Eating at Rincón de Pardiñas

With the sunrise, the portal to the supernatural has closed once again, and all the frights, tricks, and deals return to that mysterious realm, the realm of Hades and Persephone, where they will remain in quarantine until next year.

Therefore, after an exhausting night of scares and frights, the body appreciates joining another of humanity's great adventures, which is, without a doubt, eating.

So, temporarily leaving the center of Madrid, where significant traces of pumpkins and stickers still linger on the ground, I invite you to move to an area adjacent to another important artery of the capital, Diego de León Street.

Our destination, located nearby, is at number 81 General Oraa Street, in a tavern-restaurant called ‘El Rincón de Pardiñas’. Its interior, a far cry from the traditional taverns that made Madrid's history, is modernly functional, yet also pleasant and welcoming.

At table number 13, we begin with a complimentary appetizer: tempting ham and cheese rolls, accompanied by the delightful flavor of a mayonnaise sauce. Next, alongside a generous plate of whitebait with eggs, a combination that is certainly very pleasing to the palate and a good way to start working that bottomless pit that, at times, is that metaphorical sleeping lion that is the stomach, some homemade ham croquettes begin to mingle with the warm flavors of a good red wine, such as a 2021 Rioja Crianza.

This wine is also ideal to accompany the main course, a spectacular ribeye steak, which leaves the appetite sufficiently satisfied to face that other everyday Halloween, which, ultimately, is our great daily adventure: survival.

Of course, all of this is accompanied by the final touch: a succulent vanilla ice cream, because, as a popular saying goes, no one turns down a sweet treat.

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