Let's meet at Federico Garcia Lorca statue in the middle of Plaza Santa Ana at 1:45pm. (at the end where the plaza meets the Teatro Real - the opposite end from the hotel)

We'll try for Toscana in Huertas and hope we get there before the lunch rush. CLICK HERE for a map of the restaurant but we'll meet in the Plaza Santa Ana. Sound like a plan?

Valenciano_en_Madrid, so there are TWO Toscanas nearly side-by-side? You mention the other one behind the Teatro Real but it seems both are behind the Teatro Real. The above link is to the one (?) at Calle Manuel Fernández y González, 10 but if you go down one block, there's the Toscana Cocina Madrileña at Calle Ventura de la Vega, 22 where the street meets Calle del Prado. Is one a café and the other a restaurant?

Saludos, MadridMan

All welcome! See you there tomorrow/Friday!

Saludos, MadridMan

¡Espero que os paséis bien! Wish I could come, too. Be sure to tell us all about the restaurant and what you ate. Pictures are always great, too.

Glad I am not the only one who is into food porn....

Food porn? hehehe...

I'll take my camera to lunch and will share a photo or two later on today. Remember, ALL are welcome.

Saludos, MadridMan

Steve and I had a nice lunch together at Toscana. Vegas baby didn't show - not sure why. Maybe (s)he didn't get the location/time before getting on the plane. We waited until about 2:05 and then went on.

The place was nearly empty and we got a table right away - in the bar area. The only linen-covered tables they had, about 8, in the farther part of the bar area, all had RESERVED signs on them so we ate on our paper-covered wooden tables with the bar-dispenser-napkins.

There was no menu of the day either so we chose the following "raciones":

Chopitos
Pimientos Fritos
Morcillo

We got the Chopitos first. Mmmm.. So good. The pimientos fritos came soon after - also good and salty. Then, I called over the waiter about the Morcillo we'd ordered. I remember speaking the word when ordering, Morcillo, and thinking it sounded odd at the time. So when the waiter came back, I told him that I knew what morcilla and that I THOUGHT I was ordering that and if he could explain to us what morcillo was. It's the calf portion of the veal calf in a slightly spicy broth with sliced potatoes and there was also some spinach, I think. So the waiter, so nice, offered to ALSO bring us a small portion, 2, slices of Morcilla since we'd obviously wanted some - it was pretty good too.

For dessert, I ordered the arroz con leche and Steve ordered the tarta de santiago. And while it apparently wasn't typically done there (because the waiter seemed to wiggle his nose as the request), we asked if it could be served flambeado or (a.k.a. flambe or singed or ON FIRE!! ) and he did. He brougt a metal container of blue-flaming orujo (a liqueur) and spooned it over top Steve's Tarta de Santiago - in order that the cake wouldn't be so dry - as it tends to be.

We just had beer(s) for drinks and also bread, of course. All totalled, 44€ - which isn't cheap. As I mentioned above, they did not have a Menú del Día.

It's a shame Vegas baby couldn't make it. This happens sometime. People get caught up in newly-made plans and things change. No problem.

The place is rustic, with some farming tools, old iron pans, and those gourd wine-carrying recepticles. They have an all-Spanish wait staff, dressed professionally, and acting appropriately.

See photo below of Steve (left) and me enjoying our chopitos and pimientos fritos. Mmmm...


I'm not happy with the photo quality. I think it's because I had it on "slow flash" setting which slows down the exposure a bit.

The next lunch might well be when member esperanza comes in early April. Stay tuned!

Saludos, MadridMan

Good job MadridMan,

I think it's so gracious of you to try to meet with many of your devotees. I hope one day you can afford me the pleasure.

The photo looks just fine. The restaurant appears very charming. However, rest assured that if I was eating what you've described, you'd have to have a very fast exposure rate, especially for whichever hand my forks in.

Those chairs or stools do not look to comfortable.

Thanks for sharing.

Bill

Yummmmmm. Toscana is one of my favorites. For years I would stay right around the corner at Hotel Ingles. They have great albondigas and kindeys there also. Thanks for the great report, and maybe I will be able to join for a lunch in May.

Hello,
I would like to meet you last 23th, but I was working.
Yes, the chairs are not comfortable and the price is not cheap. Even the rustic decoration is old fashion. Well, we could say that it is simply old. But that's precisely what people like of that place, a traditional tasca madrileña as they used to be in the 70's. Specially nowadays, when all restaurants in Spain want to look trendy, innovative and cosmopolitan. Like 'Pan de lujo' or 'Lagrimas negras'. for example:
http://www.pandelujo.es/
http://www.hoteles-silken.com/hpam/index.php

The waiters at Toscana are all Spanish and they have a permanent job, so you will allways see the same waiters working. They are quite profesional.
MM, did you eat 'ensalada de la casa'?
The salad is made only with tasty tomatos, tuna fish and onions. The secret is the onions, they marinate them in vinegar for some time.

See you next time

No, Valenciano_en_Madrid, we did not try the house salad.

I did find that there is a "Toscana II" right next door but it was closed when we were there. It looked much smaller, maybe just a bar.

I'd remembered that I'd eaten there before, years ago. I thought they'd had a menu del dia, but maybe not.

Saludos, MadridMan