Adventures in Spain: Tapas Crawl in Madrid

Back in February, my string of good luck began when I won a trip to Navarra, Spain.  You can read my original post about Navarra and the dinner we attended during Navarra Gastronomic Week here. 

The time finally came last week for Piggie Hubby and me to embark on what we knew would be a spectacular, unforgettable gastronomic adventure in Spain.  As you’ll see from the photos, we kicked off our trip by spending our first two days eating all of the tapas Madrid had to offer. 

Our first food adventure was at Mercado de San Miguel, a covered market with over 30 different shops that offer fresh fruit and seafood and most importantly for us, beer and tapas!  We came here our first night in Madrid to have a sampling of tapas.  There was so much more we wanted to try, we came back for lunch the next day as well.

On our way to Mercado de San Miguel, we stopped to watch the Mariachi band

Ended up eating dessert before making it to the Mercado - alfajores and dulce de leche filled croissant

Super-sized piggies in a blanket!

I no longer despise olives - these were amazing

Sangria with our olive skewers - one stuffed with jamon, another with octopus

So much to eat, so little time

 One of each, please

Salmon and anchovy tapas

To prove we did something other than eat, here is a photo of the ancient Egyptian Temple of Debod

 I really want to eat these right now.  Please.

 

I read that Calle Cava Baja is “Tapas Road,” so I planned a tapas crawl for our last night in Madrid.  In the U.S., people often partake in bar crawls, but seriously, we need to adopt the tapas crawl lifestyle – this was one of my favorite activities in Spain (of course my favorite thing to do is related to eating excessively).  

 First stop, Txakolina: Salmon stuffed with crab, jamon wrapped around brie with jam, salmon stuffed in a spinach crepe, jamon with fresh mozzarella

 

Second Stop, Casa Lucas: Ratatouille topped with a quail egg and crispy jamon

Third stop, Taberna Tempranillo: Foie gras on top of apple slices, jamon and eggplant plus our favorite drink in Spain - Tinto de Verano

 Happy tapas crawlers

Lastly, how could we leave Madrid without trying chocolate con churros (imagine dipping crispy churros into thick, rich hot chocolate) from the famous Chocolateria San Gines?   

Nothing like a midnight snack of chocolate con churros

 Breakfast too

Mercado de San Miguel

Plaza San Miguel

91 542 4939

http://www.mercadodesanmiguel.es/

Txakolina

Cava Baja 26

91 366 4877

Casa Lucas

Cava Baja 30

91 365 0804

www.casalucas.es/

Taberna Tempranillo

Cava Baja 38

91 364 1532

Chocolateria San Gines

Pasadizo de San Gines 11

91 365 6546