I will be arriving in Madrid on 20th january, staying near plaza mayor. Any god chinese/indian restaurants in the area?

Cheers
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groovyjohn

I can't help wondering why anyone would ignore the wonderful and reliable Spanish cuisine so commonly available in Madrid. Why seek out foreign food when the local stuff is so satisfying? I ate in several Chinese restaurants when I was living in Madrid-- for the novelty. But I never encountered any where the quality matched the quality of the homegrown cuisine generally available. When in "Rome"...
Cantabene



[This message has been edited by cantabene (edited 01-15-2001).]

i must agree with cantabene...

but to answer your question, yeah there are certainly chinese and indian restaurants. there are even mexican restaurants (like carribean-style, i haven't seen tex-mex), but i don't remember where any of them are... just look in a restarant guide on the web.. Madridman or Antonio would know where to find those... (like guía del ocio, etc...)

keep in mind that many ethnic restaurants tailor their tastes for the spanish audience, which prefers more bland, but flavourful, foods, in general. i don't know many spaniards that like hot, 'spicy' (indian/chinese/tex-mex spicy) foods... so the mexican restaurant that i went to was actually really not my speed... and the carry-out chinese i've had was 'ok.'

good luck! (and do yourself a favour and eat the spanish food instead...)

Hey Cantabene and real_megia. I think that the hotness may be a reason to seek the food out for groovyjohn. Or maybe I'm all wrong. Still, Indian food is absolutely my favorite. I don't think I could go without it for a week. I'm glad you told us all about the "blandness" quality of the food. I'll have to carry my own special red pepper flakes with me and maybe some curry to boot.

Sunday, Jan. 14, 2001 was my last day in Madrid. After the three Kings, most restaurants are closed on Sunday. My daughter warned me that most Spanish restaurant would be closed. I really wanted to eat at La Latina restaurant located of course in La Latina area and was disappointed to see "cerrado" sign. Anyway, I told my daughter definetly the Chinese restaurant in Arguelles would be open; and it was open. I found it so amusing how Chinese restaurants have adopted to the Spanish culture. Imagine a pitcher of Sangria for drinks rather than tea. They also have menu de dia. We ordered typical Chinese food -- fried rice, lemon chicken, sweet & sour pork. I told my daughter that I would like to break the cultural serving by having all the food on the table because I would not be able to eat plain fried rice without the lemon chicken and sweet & sour pork. My daughter told me that it would not be proper to have all the food on the table. As we were having this discussion, our server spoke English and offered to put all our food on the table. I really felt good to eat chines food the regular way. As we were eating our food, several Spaniards who were having their lunch, asked us whether the food taste better having all the food on the table. Of course we said, YES. Some of the customers asked that all their food also be placed on the table. It was so funny when some the Spaniards told my daughter "We never thought that Chinese food should be eaten mixed with other food." We all laughted regarding that experience. The cost of food for two icluding Sangria, dessert, cafe con leche was 2,000 pst. Since my daughter does not like Indian food, she did not go out of her way to look for one.

Ive always been intrigued by the preference of some people for pepper-laden food. Pepper is often used to supress off flavors--which sometimes arise from food that has not been well preserved. I suspect that the spicy character of much Indian food was an outgrowth of this problem. When a dish is extraordinarily hot and spicy, I tend to be suspicious about the quality of the ingredients that went into it.
Cantabene

Cantabene
The taste of the chinese food was very American!

Oh. cantabene. You are really missing out. I do enjoy the simplicity of Spanish cooking, where the taste of the food really comes through. Nonetheless, I looooove the complex spice and flavor combinations in Indian and Thai food. yum! I also love japanese food, brazilian, italian, french, west african(HOT), caribbean (HOT!!!) middle eastern - with the slight bitterness to spices and then a yummy yoghurt sauce, mmm. I simply love food.

I understand that in Indian food the hot spices serve the purpose of killing bacteria that may be in the food. Could be wrong though. Despite that maybe originally being the reason for salted/spiced foods, I think it has gone beyond that to be a taste preference eventually. Depending on what part of the world you are in, ie whether or not refrigerators are widely used - which is a pretty fair chunk of the places most of us are traveling-, the spices are probably not for covering up rancid meat flavor.


[This message has been edited by Nicole (edited 01-19-2001).]

As they say in Spain,--Cada loco a su tema.

I too am crazy about food. But still suspicious of the really hot stuff. It's been my experience that the heat destroys the subtleties of flavor. Perhaps I haven't been exposed to a large enough sample. I do eat it from time to time when there are no other options.
Cantabene

mclarke- What a great story from the restaurante chino! Nice cultural interchange...

I like going to the Chinese restaurants, since they are usually quite authentic, unlike many in the U.S. The people who are running the show are normally first or second generation immigrants looking for 'market share' and treat you like the only client in the house. The "Gran Muralla" in Avilés and the "Gran Muralla" (not a chain...just recognizable in title) in Valladolid were two that stand out. There's one in Segovia that is very good on the other side of the iglesia de San Nicolás, too.

For those who say "when in Rome..." I agree. After backpacking with a friend who thought that the trip was "sample the McDonald's in all countries" I know you should get out and eat the local stuff. Nevertheless, when you're in a country for an extended period of time, you do want to reach out for something different. I know I did.