HOT! HOT! HOT! off the press and onto your computer comes the latest installment of `The MMDDMM Files`. Before we begin I would like to give a special mention to Morys Cemlyn Jones, a bastion & pillar of Madrid and faithful member of our motley crew, who passed away this week. He embodied the MMDDMM spirit and will be sorely missed.
Down by the river was the name and our game as this week´s adventure took us to Legazpi and As Charcas in Plaza de Rutillo Gacias No. 2. On the suggestion of a man known only as `El Rubio´, the posse sauntered into this bright and clean eatery, ready to be dazzled and amazed. As Charcas is a working man´s/womans´s bar/restaurant in a working man´s/woman´s neighbourhood (MMDDMM – Finger on the political correctness pulse, ALWAYS). Being that El Rubio is a personal friend of the owner, our table was prepared for battle and was only lacking our hungry horde. Our options – 3 & 3 for €10. Salads, soups, filetes & fish, our choices had a healthy variety.
Our first minor stumbling block came in the form of our waiter, Victor. Taking our order seemed to be a tad complicated for him and our libations took a little longer than desired to arrive. But as luck would have it, this small glitch also turned out to be the last as service was soon brought up to the requisite speed and an over abundance of wine made us quickly forget any qualms we might have had. And with El Rubio celebrating his birthday, cake and all, the festivities had only one direction to go, UP UP AND AWAAAAAAAAY.
Judgement time. What did our experienced group of FSI´s (Food Scene Investigators) think of As Charcas. Spectrograms at the ready!! FOOD – The portions were generous, especially the chicken fillets and guiso iberico (stewed pork) and the flavours definitely merrited a thumbs up. SERVICE – Apart from our false start, the service was commendable. Victor, our waiter, was a charachter and a half who rose to the challenge and without any fuss, our vegetarian´s choices were subtly altered to suit her culinary desires. VIBE – Maybe because of the alignment of the stars or some other cosmic event, many of our attendees had the evening free and elected to continue the debauchery long into the twilight. The craic was raucous and the merriment flowed, all helped along by the ever friendly staff of this quality establishment. THE MARK – 4 out of 5. As Charcas is a standard Madrid diner but stands out due to it´s welcoming staff and service and is certainly worth the trek.
Next week the gang heads out on another voyage, with a more central location, so i hope i see lots of familiar AND new faces. More info, coming shortly. And remember guys, if you have or know of an eatery that needs specialist investigation, if you can find us (not that difficult), maybe you can hire MMDDMM (we know you´re humming it). Hasta pronto.
Morys was a fantastic a person he will be missed, he was very dear to all in Buzios [ Brazil ] and we are all very sad to hear about this sad news .