A Different Corner
Pro Top tapas in town, possibly.
Con Service is not speedy when things get busy.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €25-28. Three large beers, three plates of tapas to share. Gratis: Bacalao bites, a mini icecream.
Find
San Martin de Valdeiglesias
Approx 50km from Madrid in zone C2. Bus 551 takes 80 mins or so from P. Pio, Darsena 22.
Recommended visit: Slightly over-restored but still atmospheric and little-known castle. You may have it all to yourself. The ticket desk doubles as the town tourist office. Last time we looked, the tourist page of the ayuntamiento website's gone for a burton.
El Rincon de Pachiqui
Online Facebook
Access Step free throughout.
In Short
Hopes. It's a warm, warm day. Give us cold beer & simple food. We'll call it lunch.
Reality. Timing was on our side. Food was good.
First Impressions. A busy terrace, lots of staff about.
USP? The only outdoor seating on this square.
The offer in three words. Totally typical tapas.
Service! Really friendly and kind, but got seriously confused when things got busy.
Friend friendly? You'll be the tortilla & peppers.
Rating for dating. San Martin's not a bad spot for a quiet trip. Might be too quiet, mind.
Tip? Small one.
Change one thing? More sauce on the potatoes.
Revisitability. If we went back to town, we'd pop by.
Compare & Contrast
Navalcarnero's not too far away. Nor's Villanueva de la Cañada.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
San Martin de Valdeiglesias is an hour plus from Madrid, in scenery that gets more interesting the further you get. Things soon get hilly, rocky and green...y. It's never going to top the tourist lists, but S.M de V's main sight is the 14th century castle, well looked after, with lots of information panels in English and Spanish. It's a pleasant half hour or so's diversion. There are good views of the whole town and its surroundings from the roof of the keep. There's a slightly ramshackle main square and church to wander around, a couple of minutes from the bus station, but don't expect a full day's sightseeing. This is a day away from the hustle and bustle. Spanish is almost certainly the only language you'll hear all day.
With most visitors attracted by the outdoor sports at the lakes nearby. A large boat on the roundabout into town is adorned with the slogan "The Beach of Madrid", which is either inspiringly optimistic or a good joke. Anyway, the result is there are only a couple of restaurants in town. Most of the bars are on the smallish side, but pleasingly filled with locals. There are few terraces though and we. went, more or less on instinct, for a corner of the square in front of the town market, as we could sit outside in some shade.
It's a busy spot. Families gather for drinks - one way to deal with hyperactive four year olds apparently being to simply let them run off and see how far they go before boomeranging back on invisible elastic. There are visitors, too. A quartet from Avila were self-consciously (i.e. loudly) extolling the joys of the Madrid Metro yellow line, for some reason.
Pachiqui has a lengthy list of classic tapas on his menu cards, and some specials, too. You won't need to ask, as the owners will proudly announce them, which had an impact on our choices. Pachiqui's eponymous potatoes with vinaigrette were well fried but needed more herb and lemon to have the right bite. Ventresca/tuna with home roasted peppers was rightly bigged up as it was absolutely delicious, with a hint of smokiness going on. Its colours sell it. Great stuff.
A bit of a delay ensued, before the goats' kid chops and potatoes appeared. Another proper daily special, the tiny chops were fresh, simply grilled and very tasty. The generous potato portion needed another minute's frying.
Beers had been arriving quickly and as cold as you'd hope, but we noticed the friendly service slow down markedly - which they were very apologetic about - as the food orders piled up. Tables around us were giving restless looks. With four servers, it didn't seem likely the food was backing up in the kitchen, but more hands might be needed out there to meet the demand.
We forewent dessert. Mainly as flan or fruit, entirely true to expectation, were the whole offer. They don't always take no for an answer here though, as a server forced a free chocolate ice cream on the one of us he managed to flirt at. We had helped him work out how many drinks we'd had to sort the bill out, mind. Mystifyingly deemed unflirtworthy, I had to pay for my cafe solo. Solo.
There are other bars around town that look worth a visit, but for amiability, quality and quantity, if not necessarily speediness, we'd readily return.
