The post about the original El Patio del Fisgón was subtitled “Feel like you’ve discovered Narnia.” If the Barrio de Salamanca location seemed to be a turn-off for those who prefer galavanting around Malasaña and Chueca, my very own neighborhood, Chamberí (which is becoming more and more de moda by the minute) has its very own Patio del Fisgón to enjoy. If the location was a caveat in the original location, the Chamberí locale has an unbeatable one: on the very Plaza de Chamberí. This castiza plaza is not as big as nearby Olavide, but its strategic location equidistant from Bilbao, Alonso Martínez, Ponzano, and Rubén Darío makes it a great place to be when the weather gets warmer.

Daphne and I made our way there one early Sunday afternoon in the dead of winter, and we imagined how satisfying it will be to sit outside on the outdoor furniture they have set up right on the plaza once it’s finally terraza weather. We found ourselves very lucky to be able to get a table without a reservation (this was at about 1:30 PM) as the crowds started to pour in about 20 minutes after we sat down.

Much like in the original, the interior transports you to days with better weather, like the back wall with its lush greenery that makes you feel like you’re in a garden rather than in one of the city’s residential hubs.

Each place-setting is unique with whimsical furniture, from the chairs, the tiles on top of some of the tables, and the choice of placemats.

So now that the wonderful ambience is covered, let’s get to the menu. There’s a great variety, so if you watch very carefully what you eat (like me), this is a perfect place to go where it won’t be painstakingly difficult to find something you’ll love and be satisfied afterwards. During the week, there’s a special menu depurativo with a choice of salad or gazpacho and then a tortilla francesa or grilled chicken. This will definitely come in handy once Operación Bikini preparations come into high gear.

The first thing that made me fall in love with this place was the fact that gazpacho was on the menu all year round.

I must have been andaluza in a past life because my love for gazpacho knows no bounds

It was a perfectly-sized cazuela that was a great way to kick off the meal. The texture was just the way I liked it; I probably could have slurped it in a glass had I been given the option. As my next option, I went with the huevos rotos sobre alcachofas y butifarra negra. I have to admit that I’m a sucker for eggs on Sundays and I’m also really into artichokes. These were some of the best artichokes I’ve ever had.

They were grilled instead of fried, preserving the softness from a cooked artichoke and not too heavy. The addition of the butifarra added for an extra flavor element, but there was definitely more egg and artichoke (just the way I wanted it). I savored every single bite and I’m dreaming of the next time I’m going to be able to order it.

As for Daphne, her milhojas de berenjena y queso de cabra were amazing.

Just on presentation alone they look out of this world…

The tomato sauce was perfect and the eggplant and goat cheese was perfectly balanced. This dish is on the Para Compartir section of the menu, but the portion size was definitely satisfying for one. When you come here, you MUST get the milhojas. You will not regret it. The rest of the menu has a lot of variety, giving you options for any mood. From Wednesday to Saturday, the kitchen always stays open during the day, which makes it ideal if you’re in the neighborhood, hungry, and everywhere else isn’t able to make you something.

If you’re coming for dinner, definitely make a reservation, and follow Cat’s advice from the last post and try to make the reservation later so you have more time to savor your time on the Patio del Fisgón.

Info

El Patio del Fisgón Chamberí
Where: Plaza de Chamberí, 2
Phone: +34 914 10 94 45
Website & Facebook
Email: chamberi@elpatiodelfisgon.com
Metro: Iglesia (Line 1), Bilbao (Lines 1 and 4), Rubén Darío (Line 5), Alonso Martínez (Lines 4, 5, and 10)

Also check out our post on the original Patio del Fisgón in Barrio Salamanca!

Calle Ponzano has been getting a lot of love not only on Naked Madrid, but in other Spanish press as well. I have the fortune of being a Chamberí resident, with Ponzano literally around the corner from my apartment, so a quick tomar algo is always another excuse to go ponzaning. I have been to Bar Lambuzo, La Contraseña, and of course, my all-time favorite Sala de Despiece, (other restaurants on calle Ponzano featured in Naked include Taberna Alipio Ramos, Casa Picsa and Toque de Sal) but I had always passed by MUTA Smoking Club without ever trying to get in. Then there was Blanca Suárez’s blog post for Vogue that mentioned MUTA; the headline said si queréis flipar. I casually added it to my list of neighborhood joints to try and was waiting for an excuse to go. It was much to my surprise that on a Saturday night at 9 PM I was able to get in before going to a party in Embajadores.

MUTA, the brainchild of Javier Bonet (who owns Sala de Despiece and the Academia del Despiece), changes its concept every few months. That’s where the name comes from. There was one point where it served food from Baleares, but now, as a smoking club, everything is barbecue, aka smoked meat. Walking in takes you away from Madrid and instead transports you to a barbecue joint somewhere in America, at the very least like those barbecue places they always show on Man vs. Food, the fire episode of Michael Pollan’s Cooked on Netflix, or the season of American Top Chef when they were in Texas.

