Restaurants: My good friend Javier Diaz maintains a good site on where to eat in Madrid. He knows more about food in general than anybody I know. Doesn´t mean he cannot make mistakes! Where I like to travel: Favorite destinations are India and Crete. In Spain, Barcelona is our favorite city. The food is excellent and the variety, especially of mushrooms and vegetables is excellent. Paris ranks as our most favorite city and New York comes a close second. I travel where the food is good. We love to visit Crete when we can There are some good Indian restaurants in Madrid. (There are tons of Indian restuarants with Bangladeshi cooks-they cannot make Indian food. I avoid these places.) Some are,
Other two that I know with Indian cooks are Nirvana and Karma. There are many in the neighborhood of Lavapies (Mr. India-basic-not a good quality/price deal), VERY-few are good, most are bad, all are reasonably priced. Most don´t have Indian cooks, so be warned (though, Mr. India does). Our favorite Spanish rice restaurant is St. James (Juan Bravo, 25) and Cases de Valencia (Paseo del Pintor Rosales, 58 Argüelles 915 44 17 47) is also good. Madrid is full of some very nice small restaurants. For example: Fish: Paulino (a nice family run resturant), Paulino de Quevedo (more formal), Albaran (a more formal place with very good fish), Pazo Coruña (a very good Galician place near Parque Retiro)... Meats: La Ancha, Fronton, Casa Guipuzcoa (Casa de Campo-a wonderful outdoor restaurant in summer time) Vegetarian/Bio restaurants-stores: Madrid has now seen an explosion of Vegan and Vegetarian restaurants. Here are a few we know. Artemisa (Calle Ventura de la Vega, 4, 28014 Madrid), El Vergel (Paseo de la Florida), Crucina Restaurante (Calle del Divino Pastor 30), Loning Hut (Calle de los Reyes), . Others: La Gallette (there are two: I like the one near the Museum El Prado.), Finca Susana (near Metro Sevilla), Zamara (a nice small Egyptian restaurant near Glorieta de Bilbao-Calle Cardenal Cisneros), If you really want basic-cheap-Chinese go to the restaurant in the parking of Plaza de España (you have to enter the parking stairway to reach there). It is good-very basic- and very cheap. If you like Italian, Madrid now has some good restaurants: La Creazione (next to Santa Ana), Pucinella (neighborhood of Calle Barquillo), Luna Rosa, La Cupula (in a small "village" Las Matas-it is on the freeway on the way to Segovia). Wine: If you like wines Spain is the place to be in. Wines are broadly classified into 4 categories (may vary according to regions). The good things about the classification is that makes wine purchase easy for the common man. Knowing that a wine has aged for a certain time gives one an idea about what to expect. For example, most regions will not produce a reserva every year. A Gran Reserva is produce even less often. It all depends upon the quality of the harvest. Thus misleading information such as Reserve-which you will find on wine from other new-world (wine) countries-is minimized. Do not confuse that more ageing produces better wines. It all depends upon the harvest and the work that goes behind a wine. The Spanish have a wonderful way to express this-a wine well taken care of has been "trabajdo", "elaborado" etc.. You don´t have to spend a lot in Spain for a decent wine. I, for example, like wines with at least some "wood" in them and lower on acidity. Knowing, that certain regions (Ribera del Duero) produces less acidic wines makes life easy for me while choosing. Spain has good wines from most regions. What you will like depends on your tastes. A good wine is a wine you LIKE! Beside the classic regions Spain has great wines in some little known regions where you may find Garnacha vines which are 125 years! Other haveMonsatrell which I really like. The main grape tinta del país, or Tempranillo, is great! However, the wine made with the same grape varies depending upon the location of the wineyard. The climate does matter, though, new technology is trying to change it. In the end it is all about art. Machines cannot make art and great masters can. The advantage