A plan for all tastes. Depending on the time of year, you may feel like going out more or less; escape from monotony or be happy going to the same bar as always; spend weekends in new and exotic cocktail bars or prefer to leave alcohol aside and opt for more playful experiences like making your own candle. Madrid has it all.
Here we bring three plans for all types of tastes and vital moments. A new cocktail bar that seeks to honor Satan, for the most intrepid, a restaurant that never goes out of style, Fismuler, for the classics, and a workshop to make natural soy candles to have fun with friends and relax.
Satan's new cocktail bar
Sculpture of Satan, in the new cocktail bar located a few meters from Madrid's Gran Vía, in an image provided.
Satán (Calle de los Libreros, 18) is a new cocktail bar that is a few meters from Gran Vía and that seeks to recover the nocturnal, frivolous and alcoholic memory of Madrid. From now on, Lucifer will not only be the protagonist of the famous sculpture in Retiro Park, as he will also be the protagonist of a unique Madrid cocktail bar. The same owners of the Santoría, in the Literary neighborhood, have now opened this new location to bring the old Cabaret Satán to the present, which was founded 90 years ago by the avant-garde painter Mario Carreño.
“The place unleashed the anger of Catholics and radicals of the time. Their decoration imitated Hell, and they organized infernal parties. The poet Pablo Neruda, who was one of its regulars, said that it was the most controversial and tumultuous of the nightclubs,” say those responsible for the place.
Now, the owners seek to recover the history and spirit of the old cabaret, enhancing the cockiness and madness typical of the Madrid night. The new Satán is also a grotto, like the original, where the space has been organized through three environments: a bar, a large room with tables and sofas and a small intimate room in red velvet.
In the place you must definitely order the Satan cocktail, vermouth or an aromatic wine macerated with botanicals and woods. “We seek through our glasses so that our customers can taste Madrid and that this encourages them to sin during the rest of the night,” says the person in charge.
make your own candle
Susana Castillejo, founder of OohLala Candle Studio, in an image provided.
Susana Castillejo, 30, is the founder of OohLala Candle Studio, a business dedicated to giving candle-making workshops in Madrid. She started last year on her birthday, when it occurred to her that it could be very fun to prepare a workshop for her friends with breakfast. It was a complete success: “From there I started to get the hang of it, and I turned the house upside down, filling everything with wax, glasses and candles,” she remembers.
Their workshops last two and a half hours and in them you can make two types of candles. First a resin glass with a candle and then a rainbow-shaped soy candle.
During practice, Castillejo gives all the materials and instructions. In addition, he serves a snack of ham, cheese and wine to eat while the candles are prepared. Each piece that remains at the end of the workshop is unique both in its shape and in the colors chosen by the participants. The result: two new candles to decorate and set the mood for the house. The course costs 50 euros. The place is ideal for celebrating birthdays, bachelorette parties or an afternoon with friends.
“My dream in the future is to open my own place where people can go, have a drink and make their own natural soy candle,” says Castillejo. For now, all of his workshops are full and they are becoming increasingly popular.
A restaurant that never fails
The Fismuler restaurant, in the Chamberí neighborhood, in an image provided.
Fismuler (Calle de Sagasta, 29) in the Madrid neighborhood of Chamberí, is that restaurant where one always wants to repeat. Not only for its atmosphere, but also for its food. Here it is not enough to just go, but you have to say that you have gone.
Its founder, Nino Redruello, visited several European restaurants and from there he brought back a cooking concept that returns to the purest origins. “It is a place where there is maximum respect for the product and where passion for the magical and mysterious world of fermented products reigns, basic pillars in the essence of the restaurant,” he says. That, in simpler words, means that even a lettuce dipped in Parmesan cheese can be the biggest surprise of the night.
Although the place has never stopped being in trend. Fismuler has recently become one of the must-sees in Madrid. “Dining here is paying tribute to yourself,” says one of the diners of the night.
The menu is short and its cuisine is designed to share main dishes and proximity. These are the house's recommendations: for a first time, you have to order the semi-cured sea bream with almonds and grapes, the tortillas, the grilled sea bass, the San Román schnitzel, and without a doubt, the famous cheesecake, made with three different types of cheeses (fresh, smoked and blue).
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