The Real Madrid Breakfast: Churros con Chocoláte!

Tired from dragging my luggage from Korea to Turkey, and then to Spain, and having not been able to sleep well in Istanbul, I finally got a good night's sleep in Madrid at Señor Tomas's Hostal Las Fuentes.

And walking around Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol (read blog here), Plaza España, Plaza de Oriente, Palacio Real and Almudena Cathedral from late afternoon till night added to the tiredness. I just had to squeeze in my visits to these places as I already lost a day due to Turkish Airline's delayed flight (read blog here)! 😨

If a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, mine began with a delayed flight! 😡

So, after waking up at 8AM the next morning, I immediately opened my hotel window and looked up the Madrid skies. ¡Buenos dias! 😊Time for churros con chocoláte desayuno (breakfast)!

      (Churros ready to be cut, served and enjoyed)

So, I just walked down a few alleys for about five minutes to Chocolatería San Gines, which was near the Church of San Gínes. This famous churros place is actually open 24 hours, but when I got there, I was the only one! I guess all the tourists in Madrid were still asleep!😴

"¡Hola! Churros con chocoláte, por favor!", I proudly blurted out to the señorita at the entrance, which was probably the same sentence the actual King Alfonso exclaimed when he sneaked out of the palace to visit this place in the early 20th century. 

I took a seat, surveyed the mirrors and black-and-white photographs on the walls, and convinced myself that I was not dreaming! I was finally in Spain and about to savor real churros with hot chocoláte! ¡Olé! ✈

I read somewhere that churros were first created by shepherds who needed snacks when they went out in the plains centuries ago. But thanks to those shepherds, today, churrerias are scattered all over Spain to feed shepherds without any sheep.

My churros con chocolate cost me €3.90, and although I have always enjoyed tablea chocolate at home made by my mom, the hot chocolate in the churreria was so rich and thick that you could feel the drink slide down your esophagus and settle heavily in your stomach! Que rico!

      (By the time I was done, San Gines was full!)

Aside from Chocolateria San Gines, I also visited its equally popular competition on the other side of the block, Chocolatería Los Artesanos 1902. But Los Artesanos have more variety of pastries compared with San Gines.

              (Señor churrero frying sus churros)

On the succeeding mornings in Madrid, I went to San Gines and had cafe con leche, pestiños and flor. Pestiños and flor are crunchy, sweet fritters popular in the Andalucian region of Spain. I decided I might as well enjoy all other breakfast goodies in the neighborhood.

                  (Cafe con leche, pestiños y flor)

When the shepherds during the old Spanish times created a batter and fried them into snacks, they might not have thought that, one day, the snacks they created would also bring such enjoyment, not just to the generations of Spanish families, but also to one tourist, who made his way through the alleys of Madrid and was welcomed with a cup of hot chocoláte and a plateful of churros! ☕

On Any Given Sunday...

On weekends, when I have the time to really think what I want to have for breakfast, I always wished I had puto manapla or some biscocho. And because last January when I was in Manila, my friend Marlu treated me to a breakfast of churros and hot chocolate at Dulcinea in Greenbelt, I continued to crave for churros here in Seoul.

                      (Dulcinea's churros con chocolate)

And it was as if the universe conspired (again!) to grant my wish! When I recently went to Costco to get my regular box of breakfast cereals, I stumbled upon Tio Pepe's Churros! All I needed to do was to heat them up. 

So, this weekend, I didn't have to rush to a cafe in Itaewon that served churros, I just had to rush to my freezer. And since I was able to finish four of them with my hot tablea tsokolate, I needed to walk off a heavy breakfast. 

   (Hot tablea tsokolate with Tio Pepe's Churros with Nutella)

At the gym where I used to go, the trainer always teased me that I was like a bear; I hibernate during the winter. I skipped going to his gym during the cold months as I just hated getting up early on cold mornings. Just like everyone else, we all wanted to sleep some more.

                         (I hope this will be Coffeesmith)

Instead of going to the gym (which actually closes a few days during the month), I just walked around the neighborhood whenever I want to, or play tennis at the nearby tennis courts.  For walking, a few times I'd go as far as the Banpo Fountain Bridge, or as far as Itaewon. And while roaming around Hannam-dong today, a noticed a few changes here and there. What caught my eye was the renovation of an old building where the office of a real estate agent used to be. It now looks like the familiar facade of the Coffeesmith franchise. If it is, there will be a new coffee shop right at my doorstep! I hope they'll close past midnight! Ha-ha-ha! Starbucks on the other side of the street sadly closes at 11PM.  Although Coffine Gurunaru closes at 2AM, they have a horrible iced cafe mocha. The only thing good about Coffine Gurunaru was there patpingsu. And although there is TomnToms that closes at midnight, I noticed some shady characters there last weekend. Or maybe I was just paranoid. Ha-ha-ha!

                         (The view from the outdoor gym)

So, today, as I enjoy a very sunny Sunday morning, I hope you all have fun this weekend, too. I should write more about this outdoor gym we have on a hill here in Hannam-dong, where, the view is interesting with a few birds singing around you. At the gym where I used to go, the 'view' is just the TV monitor at the treadmill and no birds are singing; only a few familiar K-pop celebrities also running next to you on the treadmill. (I recognized a few Korean celebrities in the gym and inside the locker room. Oops! Not sure if I could write about what I saw. Ha-ha-ha!).

See you around the neighborhood!

               (An area of Hannam-dong as seen from the
                           hilly side of Bogwang-dong)

Fad In Seoul: Churros!

I thought it was just by chance when I saw a churros stall at the far end of the crowded Sinchon road last year. A guy was selling churros for KRW2,000 each. 

Then, as I ventured around the Itaewon and Gyeonggidan areas, I saw more churros stalls! In one corner, Street Churros was just a few steps away from 1Q84 Churros. But the former had the alley cornered, literally. There was a very long line of curious customers willing to wait for their turn. And at the far end of the main Itaewon road, there's an even bigger churros cafe with more seats, and of course, a more expensive fare.

                         (A churro in a cup of ice cream 
                             with sweetened red beans)

Myeongdong doesn't want to be left behind; there's a small churros staff right in the middle of the busy cosmetics shopping alley.

I can't remember when I had my first churros back home in the Philippines. The Spaniards must have introduced this snack to the country centuries ago. Churro is a deep-fried snack made of dough and usually dipped in hot chocolate, or sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.

In Manila, the best churros are enjoyed in Dulcinea, a restaurant serving some Spanish dishes. And last month, before I flew back to Seoul, I was treated by a friend to a breakfast of freshly-deep fried churros with a taza (Spanish for cup) of real hot, thick chocolate. Muchas gracias, Marlu!

As I sat there staring at the churros next to a small cup of pure chocolate, I reminded myself that the churros they sell here in Seoul are not as good as the ones I was about to enjoy. So, I savored and remembered each and every bite of the real churros con chocolate.

 (Dulcinea's 'churros con chocolate')

It would be months before I fly back home for some churros con chocolate. In the meantime, I have to tame my craving for churros. Or maybe this craving for churros is a good reason for a trip to Spain this year?