Chocolatería San Ginés

Chocolate and Churros at Chocolatería San Ginés, Madrid

Our flights are uneventful. We change planes in Amsterdam, having, regrettably, not enough time between flights to leave the airport and enjoy an Indonesian rijstaffel in the city but more than enough time to cool our heels impatiently at our gate until our flight to Madrid.

It's evening by the time we arrive. We've been traveling for about 24 hours. By the time we collect our luggage and check into our hotel it's dark, and we're hungry.

In some cities, this would be a problem. Fortunately, we're in Madrid. Armed with directions from our hotel front desk staff, we hop on a bus and then the metro and have our first glance at the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza has a friendly feel, with clumps of Madrileños and gawking tourists. We stop by a bar for some tapas (including an insanely good potato dish with eggs, jamon serrano, and what we'll later learn are pimientos al padron) and wander the streets, and to our delight stumble upon Chocolatería San Ginés

San Ginés, was on our "must visit" list, but we hadn't been actively searching for it that night. No visit to Madrid would be complete without a stop at Chocolatería San Ginés Founded in 1894, it started as a popular breakfast place but has since evolved to become a popular late-night/wee-early morning spot to end a late night of partying or tapas bar hopping. (Given how late some Madrid natives stay up, I guess that means it's still a breakfast place...) Though they offer some other items, there is really one must-have thing to try on your first visit: the churros con chocolate. Churros are fried dough sticks, perhaps more commonly known in the States in their Mexican incarnation and coated in cinnamon sugar. San Ginés churros are plain, but that's because you dress them up with hot chocolate!

We lucked out that first night. A street table right near the door opened up just as we arrived. We ordered two churros con chocolate and a few minutes later a huge plate of churros and two cups of chocolate arrived at our table. Heaven. We dunked our churros in our chocolate and enjoyed the street scene. The night was cool, but with a jacket, not uncomfortable. A few doors down, what looked like a dance club was just gearing up for a late-late night opening, a bouncer or two watching the street from their door posts while muscians carried in instruments.

We tried churros at more than one place in Madrid, and these were the best. We loved San Ginés so much that we went there three times during our 10 days in Spain, though that first night was the most magical and perfect ending to a long grueling day of travel. The churros arrived warm and crisp, and the chocolate rich and thick and sweet but not too sweet, flavored with a touch of vanilla and canela* (Ceylon cinnamon, or "wild cinnamon"). We were less enamoured of the porras, a larger thicker version of a churro. Ours arrived cold and greasy. But the churros were fresh and perfect all three times we had them.

On our third trip we spied the boxes of San Ginés chocolate sitting on a shelve over the bar and snagged outselves a few as souvenirs. Now I just have to perfect my own churro-making and throw a "churros con chocolate" party, and we'll be able to enjoy a little piece of Madrid at home.

Coming next: Salamanca — medieval universities and tapas!