CORDOBA, SPAIN Casa Rubio Bar

For our second lunch, we stopped at Casa Rubio Bar, driven by hunger and intrigued by the Michelin sign on their door. After checking out their menu, we decided to grab an outdoor table for five.

Sam had some specific Cordoba dishes in mind, and she was very excited about the cold cream soup of tomato from the Cordoba area.

We ordered several tapas to share, including croquettes, oxtail stew, rolls of pork loin.

Casa Rubio Bar

RECOMMENDATIONS: Everything was good, not exceptional. The oxtail stew was surprisingly good. Some of us enjoyed the pork loin rolls more than others. The cold soups were good, and so was the fresh tomato tuna salad.

CORDOBA, SPAIN Arabiga Specialty Coffee

The after-lunch coffee break was at Arabiga Specialty Coffee. Next door to Arabiga was a Pasteis de Nata shop called Arte+Nata. 

That sounded like a lovely combination. Both these shops were carry-out only, so we got our cappuccino and pasta de nata to go.

Arabiga Coffee and Arte+Nata Pasteis de Nata

RECOMMENDATIONS: The coffee was solid. The interaction with the shop owner at Arte+Nata was a bit awkward, with the shop owner lecturing Thanh when she tried to take a picture of him grabbing a pasta de nata that she ordered. Overall, an average experience.

CORDOBA, SPAIN Mercado Victoria

We were very lucky to catch the tail end of the Cordoba Patio Festival of 2025. The festival runs in parallel with a competition of Courtyards and Crosses, where the owners decorate their houses with many flowers planted in beds and pots. During the festival, the homeowners open up their patios to visitors, and the winners of the prestigious awards for various categories had the longest lines.

We took the 9:35am train from Madrid, arriving in Cordoba at 11:22am. We immediately walked to the Mercado Victoria for a lunch break.

The Ibericos stand with products from the Pedroches Valley by BEHER stood out to us. We first ordered an Iberian ham baguette. It was so good that we followed up with a plate of Iberian ham for snacking.

Iberian ham is sourced from pigs that are 100% acorn-fed, farmed in Los Pedroches and raised in Cordoba. The curing process is done exclusively in Guijuelo, Salamanca, for over 100 years.

Mercado Victoria: Ibericos stand

RECOMMENDATIONS: Highly recommended. The Iberian ham baguette was the best baguette we had on this trip: the baguette perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We picked the best quality Iberian cut and what a heavenly combination it was.

MADRID, SPAIN Valor Chocolatier

We left room for some churros finally, because this was on our bucket list of things for Rob and Tiff to try in Madrid.

On our last visit to Madrid, we went to the famous Chocolatier San Ginés, but we remembered not being so impressed with the chocolate dip.

This time, we did a little bit of research, and decided to check out Valor Chocolatier. We were drawn to the fact that Valor offered a wide range from white chocolate to milk chocolate to 70% dark chocolate, even chocolate with hazelnut, to go with their churros.

Phil and Thanh went for the 70% dark chocolate while Rob and Tiff went for the traditional chocolate drink, served thick and hot. The churros came out piping hot and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The combination was heavenly!

Valor churros and chocolate

RECOMMENDATIONS: We highly recommend Valor for the best churros in Madrid, over the overly-hyped San Ginés. The best part was that they closed very late, so there are plenty of time to go for an after-dinner dessert.

MADRID, SPAIN Takos Al Pastor

 Sam asked if we were willing to wait in line for good food, and of course we were! We were not that hungry yet, so we lined up at the end of a long line at Takos Al Pastor. 

By the time we got to the front of the line, our appetite had kicked up, and we were ready for some amazing tacos.

Sam treated us all to dinner, which made the food even better! The spicy green sauce was a great accompaniment to the tacos we picked.

Takos Al Pastor

RECOMMENDATIONS: Highly recommended. Great tasting and cheap is a win-win combination. The line moves pretty fast, and the food comes out fast. Really good salsa to go with the tacos. Sam gets our approval on this recommendation.

MADRID, SPAIN Dabov Specialty Coffee

 Afternoon coffee break was at Dabov Specialty Coffee. 

