Our Introduction to Local Traditions in Madrid

Madrid has a lot of great local customs, and on Saturday we decided to try several of them out as part of a día de la cultura. Despite the chilly, rainy weather, it was a great day of culture and learning about our current city.

Vermut de grifo

On our previous trip to Spain four years ago, we had noticed a strange phenomenon: bars offering vermouth on tap, or vermut de grifo. Having only had vermouth in mixed drinks like a Manhattan, this seemed really weird to us. However, we tried it on the rocks and thought it was okay. Not our first choice, but not quite as weird as we’d thought [Well, one of thought it was OK, the other thought it wasn’t bad – CJ]. On this trip, Craig found a site detailing how there has been a revival of the tradition of having vermouth as a “pre-lunch” (translation: noon to 2 PM) aperitif on Saturdays, usually served with olives. Seeing as we learned this on Saturday and it was about 1 PM at the time, we decided we should head out and give it a try.

We trekked to Taberna Angel Sierra a little after 13:30, and we almost didn’t go in because it looked like there was no room. Everyone was standing, and it was wall-to-wall with people. However, two people came out and we realized that our standards of personal space were a little different than those of the locals, so we braved the crush and “perdón-ed” our way to the bar.

Two glasses of straight vermouth and a dish of olives set us back €4,40, or about $5.38 U.S. We squeezed into a corner and enjoyed our vermut de grifo standing next to a handy little shelf. There wasn’t a single seat, even at the bar – it was all standing-room only. Apparently, this tradition doesn’t involve lingering. We had fun eavesdropping on the folks around us, all of whom were Spanish. People clearly just popped in on their way to somewhere else, sometimes greeting someone with a huge hug and sometimes looking for a hook to hang their shopping bags. No one seemed at all put out or concerned by the crush of people – apparently, this is typical.

Bocadillo de calamares

There are many traditional foods of Spain, and one of the challenges of not being a local is finding the places that serve authentic, good versions of these foods, rather than the crappy tourist versions. Our general rule of thumb is to avoid places that use photos on their menus, as those are generally not catering to the locals, but that only gets us so far. The magic of the web is helpful, too.

Craig discovered a local place called El Brillante that is known for its quality of bocadillo de calamares, or fried calamari sandwich, so we decided to try it. It was such a neat place! Imagine an old-fashioned, large diner, but with seafood sandwiches instead of pancakes and a lot less seating. (Are you noticing a theme here? Maybe the reason Europeans are skinny is that they don’t sit to drink or eat!) It was packed, this time with a lot more families than at the bar (understandably), and had a very local feel to it.

The staff were all older gentlemen who would kindly and patiently ask for your order at the counter, and then loudly and assertively shout it to the kitchen staff on the other side of the restaurant. They clearly had a system, and it worked. We ordered the traditional sandwich, and Craig spotted a plate of fried little fish (boquerones) and couldn’t resist adding that as well. (If you want to get a sense of the atmosphere of the place, this video from their website is pretty indicative of our experience.)

If you have been to New Orleans, you have hopefully had a shrimp po’boy. Imagine the best-ever shrimp po’boy, undressed (without the mayo and lettuce and tomato, for the uninitiated), and you have a good idea of what the bocadillo de calamares was like. The calamari was more tender than shrimp, and definitely less chewy than calamari usually is. The bread was very fresh French bread, and the breading on the calamari tasted really good. We could have ordered mayonesa con ajo (garlic mayo) on the side, but it didn’t need it.

As for the boquerones… Craig really enjoyed his little fish. There was something about the smell that bothered me, plus the fact that they were whole fish kind of grossed me out. I have a long way to go in my eating adventurousness if we’re going to make the most of our time in France! Baby steps…
There was a really nice lady sitting at the counter where we were standing, and when she saw us taking photos of half of the sandwich with Craig’s phone, she motioned that we should take a photo of the full sandwich and plate of fish, and she moved out of the way to let us do so. When she was done eating, she gave us her seat at the counter and said goodbye. We went to the Reina Sofia museum close by after this, and I spotted her at the museum: she was one of the security guards for Picasso’s Guernica! I thought that was both fun and an affirmation that we’d chosen a good place to eat.

Roscón de Reyes

Continuing on our “like New Orleans” theme…. Spaniards have their own version of king cake. It’s called roscón de reyes, and just like with king cakes, there are multiple styles and variations. Since we can’t exactly throw a king cake party, we wanted to be judicious in our sampling of this particular local tradition. Craig had tried to purchase from our carefully-selected bakery the day before, but they were closed for siesta when he was there (also a local tradition, one that we are learning to work with). On Saturday, they were thankfully open, and we purchased our very own roscón de reyes. No filling, no candied fruit on top; very basic.

The verdict? It’s good, but not as good as king cake. The alternating sugar and toasted nuts makes for a pretty pastry, but the unevenness isn’t as good as the glazing on a traditional king cake. There was a trinket in the cake, and I got it. We originally thought it was a donkey and were very confused. The internet was not helpful in clearing up the meaning of the donkey, and we kept expecting to get other trinkets. We now realize it’s a bull, which is only slightly less confusing, as there weren’t any other things in the cake like the predicted bean or baby. I guess I have to throw the next roscón de reyes party – you are all invited! Since personal space (or seating) is apparently not an issue in Madrid, there is no need to limit the list.

Our día de la cultura may not have been the healthiest day we’ve had in Spain so far (nor the cheapest), but it was definitely fun to try out some of the local traditions and experience how friendly and nice the madrileños are.