Baby Beef Rubaiyat

c. Juan Ramón Jiménez, 37 (91-359-5696)

Sao Paulo (Brazil) is the place where I learned to like the restaurant activity that I'm doing most of the time now: the weekend lunch. Understandable, if you take into account that restaurants in the fashionable areas of Sao Paulo (such as rua Haddock Lobo / Jardins) are full of (apparently) happy families on saturdays or sundays at lunch hours. Moreover, they're usually devouring caipirinhas and picanhas...

That's why, when I read the news about one of the most famous restaurantes paulistas opening a branch in Madrid, I knew that this was one of our next visits. You know, for that (increasingly) classical weekend plan of dos personas y un carrito. Even if the Rubaiyat, although one of the preferred options of we Spaniards in Sao Paulo, was not among my favourites, not because of its reputation in terms of quality (rather good) but because everyone told me that it was a fantastic place to eat Spanish food (something I'm not very attracted to when I'm abroad)

But somehow thanks to that, or at least having a common cause with that (the owner being Spanish himself), they've opened in Madrid. Kind of close to where I live, also, in an area that we (and the carrito) are used to visiting on saturdays: Alfredo's Barbacoa and El Olvido are almost in the same block, Asador Frontón is within walking distance and Paper Moon is also not far away. And an area that, after our first experience in the Rubaiyat madrileño, I guess we'll be visiting even more in the near future.

First, because the place is very nice to go with carritos and all. The atmosphere is kind of similar to what one finds in Haddock Lobo (or Alameda Santos, where the paulista Rubaiyat is), if a bit biased to the senior sector of the population (like in Frontón, for instance), but this is Spain and the birth rate is not the same as in Brazil... There is plenty of space and natural light (this is the same local where the northern Spanish restaurant Cabo Mayor used to be), and if you don't consider these as crucial characteristics in a restaurant, just wait till you have a babygirl (or boy).

Food is rather nice, especially if you like red meat. It must be admitted that maybe some fanatic technicians of the flavor (like the food critic of a very well known madrileño newspaper) could (and do) take advantage of the brazilian origin to criticise south american meat (not "ferruginosa" like buey gallego or vasco, or so they say...), but leaving these romantic ilusions apart, the bife de chorizo is rather potente (ask for it very rare if you don't like it kind of "soft pink") and the picanha has a similar level to what they serve in Sao Paulo.

The entrants are served in a "set course" manner: some pao de queijo (the waitress says that it is very good for children, and I'm kind of offended); a big plate with cecina, red pimientos asados, aubergine (asada as well) and tomatoes; a medium level empanada (not so greasy as the ones they serve in De María for instance, but nothing comparable to what you can get anywhere in Santiago de Chile); and rather small pieces of chorizo criollo and morcilla. Then you only have to order the main plate (usually meat but they have some fish plates, too). Meat comes with patatas souflees (apparently you could order baked potatoes also, but the waitress seems not to have noticed...) Actually, my partner asks for them to change the patatas by some salad, but they bring us the patatas AND an enormous (but good) salad that we have to pay independently (the kind of gesture my partner loves...)

But in spite of the lack of rodaje of the operations, and in spite of that affecting even the delay in beer serving (something truly awful for this author), they win me for another visit. Why? Well, the most expensive dessert (crema de papaya at 9 Eur) is also tremendously successful in bringing me memories of those happy days in Brazil (although in this case the crema does not include some cassis liquor on top...) And the sensation is only reinforced by they inviting me for a caipirinha (nice!) and simultaneously bringing some pretty good mignardises that I sample while enjoying the creme and the caipirinha (for about 15 minutes I'm like a marajá, and surrounded by two women...)

Also, lack of rodaje seems to have its advantages, because the bill comes at a total of 80 Eur (for two people). Not bad at all...