The Monkey House restaurant
If Madrid were a record holder, It would be king in the category of coffee, cocktails and everything that ends in -teo. From dawn to dawn, without a wink, seven days a week, the city carefully prepares the crazy scenarios of traditional holiday
Madrid exceeds its own brands. Precisely if there is something that is not granted, it is lower the bar of modernity. Beyond relaxed cafes in the Plaza Mayor, what the IOC members may not know is that 'the capital that lost the Olympic rings three times' has been training in a land beaten by bold hounds of recreation –subjected to a hyperbolic level of competition–.
It matters little whether these five new joints will remain open in 2020 or if they will one day relax Olympic athletes. What counts is that the persevering -and so much ours- recreation premises regeneration ultimately it's about continuing to break records in the ingenious national sport of chattering.
Traveler Breakfast at Olive Crêperie
1.**Olive Café Crêperie** (Conde Duque, 24) . The inaugurations do not stop in the most Parisian neighborhood of Madrid. Opposite the Conde Duque center, a tiny shop opened a couple of months ago greets the curious with the buttery scent of freshly made crêpe. Strong wooden furniture, a good handful of flower pots, design magazines – the entire Condé Nast family – and a few chipped stools tempt you with a solitary snack. If you go these days, you can still sit at one of the few tables that compete with the favorite terrace of the neighbors, La Cajita de Nori –in fact, its creators are the same as Olive.
Nacho Rodríguez de Padrón, Nori Sánchez and Olivia Heyraud have hit the nail on the head with the most versatile Gallic snack: the crêpe. The confectioners have the vanilla ice cream, Kinder Bueno and dulce de leche in a safe place. The salty ones get excited about the Iberian ham with tomato and honey with goat cheese. What if, Olive also serves olivitas those who opt for drinks, let's say, more bitter.
Interior of Olive Crêperie
2.**TriCyclo** (Santa María, 28). The Barrio de las Letras continues to savor the honeys of success. TriCycle are three. Partners, chefs and well-prepared people who elaborated their recipe with a good dose of humility, creativity and resources without impostures.
Its quantities are adapted to three levels of appetite –and to the 2013 portfolios–: €15 for a portion, €6 for an average and €3 for a third. They adapt to seasonal whims and market produce, they dare with international dishes and their close relationship with the customer translates into go quickly and with a smile to your table and finalize some of their specialties right there.
tricycle room
3.**The Factory** (Alameda, 9) . After years begging for a bar and a beer, the residents of the most interesting artistic space in Las Letras They have seen their most quarrelsome desires fulfilled. The (new) Factory, in the same headquarters, opened the curtain of its back room so that Iñigo Güell transformed its 400 m2 into a welcoming, diaphanous place flooded with natural light.
Open every day of the week, its faithful come to buy art books, Lomo cameras or pieces by Steve Mono, Chus Burés and Rubenimichi; to stroll through its exhibitions and later digest them at a table over an Italian dish with a glass of wine. The Factory has no end.
The new space of La Fábrica
Four. Ganz (Almadén, 9 corner San Pedro). At the end of june, English composer Michael Nyman and Scottish guitarist David Rusell enjoyed aromatic coffee with marbled sponge cake from Antón Martín's trendy joint. A few months have been enough for Ganz to convince British musicologists and Spanish aesthetes.
The café-bistrot with a Teutonic name that says 'everything' dares with the 1950s furniture, designer lighting, Thonet chairs, a charming French-style vanity in the bathroom and an art gallery in the basement. And a compelling reason, its reasonable prices: brunch at €18, the menu of the day at €12 and starters between €5 and €12.
Delicacies such as burrata with truffle oil, cheeks in red wine, grilled scallops on potato and cauliflower cream and the lobster salad, as well as its signature wines from Valdeorras and Manchuela, convince the most skeptical.
Ganz, the trendy restaurant in the Barrio de las Letras
5.**Monkey House** (Tutor 7, Madrid). In less than a month of life, it has taken over the noble neighborhood of residential Argüelles, little given to modernities without meaning or content. Casa Mono's presence – made even more solemn by its corner location – is a colossal display of square meters punctuated by elegant wooden tables, antique chairs, museum lamps and Hopper's aquamarine tiled walls.
Casa Mono is a restaurant, cocktail bar, terrace, bar and has an elegant private room available until 2 a.m. closing time. On the menu, classic and accurate recipes, without great fuss in the names. The wines, by the glass and in the bottle, touch our reference wine areas.
How could it be otherwise, this unique Olympic day closes with the digestif of the 21st century: the gin and tonic or cocktail gold medal.
Facade of Casa Mono, in Tutor.