Food in Madrid was a revelation. It was exciting, eclectic, and bold. If Paris was about perfection in details, like the perfectly layered flakiness of a buttery croissant, then Madrid was all about the unexpected and explosive flavors and textures, like an addicting bowl of callos. I loved Madrid. Every meal was a culinary exploration. I was so lucky to have my wonderful and generous food-loving Madrid colleagues to show me the diversity is Madrid cruisine. Like in Paris, I was spoiled rotten.
My first real meal in Madrid was at the famed
Sobrino de Botin and damn, is the fame well deserved. Botin is not only well known for being the oldest restaurant in Madrid (Goya, my fav artist, was a waiter there!) but also for their conchinillo asado (roast suckling pig).
What is there left to say that hasn't already been said about this dish. OMG, it was awesome. Awesome to the 10000000th degree. The simply prepared suckling pig (very young, like barely out of womb young), was so tender and flavorful in its own juices, almost milky in texture. The melt-in-your-mouth meat was contrasted by the crispy and salty skin. I wished I had an whole pig instead of two slices. I want pig!
Before we devoured the awesomeness that was the suckling pig, we devoured the awesomeness that was jamon
ibérico. I've dreamed of tasting this famed jamon for so long....
See the fat on every slice? Yeah, that was deliciousness. Jamon
ibérico tasted very different from the familiar jamon I've had. It had almost a forest-y flavor. Both the meat and the fat were silkier than the average jamon, which resulted in almost none of that stringiness that you sometimes get with regular jamon. I wanted to buy a whole leg to bring back with me. Why didn't I?! Argh argh argh.
We finished the meal by sharing a trio of desserts - some sort of fritter with some sort of cream, cheesecake, and mascarpone-ish cheese with mangos.
I don't remember much about the fritters. I remember thinking it was good, but not much else stuck with me. The cheesecake was more memorable, it was very light and fluffy, more Italian-ish than American. But my favorite was the mascarpone and mango. I basically ordered it because I am weak in the presence of mascarpone. And mascarpone did not let me down. It was thick and creamy yet light. It went perfectly with the mango puree, kind of like a tangy ice cream on top of mango puree.
After all that food and wine, we needed the very strong digestif that the waiter was dispensing. No, not really, but whatever. it was free digestif. You don't say no to free digestif, no matter how many cañas and glasses of wine you've had.
Sobrino de Botin is one of a kind. They've been cooking in the same oven for the hundreds of years. I sincerely hope there are hundreds more years to come.
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