Mercado de San Miguel

If you get the chance to visit one place, and one place only in Madrid, you should definitely make it the Mercado de San Miguel near Plaza Mayor. This market has EVERYTHING.

Pincho Campero

 It's perfect for lunch or dinner, or simple tapas and drinks. They have foods of all sorts, small, bite-sized portions perfect for grazing with a glass of wine in hand. There's appetizers, skewers, italian, fresh pescado, vats of paella, cocktails, wine, beer, ice cream and sweets galore, and even trinkets such as fedoras and scarves.

Pincho con tomate y mozzarella

Brittany, Gemma, and I decided to go for a late lunch on Sunday and just take our time browsing the market. We started out with pinchos, which are bite-sized skewers with nearly anything you can imagine. I tried the caprese-style pincho (tomato, mozzarella, and a pesto-based dressing) and also the potato-salad-esque pincho (potatoes, olives, egg, red onion, and lettuce, all in a mustard-based sauce.)

beef and caramelized onions on bread; spanish egg-roll

 We then moved on to more of a tapas bar, where both Gemma and I chose the beef with caramelized onions on hearty bread. The carne was deliciously tender, and the onions just the perfect balance of sweet and hot. There were also some cooked carrots mixed in with the onions which gave it a nice roast or stew flavor.

Bacaloa

We then wandered over to the fish area; out of all the tostadas, I thought the Bacaloa looked the safest. It was a mix of codfish (bacaloa), tomato, and vegetables. 

with our drinks, courtesy of our bartender friend

 We quickly discovered why everyone was walking around, drink in hand. With all the nibbling, one becomes thirsty rather quickly. We remedied this with cocktails at the American Gin Bar; Gemma and I with Strawberry Mojitos and Brittany with a Strawberry Gin Fizz.

Strawberry Mojito

 It was sweet and minty, and quite refreshing. We took our drinks to one of the many bar/stool areas and sat and chatted til we were ready for more browsing.

Mozzarella Bar

 After that, we stopped at a mozzarella bar, where everything was mozzarella-based. I chose the slab of mozzarella on tomato on hearty bread with spices (very similar to our Italian seasoning) sprinkled on top.

Mozzarella, tomato, toast, and spices

Even with just a few bites at each place, it was very easy to become full quickly. But just wandering around and taking in all the bars and booths was fascinating. We killed about 3 hours chatting, nibbling, sipping, and soaking up the Madrileña lifestyle. I could definitely get used to this.