MMDDMM… It´s not a clan, it´s a cult! With cult quotes and all. This time however, one from the late great Benjamin Franklin, “Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” This has never been truer said than at such a joyous occasion as when one (or two) of our loco luncheoners celebrate the moment of another passing year of their existence! This time it was one Ms. Ellen Ann Kee and our first lady,Alejandra Alita, who done her darndest to keep it a secret and got away with it two weeks previous but we were not going to let her away without a decent “knees up” with her favourite gastronomic comrades! So with the scene set, table booked, restaurant informed, gifts in-hand and all of us packing a bit more banter for our bite than usual we were prepped for the meal and day that would ensue and made our way from metro Puerta de Toledo to restaurant Sala Clan on calle Rivera de curtidores (frente número 30).
This was a much bigger group than expected but as more and more people turned up, our hosts were more than able to swing their cat-like reflexes into action and make sure all smiles were in abundance with all requests delivered with the sort of grace that was reminiscent from a pirouetting ballerina and in the setting of a swanky updated high class 1920´s restaurant motif i.e. IT WAS GOOD!
Moving onto our culinary choices – mixed salad, spaghetti carbonara with cherry tomatoes and cat food (tomato tuna in a domestic animal food bowl) for starters with beer chicken, fish and croquettes for mains for €10 and nearly with all our vino included. Once again there was a little something for everyone with one of our motley lot getting extremely excited about our chicken choice and aimlessly screaming “beer” when asked what she would like for her second course (a-hem Jenny benny ding dong!).
With our bellies now full, we co-ordinated a series of winks and hand gestures to usher birthday treats to the table and both birthday girls were pleasantly surprised as we joined in harmony for a rendition of that celebration song that we´ve all rehearsed so well. Eat your heart out Vienna Boys choir!
And so, it was onto “la quenta” time where there were no surprises as we´d already been informed that we would have to fork out an extra €6 for another bottle of wine and €12 for two birthday cakes which I suppose is okay when divided between 18 people but be warned diners, this place is normally the “1 bebida cada menu” sort of place, the ritzy ones normally are!
Our verdict… A very satisfying 4 out of 5 goes to Sala Clan with a serious pat on the back for service and food.
We swiftly took our seats at the helm of Rastro Bar´s bar on Calle Mira el Sol almost without noticing we´d left the restaurant, (IT WAS THAT CLOSE) with the expert hand of Bryn Gorry once again delivering his daily dose of drunken debauchery on our gang of parched patrons with MMDDMM discount to boot. It seemed a foolish idea to move away from our well worn grooves and decided to let our evil barman loose on our livers. A fun evening was had by all!
Moving onto next week´s loco luncheon, Legazpi is our destination with another birthday celebration in mind for what the Spanish only know as “El Rubio”. As he is an anti-facebooker I´m not worried of him seeing this but please peop´s… DON´T SAY A WORD! So until then Madrid, you stay classy!
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