visit the city. The painting is huge....much larger than I expected. The size creates a greater impact...the vignettes...the stories each part of the work tells.

Museo Reina Sofía
Calle Santa Isabel 52
Madrid, Spain

Days were fairly long during this part of the year. It was past 8 when we left the museum but as is the way in Madrid, things seemed to just be getting started.

And as is the way in large cities. There are thousands of little scenes. In this one, the older man slowly makes his move......

And in the end, got a peck on the cheek and a slap on the shoulder.......

Love knows no age limit in Madrid.......

Comments

[kat]

what a great day & great food!

[Kirk]

It was Kat!