Just wanted to share with you this place which already has quite a reputation in Madrid . "La Tosta" in Calle Victoria ( Off of San Jeronimo ) . As the name suggests , it specialises in toast ! With a huge variety of toppings . Sort of large sizes Pintxos ( Basque tapas ) .
I was at a birthday party ( got back 5:30 this morning aaargh ) , and we had a table of about 12 people . The bar is smallish but has a cellar area where we set up and were joined by another large group .
They served us 4 large tortillas with bread ( delicious ) , Then plenty of croquetas ( potato and ham ) , Then the "tostas" topped with Jamon and esparragos , Prawns and mayonnaise , Mushrooms and spinach with cheese ... etc.... Large jugs of Sangria kept coming to the table ( This place is reknowned for the quality of the sangria - It was WONDERFUL ! ) .At the end , the "chupitos" ( shots ) were on the house ... Various types including the omnipitous "Hierba" and "Pacharan" .. The wonderful Dominican waitress just left the bottles on the table for us to finish !
It's a great place and the staff are friendly and welcoming and efficient .

As a footnote - We finished the night at a club on San Jeronimo called " Bourbon Cafe" .. Live bad , great music and an hilarious drag queen who i persuaded to have photos taken .. The young staff there work very hard but always cheerful .. It really makes a difference to an evening .

Left the bar at 5am and decided to walk home ( 30 minutes ) down Alcala to Cibeles and then to O'Donnell , past Retiro Park , back to my apartment ...Madrid was STILL rocking !!

Steve .