of new technology has been that regions which could not produce good wines in the past have now been able to produce good wines. For example who would think that there would be a great red wine from the region of Cádiz or Trujillo ! As I said there are good wines everywhere in Spain. I have no favorite region for reds, though, I am a big fan of (white) wines from Rueda. Gran Reserva (5 years ageing): Two years in the barrel and three in the bottle. Reserva (3 years ageing): Two years in the barrel and one/two in the bottle. Crianza (2 years ageing): One year in the barrel and one in the bottle. Media-Crianza/Roble/Barrica: 3 (roble)-6 (media-crianza) months in the barrel. Regions from which I have tried wines: Those I remember! (All are invited to contribute-write to me if you find a good (reasonabley priced) wine): Arribes de Duero: Abadengo (Grape: Juan García (long forgotten)- This wine was a recent discovery. It is great! Wonderfully different.), Durius (Temranillo (low priced and wonderful), Syrah (very nice), Magister (wonderful)) Castilla La Mancha/Madrid: Martué, Viña Aljibes, Finca Antigua, Grego, Marqués de Griñon, Finca La Estacada (good value), Pago del Vicario-Penta, Castilla y Leon/Ribera del Duero: Good ones: Vega Sicilia, Alion, Pesquera, Arzuaga, Pago de Capellanes, Pago de Carrovejas, Protos, Tarsus, Quinta de Tarsus, Valtravieso, Matarromera, Abadia Retuerta, Pago de Carrovejas, Valduero, Valbuena, Prado Rey, Pedrosa, Sastre, Valdubón, Torremoron, Senderillo, Yllera, Callejo, Viña Pedrosa, Cepa Gavilan, Torremilanos, Fariña-Gran Colegiata, Viña Mayor, T de Anguix, Hito (Cepa 21), Señorio de Nava, Legaris, Fuentespina, Protos, ... Rioja: Azpilicueta, Ysios, 200 Monjes, Castillo de Monjes-Crianza, Ramirez de Ganuza, Artadi, CVNE, Martinez Lacuesta, Finca Valpiedra, Luis Cañas, Remelluri, Tondonia, LAN, Roda, Muga, Remirez de Ganuza, Berceo, Marque de Riscal, Marques de Murrieta, Ygay, Baigorri, Viña Salceda, La Rioja Alta, Ardanza, Barón de Ley, Conde de Valdemar, Marqués de Cáceres, Albina, Baron de Chirel, Beronia, Faustino, Campo Viejo, Solar Viejo, Montecillo, Monte Real, Ramon Bilbao, Tobelos, Viña Ijalba, .... Guadiana: Lar de Lares, Lar de Barros, Señorio de Pedraza, Puerta Palma, Andalucia: Taberner, Habla (Trujillo) del Silencio, 4.... Jumilla: Casa de la Ermita (joven, Crianza or Reserva all nice wines), Juan Gil (4 y 12 meses). Sierra de Alpujarra: I have had some reds from here. They are very interesting. Valencia/Utiel Requena: Maduresa, Rafael Cambra Uno, Bilogia, Vern Crianza, Les Alcusses, Dos, DisTinto, Megala, Trilogia, Monfrare Barrica, Heretat de Taverners Garnacha, Mallaura, Rafa Cambra, Daniel Belda 75 anys, Efe, ... I have started to like Monastrell a lot. The wines are strong and dense. They are making a lot of these wines in this part. Yecla/Bullas/Alicante: Bodegas Castaño (Hecula, Castaño Monatsrell....), Beryna Crianza, Casa Balaguer, Enrique Mendoza, Rueda: Aura, Belondrade y Lurton (a great wine!), Palacio de Bornos (reasonably priced and pleasent, they sell it next to the highway A-6 on the way north.), .... Toro: Gago, Finca Sobreño, Cigales: Valeriano, Museum Real, Valdelosfrailes Albariño/Ribeiro/Rias Baixas: Txakolina: Txakoli... Valdepeñas: Casa de la Viña, Calatayud: Baltazar, La Roca Viñas Viejas, Cariñena: Solar de Urbezo, Baron de la Joyosa, Cataluña/Penedes/Priorat/Montsant: Chateldon, Alvaro Palacios, Baboix, Jean Leon (Cabernet), Raimat, Torres, Can Blau Lanzarote: Malvasia Naturalmente Dulce-Bodegas Bermejo (A wonderful sweet wine. The grape is Malvasia, typical from this part. The vines grow in enclosed pits, that can be upto 2 meters deep. To harvest one has to climb into the enclosure!), Malvasia Seco and Semi-Seco (Bodegas Bermejo). Navarra/Somontano: Inurrieta, Chivite, Miguel Torres, Rene Barbier, Enate, Viñas del Vero, Borsao, Bodegas Pirineos, Las Campanas, Inés Monclus (Merlot, Cabernet-Tempranillo)... I have spent a lot of time in the US. These are some of the wines I have tried (recently). I am convinced some of the best price-quality in Merlot and Cabernet is encountered here. Montoya