churros and porras

Easter weekend in Madrid. We arrived at late Good Friday flying from London Gatwick, thoroughly famished. After a quick peek into the cafeteria-like restaurant of the hotel we decided to wander through the streets, and a few corners later stumbled across a local bar. A glorious slice of spanish life. Couple in the corner playing dominos, a few old men huddled around an old television screen in the corner, some teenagers loitering smoking outside.  We timidly approached the waiter who to our shock spoke perfect english - shame on us!  Before we knew it we had a bottle of rioja, plate of squid rings and some chicken croquettes sitting on our little red and white chequered tablecloth. Perfect. Our new friend had waitered in London for many years, hence his english and he advised us on a few places to go, including EXACTLY where to go for breakfast in the morning. Just down the road in the little village square, for churros and porras, a cup of hot chocolate and good strong spanish coffee.  My oh my!  This is right up there with my all time favourite experiences.  Buenos dias, por favor dos churros, dos porras, una cafe solo, una cafe con leche and a hot chocolate which is about the extent of our spanish now but it got us by and this is what it looked like...