“Tonight I am in heaven,” well, at least that’s what I told the waiter at El Madroño, one of our all-time favorite little Madrid neighborhood restaurants.

When dinner time rolled around, I wanted to go to a small restaurant around the block, Restaurante El Ñeru. We’d eaten there in 2019 when I decided I had to try Cachopo, an Asturian specialty comprised of slices of Spanish ham interleaved with cheese, breaded and deep-fried. In other words, a coronary event on a plate. It’s an extraordinary dish, and 5 years without it was long enough. So we went in, asked for a table, and were told they were closed for dinner due to Semana Santa. Interesting, because their website said they were open for Semana Santa. No harm done, we told them we’d be back on Tuesday and made another plan – fish balls.

Not literally “fish balls,” but rather Delicias de Bacalao, deep-fried cod fritters served with Madrone sauce, made from the fruit of the Madrone tree and a bit like apple sauce. After we discovered them, we always made it a point to visit on each subsequent trip.

It was too cold to sit outside, even though the rain had finally passed. The sun was setting and there was a breeze so we went inside, asked if they were open, and took a table. There was only one other table taken.

I told the waiter that we’d been there 5 years ago, and that I had missed the Delicias every day since. He loved that story and it set the tone for the rest of the evening. We talked about the wine (Douro again,) and joked about my love of the food. He brought us some Ensalada Russa (literally “Russian Salad,” it’s a common tapa in Spain and it’s nothing more than potato salad with a ton of mayonnaise.) We had some bread, drank some wine, and then the Delicias arrived.

Imagine the best fish fry you’ve ever had, with applesauce for dipping on the side. Just the best thing ever. It took a while for our garlic mushrooms to show up, but when they did, they were good too – big slices of mushrooms, garlic, and little chunks of ham. For some unidentifiable reason, they were very spicy. A bit too much for MLW but I soldiered on. For desert we had a slice of cheesecake that I thought was flan (due to the caramel sauce) that was also great, but it was honestly gilding the lily. I was stuffed. We told the waiter we’d be back on Wednesday, our last night in Madrid.

This place is one of those gems that we like to recommend, but no one we’ve sent there has ever taken the time for a meal. Perhaps it’s intimidating because it looks like a neighborhood joint. Maybe the menu doesn’t grab them (despite me raving about the Delicias,) but whatever the reason, it was their loss.

We took the long way home, down Calle Mayor and through Mercado San Miguel which has changed quite a bit since we were here last. A number of the old food vendors were gone, including the bakery where I used to get slices of Ponche, a rum-soaked cake made of marzipan and sugar syrup. I’m going to miss that one. The market was less crowded than last night, yet still raising the question of what one does in the place considering it’s impossible to sit and too loud to be heard. Definitely not date night material, although I’m sure it’s a popular place for that endeavor.

The buildings look so nice at night so I grabbed a few shots before heading home. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be better, we’ll see and we can certainly hope.