Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes

Calle Alcalá 42 Cuisines: Spanish

About

This former members-only club is now open to the general public, and if you dine out here, you may still get the feeling you're crashing a private party (a time-honored tradition in Madrid, incidentally). With its 1920s-style ceilings, chandeliers, artistic statues, and soaring pillars, the cafe lies in an arts center. It's the best place to take a refueling stop when you're so tired you confused van Gogh with the Goyas at the Thyssen or the Real Academia de Bellas Artes. Locals don't even know the place by its formal name, having nicknamed it la pecera, or aquarium. The food and drink are served in a palatial hall. At lunchtime join politicians and bankers from the nearby parliament or the Banco de España to enjoy a variety of pork, beef, fresh fish, and chicken dishes -- the menu is rotated daily. Hopefully, you'll be here on the day the chef decides to prepare his robust cocido, the "granddaddy of Spanish stews." It will put hair on your chest, even if you're a woman. At night a more artsy crowd flocks to the place, devouring the succulent tapas such as shrimp and fresh anchovies and the rum cocktails that make you think you're back in Barbados. Only tapas are served at night, but if you order three or four they become meals unto themselves.
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