Dabov Specialty Coffee

RECOMMENDATIONS: Solid, but not the best in Spain, and not the top three of our Spain/France trip.

MADRID, SPAIN Sukaldea Atotxa

 Lunch was tapas at Sukaldea Atotxa, located very close to the Parque de El Retiro.

We ordered six small plates to share. Our favorites were the grilled small squids and the broken eggs with Iberian. Our least favorite was the eggplants in tempura. Everything else was solid.

Sukaldea tapas

RECOMMENDATIONS: This was an excellent restaurant close to the park, making it both convenient and good. We love good tapas in Spain, and this fits the bill.

MADRID, SPAIN Wolføx Madrid Specialty Coffee Roasters

Brunch was at Wolføx Specialty Coffee this morning. Robert and Tiffany got some cold coffee drinks to cool down, while Phil and Thanh stuck to cappucino.

We also ordered chocolate croissant, a slice of carrot cake, and an Iberian ham toast.

Sam met us there to start our walk.

Wolfox Specialty Coffee

RECOMMENDATION: A charming little café, good coffee and good food. Cannot go wrong.

MADRID, SPAIN Sobrino de Botín

 Sobrino de Botín was known as the oldest restaurant in the world, with claims of being opened since 1725. 

Its signature dish was the roast suckling pig, and having had such amazing suckling pig in Portugal on the last trip, Phil and Thanh wanted Robert and Tiffany to sample suckling pig on this trip too. Sam was available to join us, so we made reservations a few months ahead of time for the five of us.

Restaurant Sobrino de Botin serving roast suckling pig

All five of us ordered the suckling pig, as we knew what we were here for. We were all very impressed with the suckling pig; the meat was well marinaded and tender, and the skin so crispy.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Although the price was on the high side (more expensive than what we paid for in Portugal), we found the suckling pig to be of high quality, very tender, low fat, and the skin crispy as can be. The sides were roasted potatoes, whereas in Portugal, the sides served were fries and salad. Thanh preferred the fries and salad sides over roasted potatoes, but overall, we would highly recommend to come here for the roast suckling pigs, and make reservations ahead of time, as the restaurant is very popular.

To be fair, we found Portugal to be much cheaper than the main European cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, so it was not surprising that the suckling pig in Portugal was cheaper too.

MADRID, SPAIN Arabay Specialty Coffee

We began our coffee journey of the trip, guided by Robert and Tiffany, with Arabay Specialty Coffee.

Only four months ago, Robert got us interested in making espresso drinks at home. We completely geeked out under his guidance, learning to extract that elusive perfect espresso shot, and practicing foaming milk and making latte art.

Now, we followed Robert and Tiffany to sample the best espresso that Spain and France had to offer.

Our first stop was Arabay, a cute little coffee roaster shop in Madrid.

Arabay Coffee

Phil ordered a cortado, Thanh tried a cafe bombon (too sweet, even for Thanh!), while Robert and Tiffany had filtered coffee.

We also found a Manteigara shop, selling Pasta de Natas, so we bought some to go with our coffee, for old time's sake. These pasta de natas were not as good as the same branded ones we had in Portugal.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Above average for most of us. Thanh ordered the wrong thing and did not like it.

MADRID, SPAIN La Sirena Verde

We landed early this morning and met Robert and Tiffany at the Gran Via apartment, where they have settled in since the night before. 

After we unpacked, we touched base with Sam to have her meet us for lunch. 

Robert picked a couple places for lunch: La Charca Taberna (an Asturian restaurant), and La Sirena Verde (a seafood restaurant.) We first walked to La Charca Taberna, but learned lunch didn't start for another hour (at 1pm.) 

We decided to walk around the Plaza de Espana for an hour, then headed to La Sirena Verde, located nearby.

La Sirena Verde, seafood restaurant

Our first meal in Madrid was decent, not the best. Overall, the dishes were a bit salty. The lamb chops were not as tender as we would have liked. We were happy to sample our first paella of the trip. This dish was the best of the four dishes we ordered.

RECOMMENDATIONS: There is no need to seek this restaurant out.