Sunday: Dinner at Gofio in Madrid

Sunday was our most fancy meal and our least fancy meal. We had to leave San Sebastián and it was a 4.5 hour drive back to Madrid which took us more like 5.5 hours. Upon leaving the hotel, there was a 5k happening down the street that was between us and our car. We had to watch 6,200 women jog past before we could get to the car which is about 10 minutes of joggers. It was equal parts annoying and amusing.

This is us in the tiny elevator out of the hotel.

We were in the car about 10 minutes when I thought “our dinner res isn’t until 8pm, what will we eat on the road?” And what better car ride food than my favorite European stop: McDonalds! :)

So about 45 minutes into the drive we got some nuggies and so burgers and fries. They had an option for “Italian fries” which came with a horrifying seasoning of too much oregano and powdered tomato. We each had one and threw those away.

A rather uneventful but absolutely beautiful car ride through the Spanish countryside. There are so many mountains and tunnels that you take through the mountains. As we left it was 60 and sunny. At some point we went into a tunnel and came out the other side to like 40 and dense fog. It was sooo bizarre. By the time we got to Madrid the temperature returned but it was a super odd weather pattern.

We did have a stop to get gas and I purchase an ice cream :) There has been a lack of gelato on this European adventure!

We checked in to our very centrally located hotel in Madrid which was right near the Royal Palace and enjoyed walking around a bit. Wandered over to the temple of Debod which is a neat Egyptian temple but weren’t able to get in without a reservation.

Our 8 reservation was at Gofio. This restaurant was our fanciest dinner, booked in advance as our “final meal”. We still have one more day but the fancy places were mostly closed on Monday nights.

I’m fairly certain they asked us if we wanted 5 or 8 courses but I guess 8 courses was 21 items. Everything at Gofio was awesome, not just the food, but the ambiance, the service, the details. The restaurant was a Canary island fusion and a lot of the wines were from the Canary Islands. We tried a smoky light red that paired well with everything.

The label was weird but I’ve come to see that much of the modern art in Spain is a bit odd.

Fancy food is funny because sometimes you don’t know what to do with it. Like that solid looking ball on the spoon…it was like a chocolate ball except definitely not made of chocolate. The only thing I remember not enjoying in this meal was the green thing top left which was like a gelatin cuttlefish situation.

We also weren’t sure at this point if this counted as 4/8 courses? We didn’t get that menu that I posted a picture of until this end, which is fun because the servers explain each course and bite and flavor to you and in which order you should eat them.

I’m obsessed with savory ice cream. Top left is tomato ice cream and in the bowl is lime basil granitas.

The rest of this meal will have to be enjoyed visually because I can’t even remember what is what but everything was amazing and we had a beautiful evening at this interesting place.

One funny note, they kept placing my silverware sideways for every course. Made me laugh more and more as the meal went on. I kept fixing it.

They gave us the menu and this drawing as a parting gift. I wish I could capture the ambiance but I guess the special part of a Michelin restaurant is the entire experience rather than just one element of food or service or setting.