Pro Top tapas in town, possibly.
Con Service is not speedy when things get busy.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €25-28. Three large beers, three plates of tapas to share. Gratis: Bacalao bites, a mini icecream.
Find
San Martin de Valdeiglesias
Approx 50km from Madrid in zone C2. Bus 551 takes 80 mins or so from P. Pio, Darsena 22.
Recommended visit: Slightly over-restored but still atmospheric and little-known castle. You may have it all to yourself. The ticket desk doubles as the town tourist office. Last time we looked, the tourist page of the ayuntamiento website's gone for a burton.
El Rincon de Pachiqui
Online Facebook
Access Step free throughout.
In Short
Hopes. It's a warm, warm day. Give us cold beer & simple food. We'll call it lunch.
Reality. Timing was on our side. Food was good.
First Impressions. A busy terrace, lots of staff about.
USP? The only outdoor seating on this square.
The offer in three words. Totally typical tapas.
Service! Really friendly and kind, but got seriously confused when things got busy.
Friend friendly? You'll be the tortilla & peppers.
Rating for dating. San Martin's not a bad spot for a quiet trip. Might be too quiet, mind.
Tip? Small one.
Change one thing? More sauce on the potatoes.
Revisitability. If we went back to town, we'd pop by.
Compare & Contrast
Navalcarnero's not too far away. Nor's Villanueva de la Cañada.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
San Martin de Valdeiglesias is an hour plus from Madrid, in scenery that gets more interesting the further you get. Things soon get hilly, rocky and green...y. It's never going to top the tourist lists, but S.M de V's main sight is the 14th century castle, well looked after, with lots of information panels in English and Spanish. It's a pleasant half hour or so's diversion. There are good views of the whole town and its surroundings from the roof of the keep. There's a slightly ramshackle main square and church to wander around, a couple of minutes from the bus station, but don't expect a full day's sightseeing. This is a day away from the hustle and bustle. Spanish is almost certainly the only language you'll hear all day.
With most visitors attracted by the outdoor sports at the lakes nearby. A large boat on the roundabout into town is adorned with the slogan "The Beach of Madrid", which is either inspiringly optimistic or a good joke. Anyway, the result is there are only a couple of restaurants in town. Most of the bars are on the smallish side, but pleasingly filled with locals. There are few terraces though and we. went, more or less on instinct, for a corner of the square in front of the town market, as we could sit outside in some shade.
It's a busy spot. Families gather for drinks - one way to deal with hyperactive four year olds apparently being to simply let them run off and see how far they go before boomeranging back on invisible elastic. There are visitors, too. A quartet from Avila were self-consciously (i.e. loudly) extolling the joys of the Madrid Metro yellow line, for some reason.
Pachiqui has a lengthy list of classic tapas on his menu cards, and some specials, too. You won't need to ask, as the owners will proudly announce them, which had an impact on our choices. Pachiqui's eponymous potatoes with vinaigrette were well fried but needed more herb and lemon to have the right bite. Ventresca/tuna with home roasted peppers was rightly bigged up as it was absolutely delicious, with a hint of smokiness going on. Its colours sell it. Great stuff.
A bit of a delay ensued, before the goats' kid chops and potatoes appeared. Another proper daily special, the tiny chops were fresh, simply grilled and very tasty. The generous potato portion needed another minute's frying.
Beers had been arriving quickly and as cold as you'd hope, but we noticed the friendly service slow down markedly - which they were very apologetic about - as the food orders piled up. Tables around us were giving restless looks. With four servers, it didn't seem likely the food was backing up in the kitchen, but more hands might be needed out there to meet the demand.
We forewent dessert. Mainly as flan or fruit, entirely true to expectation, were the whole offer. They don't always take no for an answer here though, as a server forced a free chocolate ice cream on the one of us he managed to flirt at. We had helped him work out how many drinks we'd had to sort the bill out, mind. Mystifyingly deemed unflirtworthy, I had to pay for my cafe solo. Solo.
There are other bars around town that look worth a visit, but for amiability, quality and quantity, if not necessarily speediness, we'd readily return.
