Would you resist entering here?
Three steps from Madrid Broadway, After Luna y Estrella, Calle del Pez is vindicated: restaurants, timeless bars and bookstores.
a microcosm to let yourself be surprised by its shops, to debate as a parishioner while you savor your beer or to travel to New Orleans in front of some fried green tomatoes.
As the saying goes: “whoever buys on Calle del Pez knows what he is fishing for”. And now, in addition, Pez has your own party.
** THE LAST ONES ON THE STREET (THAT NOT THE WORST) **
It took a little bit of READING . Land at number 27 ** Cervantes y Compañía ** (it will ring a bell, dear book maniac, because it used to be located on Manuela Malasaña street), an open space only 'bothered' by books, paper, wonderful bindings and that smell so characteristic.
On the front page you can see the latest in poetry, narrative, a space dedicated to the musical genre and yes, travel . If you go up the stairs, you will run into an altar dedicated to graphic novels and if you dare to go down... you can get lost in a labyrinth of caves dedicated to gastronomic literature, with spaces for screenings, exhibitions, meetings... In finish, Long live Cervantes!
And where can I have a coffee, a good homemade salmorejo or a strawberry caipiroska dipped in chocolate? Bitter (at number 2) wants to be that joker or place to be (a refuge from nine in the morning until half past two at night).
Two floors where you will find: a free breakfast buffet (12 euros) or a selection of organic coffees in the morning; a tasting menu of the day that conquers (for 12.90, with three starters, two seconds, drink and dessert) ; tapas and beers in the afternoon; candlelight dinner at night (salmorejo has a separate chapter) ... and cocktails . A winning option for your malasañera date, a plan with friends or that relative who (surprise!) shows up for a visit.
An option for (almost) any time of day
YOU CHOOSE: THE BEST BURGER OR THE BEST OMELETTE
The Zombie Bar (number 7) is a beast of a good quality burger joint. Considered one of the best in the area, the place houses a graffiti decoration, with cork walls, hanging skateboards and nothing more and nothing less than an arcade machine. So aim: a rich and original site.
Another classic is the **Fish Tortilla**. The space is still the one you knew when it was called ''El 36 de la calle Pez", only now the walls are dotted with pictures of music greats and the menu no longer has so much presence of toast... IT'S TIME FOR THE OMELETTE.
Essential the one of boletus with poached onion and their boletus croquettes with truffle (yes, we love mushrooms and yes, they are recommendations of ten) . We warn you, the whole tortilla is enough for four people.
Oh how rich
THEY CALL ME STREET...
How strange the feeling of going through that corner of the number 8 of Fish Street, and see the Palencia with the bars down. The essence is still present from end to end of the street, and throughout Madrid. But Palentino is no longer there.
From the March 15, 2018, after the death of its owner Chaste, His relatives decided to close down as they could not take charge of the bar.
A sad news for many, who for years have enjoyed their beers and drinks at 3 euros, their pepitos, or their mornings with Loli, coffees and churros.
Palentino is gone, but we don't forget it. It will always be a timeless space in the memory of the city.
The comments about how to make a good omelette , the Ebola virus, the shift schedule, what a good pacharán should be like, the party the day before, the children and the crisis mixed with sandwiches to go and coffee.
why see Catro Herrezuelo putting coffees (1 euro), small bottles (at 1.20) or drinks at three euros was more typical in Madrid than taking a photo with the bear and the strawberry tree.
THEATERS AND HOTELS
The scene also has its place in our route because the curtain goes up in the Bishop Theater _(Pez, 10) _, the only one in Madrid with a bar inside the room, and the victory theater _(Fish, 17) _.
A few meters below we hear: “It is a neighborhood in constant movement who wants to make an independent offer ”, tells us Luis Delgado, interior designer of the Hotel Abalu _(Pez, 19) _ and its apartment version in Abalu Suites Madrid _(Fish, 32) _.
He is the designer of the 16 rooms, all different, in which the bathroom is integrated. Prepare to be surprised: beds that “float”, tropical plants inside the wardrobe, Portobello nightstands , a movie projector, a jacuzzi overlooking the bed, a stone bathtub in the shape of a segmented egg brought from Thailand...
Jacuzzi overlooking a "floating" bed at the Hotel Abalú
THIS STREET WILL DRESS YOU FROM HEAD TO TOE
Something happens in Pez that his tectonic plates they do not stop colliding, making us vibrate, opening and closing, presenting ourselves new faces every month, to cause, almost unintentionally, a feeling of being in a city within a city.
