From Massage Table to Tapas Table

White Tuna on bed of Caramelized Onions and Peppers

Spanish Vegetable Rice

Gazpacho

The Tapas Counter

Its Finally Restored

After our travel adventures yesterday, which did at least culminate in a great meal at Roostiq, it was time to settle in and relax. Relaxation to us means massage, so we knew that would be on the day’s agenda.

After a few stops for grooming, we headed up to the hotel’s rooftop spa for a 90-minute massage. Cathy and I agreed it was exceptional. We asked for a relaxation massage, and that is exactly what we got. We emerged thoroughly relaxed and convinced we had made excellent use of 90 minutes. We returned to our room and prepared for the next strenuous activity of the day: drinking wine on the hotel balcony.

The balcony overlooks the finally completed Metrópolis Madrid Hotel across the street. Over the years we have stayed at The Principal, we’ve watched the restoration slowly progress, so I’m glad to see it finally finished. Metrópolis is marketing itself as super-exclusive, and I doubt it will be frequented by our kind of people, but Jaimie insists that we scout it out. Maybe a drink tomorrow—if they let us in—is in order. I’ll try to dress appropriately.

For dinner we made reservations at one of our favorite Madrid restaurants, Celso y Manolo, a wonderful neighborhood take on a tapas bar. It is a very short hike from our hotel, which after a 90-minute massage was about as much exercise as we were prepared to undertake.

As far as I could tell, we were the only non-locals in the restaurant. The food is terrific and the dishes are seasonal. Look at those tomatoes! They serve them with four different Spanish olive oils, which seems excessive until you taste them and realize four might not be enough.

The gazpacho was perfect. We wiped the bowl clean with our bread. Not a drop was going to waste. The highlight for us, though, was the rice dish, loaded with vegetables. We kept trying to figure out how they managed to give it such a deep, dark color and intense flavor. I don’t want to get obsessive about the food—although longtime readers know that ship sailed years ago—but the white tuna sat atop the most delicious caramelized onions.

Madrid is a city for food lovers. In fact, we are now inspired to try some Spanish cooking when we get home. Cathy is a great cook and I serve as her sous chef, so between her expert execution and my chopping and following orders, I think we have a pretty good chance of bringing a little Madrid back to our kitchen.

Tomorrow, some culture. Madrid has some of the greatest museums in the world, and we intend to take advantage of them. We can’t spend the entire trip eating. Or at least we probably shouldn’t.