Cabernet 2010 (**) Dominican Oaks Cabernet (**) Daglia Canyon Cabernet (**) Robert Hall Cabernet (**) Clos du Bois Cabernet (*) Traders Joe Cabernet Reserve (*) Bonterra Cabernet 2009 (*) Estancia Cabernet (*) Wheelhouse Cabernet 2008 (***) Liberte (*1/2) Roberta Hall Merlot (**) Clos du Bois Merlot (**) Stonehedge Merlot (**) Sanctuary 2007-Pinot Noir (***) Rodney String Merlot (***) Three Girls (*) Nipozzano Reserva 2007 Chianti (***) Tapiz Malbec 2001 ($9) Don Miguel Gascon Malbec 2001 ($10 Fillipo Figari Anastasia Malbec 2001 ($10) Salentin Crios Andeluna Bodega Lurton Tierra del Fuego Trapiche Alamos Pascual Toso Tapiz Malbec Don Miguel Gascon Malbec Fillipo Figari Anastasia Malbec Bodega Norton Trapiche "Oak Cask" Malbec Trapiche Iscay Merlot-Malbec A wine blog on trader joe's wnes I have started to follow. and Snooth, a great blog. http://www.snooth.com/, and http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/drinking/wine. Books I have read recently (and are of general interest). I try to read when I can. My selection is always based on what interests me at that stage. For example... I became very interested in India as I realized that I knew little about my own country. I read about the partition (I should put those books here), then about the founding fathers. This led me to Indian writers few years ago and I started Kiran Nagarkar (Cuckold), then Amitav Ghosh (The Glass Palace), then William Dalrymple (City of Djinns) (yes..he is not Indian...but is a mirror to India like no one else I know), now I am reading Pico Iyer ( I found similarities with him and the life I live. His life reminds me of my children's-born in a foreign land, world travellers, not fluent in their own mother tongue, citizens of the world... Rootless he calls himself....). Then I became interested in reading about food (yes, things like coffee, tea, salt, fish (especially cod),...), I started with Mark Kurlansky. Lately I am obsessed with travel writing. Here come in William Dalrymple (again), Paul Theroux and Pico Iyer. Besides this I am a great fan of reading about science, natural sciences, and (light) books on mathematics... and yes I work too (read my research papers if you so wish). I also keep a blog, it is anonymous, I hope someday you will find it and then think differently about me. Amitav Ghosh: Trilogy: (i) Sea of Poppies, (ii) The River of Smoke, (iii).......... The Circle of Reason, Shadow Lines, In an Antique Land, Calcutta Chromosome, Dancing in Cambodia, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide. Kiran Nagarkar: Cuckold, God's Little Soldier,.. William Dalrymple: City of Djinns, The White Moguls, The Last Mogul, Nine Lives, In Xanadu, The Age of Kali, From the Holy Mountain. I got into Mark due to my interest in food (fish, salt, sugar, oyster, etc...) Mark was a great start...James Surowiecki, Justin Fox, Mohammed Hanif, Shantaram (novel), Sufism, Daniel Boorstin, Walter Isaacson, Freedom at Midnight, Or I´ll Dress you in Mourning (the story of el Cordobés), Ernest Hemingway (there is a lot of Spain in his books-Collected Short Stories is a great read), A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World. Mark Kurlansky: Cod: A Biography of a Fish that Changed the World, Salt, The Big Oyster, The Basque History of the World. Paul Theroux The Great Railway Bazaar, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the tracks of The Great Railway Bazaar, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Pillars of Hercules, Dark Star Safari, The Old Patagonian Express ..... James Surowiecki, Justin Fox, Mohammed Hanif, Shantaram (novel), Sufism, Daniel Boorstin, Walter Isaacson, Freedom at Midnight, Or I´ll Dress you in Mourning (the story of el Cordobés), Ernest Hemingway (there is a lot of Spain in his books-Collected Short Stories is a great read), A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World. Co-authors, family, and colleagues (in alphabetical order): Celia Costa Cabral José Luis Ferreira and he runs a blog (On everything that is the truth......) Roberto Hernán My niece: http://www.nanditakumar.com/ Links: |