Freewheelin' with Trevor
Basics
Location
http://www.camaraagraria.org/
Market dates 2017
Per Person
3 tapas tickets, €3. 2 wine tasting tickets €2 incl. glass to keep.
Gratis: Entrance. Tasting plates all over the shop.
In not so many words
Hopes?
Trevor the shopping trolley will earn his keep.
Reality?
He's groaning as much as my back by the journey home.
First Impressions?
Windswept. 10am on a February Saturday is probably the only time you won't find a queue waiting to be let in.
A USP?
High quality artesan stuff, low price everyday stuff. That's two USPs. For the price of...none.
The food in three words?
Eee ba gum.
Can they get the staff?
Each stand is of its own, but to a man and woman they're amiable, keen to take your cash but even keener to get hold of your small change.
Service with a smile?
Everyone's keen to chat, explain and, wine sellers excepted as they're part of a tasting deal, keen to offer you a taster.
Would you take your friends?t
For authentic souvenirs, for fresh supplies, it's verging on a must-see.
Rating for a dating?
Potential. Arrive late morning. You and a potential enamorato/a would have plenty to talk about, not to mention food 'n' drink to try.
Tip?
A tip tip. Round up to the nearest ten cents to build relationships for future visits.
If you could change one thing, what would it be?
February is not good for weather. Or, consequently, tomatoes.
Going back?
It's a monthly gig. We're booked in.
In not so few words
Grab a granny's shopping trolley. On the first Saturday of the month you want to be down at Metro Lago to join the worker-ant streams heading, trolleys trailing, to and from the human-scale pickernick basket that is the Camára Agraria market.
There be no hassled hipsters here. There are few beards and, not coincidentally, far fewer English voices. There are no cyclist couples getting in everyone's way before realising they didn't want to buy anything in the first place. The Matadero, this really isn't.
They're on offer, but eats and drinks weren't on our agenda today.
An enforced 10am visit means even h:m's dedication to duty falters when it comes to wine-tasting an hour after breakfast. Truth be told, most of the wines on offer here are no more than average to fairly good, but we usually wouldn't say no when you can try before you buy - and then keep the glass.
The €1-a-go tapas are - honestly - workman-like too. The main event is at 1pm when either cocido or paella are ready to go. Tortillas are usually available to. And it's all prepared from what's for sale. And it's in the open air. What's not to like? If you're here for sights and sounds rather than to shop, this makes it a much more enjoyable, hell, a more communal event than fighting the crowds for a cramped corner of a table at Legazpi. And, for better or worse, they have no truck with foodtrucks here.
So what's on offer?
Let's do a sweep of this super market and check it out.
On the one hand, everyday supplies. Huge queues build up at many of the fruit and veg stalls as whatever's in season gets snapped up at half the supermarket price. In season, there are more leeks than Julian Assange could ever dream of. The merch has not been refrigerated. It's often just out of the ground, so bank on double the flavour and freshness. Chickpeas and pulses also go for well under the usual retail rate. For 5 hours a month you're an honorary wholesale buyer. Making hay under the farmer's nose. Even in February when the sun refuses to shine.
Then there's what helps make the Matadero market so popular, and over-populated. The artisan stuff. Let's not pretend. It's going to soak up any pennies you've saved earlier and then some. But as we said, things are less fraught, here. No-one feels the need to try as hard as in Legazpi.
Vignettes...
...as a little lad proudly, if shyly, points out the free ballpoint pen he's attached to the bag containing the €7 500ml bottle of his parents' olive oil. You learn things, here. Did you know there's an olive variety called cornicabra/goat's horn? And it makes a medium-strong virgin oil? No? Me neither before starting on these market trips.
...as a lady in black leather boots offers a wooden tray of her mild sheeps' cheese and tells you not to worry when you say you're after stronger stuff, which, it turns out, is on the stand next door. It's so strong it's turning pink. it almost burns the roof of your mouth.
...as a burly weatherbeaten man fills your carrier bag with litres of fresh milk at nearly half the usual price. His complexion shows he means that cloth cap more seriously than any bearded Barbieri barber - and spends a lot of time under it. Outdoors, amongst cows. He's glad of €6 in coins for a bagful of his hard work from his herd's work.
...as the lady with blue streaks in her hair looks on gratefully as you give her your last-remaining change for that €3-worth 250g of her fruit of the forest Mountain cake from Buitrago de Lozoya. Berry, berry good.
Vermouth's available by the litre. We paid €4 for 250g of freshly ground Brazilian coffee, which, OK, is about as typically Madrid as a baked bean sandwich, but wotchagonnado? There's a bread stall with an eternal 10m queue, only beaten by the veg stalls when tomatoes are in season. There's one that takes online orders. And there's always an artesan beer on hand. This time La Pedriza. On this rock they built their brewery...
So
Now you know.
Honestly,
Just go.
I know. Just when you were thinking we couldn't get any verse.