If you are one of those who are looking for original brands, this is your place. If you are an old man, your place is a little further down, in ** Kinda Kinks ** (at number 16), here you can get the best printed shirts for the summer and pay attention to their sunglasses models. VICE.
A streetscape where creativity floods the shop windows with colour, from Almacenes Los Telares _(Pez, 5) _ to the creations of two Basque designers, Olatz and Ana, in Trakabarraka _(Fish, 36) _.
How could it be otherwise in the heart of Madrid, a vintage store could not be missing. Heritage&Rare is a store founded in 2015 by a couple of vintage fans, who firmly believe in the second life of an old garment.
A BIT OF ART
** La Fiambrera ** (at number 7), a place that, like tupperware (with delicious things inside), hides surprises on each shelf. We could buy a gift, treat ourselves to an artistic vice or even enjoy an exhibition on its walls . We stayed.
Books, basement concerts... what else? Pez has been chosen by **Zoom Edition** to pitch her tent. Here, at number 1 of the street we can get hold of the numbers 1 of photography in Spain.
COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE
At number one on Callez Pez you will find ** Yeast Mother ,** a very special little corner of organic bakery. Every day they are made in their small workshop all the products, thus trying to recover the good taste for bread, familiar and direct treatment with the client.
Towards the beginning of Calle Pez, we find the classic Brown Torch (_Number 4) _. Here they serve from breakfasts that do not leave you hungry, a varied menu for lunch and dinner, where cheese stands out as a complement to many dishes. You cannot leave without trying their scrambled eggs with minced chorizo or garlic mushrooms and foie gras.
There is a cafeteria that has already won the hearts of the most coffee-producing palates that stroll along Pez Street: ** HanSo Café ** _(Pez, 20) _, a project that was born in Usera -the neighborhood that concentrates the largest Chinese community of Madrid - and who shortly after moved to this neighborhood to do his specialty coffees and their Asian-inspired cakes , like the one with **matcha tea** and cream. Another roll.
A mandatory stop at any time of the day
A TRAIN JOURNEY TO NEW ORLEANS
It's no wonder that the cuisine of New Orleans, a city synonymous with musical, ethnic and cultural mix, fit so well at Pez, 15. Enter Gumbo , fix your napkin and order **Fried Green Tomatoes**, Seafood Gumbo, Andouille and Okra, or Black Pepper Garlic French Quarter Shrimp. Pure Louisiana Creole cuisine, to drop the tear.
Fried Green Tomatoes, YUM
TO FRESHEN UP
Jacob and Vanessa are a couple and founders of Nordikos, and have turned their purpose into reality: to bring the intense flavors of the fruits of the forest Nordic to Madrid.
The store is a mixture of ingredients Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. And it is that strolling through the most traditional and innovative neighborhood in Spain, with an artisan pole of nordic Essence, It's a refreshingly cool idea.
TO CONTINUE FILLING THE STOMACH
You can enjoy the dishes of the brute ... perhaps, and only perhaps, we are facing the best Madrid carrot cake ? Hard competition has come out to the Mur Cafe , for instance.
Three Italian partners (owners of the very close ** Aió **, in Corredera Baja de São Paulo) are behind one of the most interesting premieres in Malasañeros.
We admit it: we were quite in love with the lope _(at number 29) _, of its intimate, romantic atmosphere, of its slowly cooked meats, which ascended that forklift, raising the aromas to the room... Oh Lope Lope...
Today, this place is occupied by the jumper , whose specialty (home cooking, that of the usual mom) has made us fall in love again. Their menu of the day (10 €) more than recommended.
Charcuterie table in the old Campa...
THE LAST TOAST
We take the last one before finishing our walk, and we don't lack options: ** Grama Bar ** (at number forty) with some quite affordable beers, or with a mojito in The Big Fish (at number six) .
At number 8 is ADCBar, a local with "rollo" typical of a neighborhood like Malasaña. Here you can take u some beers or a few drinks at a good price.
And to continue with the trips, we entered The Passenger _(Pez, 16) _ to catch one of those trains that went north while we had a cocktail in front of a cheese board . Rehearse your best posture Cary Grant while you watch how the landscape is projected on the walls.
Everyone to the Pez train!