Tapas at Mercado San Miguel

Visiting Madrid again. Many years have passed since I was here the last time and it is nice to be back. Apart from long but interesting meetings in the office we managed to participate in the madrileño nightlife, well, the nightlife up til 23:00 at least...

The best eating place me and my colleague came across this visit must be the old market at San Miguel Plaza. It is not a tourist trap despite being situated so close to Plaza Mayor (it is across the street, on the west side of Plaza Mayor!). Sure enough, many tourists find their way in here, like we did for example, but it is an authentic market place where the locals buy their groceries during day and come for tapas at night.

I believe it is one of the oldest markets in Madrid. It is a bit posh and not the cheapest but the vendors go for superior quality and sell the best of cheeses, sausages, olives, ham, seafood etc. Everywhere you go you can sample the goods. One place sells pickled olives that you have with vermouth, actually the salty olives mix very well with the bitter-sweet vermouth. Best was the ibérico ham I tried however, kind of pricy though to charge 95 Euro per kilo! I can't help but wonder, what does the 180 Euro-per-kilo ham taste like?

Some rioja wine, Vermút Madrid, chorizo and jamón ibérico... Very nice!

Link to Mercado San Miguel (in Spanish)