Basics
Location
http://www.camaraagraria.org/
Market dates 2017
Per Person
3 tapas tickets, €3. 2 wine tasting tickets €2 incl. glass to keep.
Gratis: Entrance. Tasting plates all over the shop.
In not so many words
Hopes?
Trevor the shopping trolley will earn his keep.
Reality?
He's groaning as much as my back by the journey home.
First Impressions?
Windswept. 10am on a February Saturday is probably the only time you won't find a queue waiting to be let in.
A USP?
High quality artesan stuff, low price everyday stuff. That's two USPs. For the price of...none.
The food in three words?
Eee ba gum.
Can they get the staff?
Each stand is of its own, but to a man and woman they're amiable, keen to take your cash but even keener to get hold of your small change.
Service with a smile?
Everyone's keen to chat, explain and, wine sellers excepted as they're part of a tasting deal, keen to offer you a taster.
Would you take your friends?t
For authentic souvenirs, for fresh supplies, it's verging on a must-see.
Rating for a dating?
Potential. Arrive late morning. You and a potential enamorato/a would have plenty to talk about, not to mention food 'n' drink to try.
Tip?
A tip tip. Round up to the nearest ten cents to build relationships for future visits.
If you could change one thing, what would it be?
February is not good for weather. Or, consequently, tomatoes.
Going back?
It's a monthly gig. We're booked in.
In not so few words
Grab a granny's shopping trolley. On the first Saturday of the month you want to be down at Metro Lago to join the worker-ant streams heading, trolleys trailing, to and from the human-scale pickernick basket that is the Camára Agraria market.
There be no hassled hipsters here. There are few beards and, not coincidentally, far fewer English voices. There are no cyclist couples getting in everyone's way before realising they didn't want to buy anything in the first place. The Matadero, this really isn't.
They're on offer, but eats and drinks weren't on our agenda today.
An enforced 10am visit means even h:m's dedication to duty falters when it comes to wine-tasting an hour after breakfast. Truth be told, most of the wines on offer here are no more than average to fairly good, but we usually wouldn't say no when you can try before you buy - and then keep the glass.
The €1-a-go tapas are - honestly - workman-like too. The main event is at 1pm when either cocido or paella are ready to go. Tortillas are usually available to. And it's all prepared from what's for sale. And it's in the open air. What's not to like? If you're here for sights and sounds rather than to shop, this makes it a much more enjoyable, hell, a more communal event than fighting the crowds for a cramped corner of a table at Legazpi. And, for better or worse, they have no truck with foodtrucks here.
So what's on offer?
Let's do a sweep of this super market and check it out.
On the one hand, everyday supplies. Huge queues build up at many of the fruit and veg stalls as whatever's in season gets snapped up at half the supermarket price. In season, there are more leeks than Julian Assange could ever dream of. The merch has not been refrigerated. It's often just out of the ground, so bank on double the flavour and freshness. Chickpeas and pulses also go for well under the usual retail rate. For 5 hours a month you're an honorary wholesale buyer. Making hay under the farmer's nose. Even in February when the sun refuses to shine.
Then there's what helps make the Matadero market so popular, and over-populated. The artisan stuff. Let's not pretend. It's going to soak up any pennies you've saved earlier and then some. But as we said, things are less fraught, here. No-one feels the need to try as hard as in Legazpi.
Vignettes...
...as a little lad proudly, if shyly, points out the free ballpoint pen he's attached to the bag containing the €7 500ml bottle of his parents' olive oil. You learn things, here. Did you know there's an olive variety called cornicabra/goat's horn? And it makes a medium-strong virgin oil? No? Me neither before starting on these market trips.
...as a lady in black leather boots offers a wooden tray of her mild sheeps' cheese and tells you not to worry when you say you're after stronger stuff, which, it turns out, is on the stand next door. It's so strong it's turning pink. it almost burns the roof of your mouth.
...as a burly weatherbeaten man fills your carrier bag with litres of fresh milk at nearly half the usual price. His complexion shows he means that cloth cap more seriously than any bearded Barbieri barber - and spends a lot of time under it. Outdoors, amongst cows. He's glad of €6 in coins for a bagful of his hard work from his herd's work.
...as the lady with blue streaks in her hair looks on gratefully as you give her your last-remaining change for that €3-worth 250g of her fruit of the forest Mountain cake from Buitrago de Lozoya. Berry, berry good.
Vermouth's available by the litre. We paid €4 for 250g of freshly ground Brazilian coffee, which, OK, is about as typically Madrid as a baked bean sandwich, but wotchagonnado? There's a bread stall with an eternal 10m queue, only beaten by the veg stalls when tomatoes are in season. There's one that takes online orders. And there's always an artesan beer on hand. This time La Pedriza. On this rock they built their brewery...
So
Now you know.
Honestly,
Just go.
I know. Just when you were thinking we couldn't get any verse.