The menu is varied, with appetizers, a variety of meats you can order to share, and more. We first decided to share a take on croquetas with cornbread and potato that had tzatziki sauce on top. The greens that came on top were also top-notch. They were definitely worth the extra amount of exercise I needed to do the next day to make up for it.

Next up was the meat and the green salad. The green salad was fantastic; the dressing was light enough to make sure the flavor reached all of the greens, but the dressing doesn’t overpower the palate-cleansing attributes you look for in a salad. To go with the salad, we couldn’t go to a barbecue place without consuming some meat.

Like the carnivore’s paradise that is its sister restaurant, MUTA Smoking Club is the perfect place for carnivores (like me). There are different types of meats you can choose from in trays to share: there’s beef tongue, brisket, salmon, or even hamburgers. There is also a mixed tray that you can get to share with different kinds of meat to try (this is ideal for larger groups looking for a true picoteo). Since we weren’t that hungry, we stuck with one meat, and I decided to go with pulled pork. I am not the biggest pork fan if it’s not in the form of jamón or fuet because cooked pork tends to be very dry (too dry for my taste), but when I took that first bite of pulled pork into my mouth, I was sold.

It comes with classic potato rolls reminiscent of summertime family cookouts and mustard, so you can either make your own sandwich or just dip the meat into the mustard and eat it. I decided to go with some by itself, some as a sandwich, and then have the rest along with the salad.

While we didn’t take the next step and get dessert, the tray they passed around looked absolutely to die for. Fortunately, when you live around the corner from there, there’s always a reason to go back (and also to try the mixed meat tray because that looked absolutely incredible) and have some more barbecue a lo Ponzano.

Info

Where: Calle de Ponzano, 10
Phone: +34 912 50 98 97
Website & Facebook
Metro: Alonso Cano (Line 7) or Iglesia (Line 1)

More gems on Calle Ponzano:

• Bar Lambuzo, a family-run Andalucían tavern
• Casa Picsa, great Argentine pizza on Calle Ponzano
• Toque de Sal restaurant, so chic and so good
• Taberna Alipio Ramos, old school bar on Calle Ponzano

In the middle of Chueca, deep in the courtyard/garden of the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid, you’ll find a glass house that feels more LA than Madrid, and inside that glass house, you’ll find Bosco de Lobos. Bosco de Lobos is part of En Compañia de Lobos, a restaurant group that has Ana La Santa in Madrid as well as four restaurants in Barcelona and another in Mexico City. It calls itself a restaurant, bar, garden, and a place for work and meetings. And indeed it is a grat place to meet, especially for groups. After hearing nothing but great things about it from my friend Carla, and seeing a picture of Blanca Suárez devouring spaghetti on Instagram, it was abundantly clear that I needed to get there.

And so one Wednesday night, my group from my first trimester of grad school got together for a reunion dinner in this wonderful place. While you may get lost the first time you get there, you just go to the back of the Colegio de Arquitectos, and you will find it hidden behind the entrance.

Walking back to the restaurant already gives you a sense of awe, that you know you’re in a beautiful place and will be transported from the rest of the city out there.

After a walk down the path to the main entrance, you’re welcome at the bar and ready to be transported to dine in a restaurant that has a comfortable feel. 

Walking inside is like being welcomed into someone’s house, with comfortable tables and shelves with a wide assortment of books. When the weather’s warm, tables are set up outside in the garden, allowing for more space. However, we were there in January, so that gives an excuse to go back again.

Here’s a photo from their Facebook page so you can see what it looks like during the day!

We sat in an area overlooking the garden with a wide selection of books and plenty of space for the six of us to have a bonding experience.

Bosco de Lobos serves Italian cuisine, with pizza and pasta the stars of the menu, however there are meat dishes and some tapas. Many websites laud the lasagna (and that will be what I’ll have to have next time), but two of us order the roast chicken, one ordered steak, two ordered pizzas (one the whole-wheat vegetable pizza and the other the taleggio con trufa de invierno), and then I ordered the paparadelle with red-wine meat ragout.

The portion size was great, especially since I do not eat pasta very often. I was not overly stuffed, and I even had room to try the vegetable pizza.  What was nice about the sauce was that it was meat-based, while not as heavy as a bolognese, and the paparadelle was fresh and perfectly cooked. They even left me with my own block of cheese with personal grater had I been in the mood for more.

Everyone in the group was satisfied with our meal, and we spent over two hours together catching up, just like old times.

When you have a group dinner and are looking to feel right at home in the middle of a tranquil garden, then Bosco de Lobos is the place to go!

Info

• Calle de Hortaleza, 63
• Tel.: +34 915 249 464
• Facebook
• Website
• Metro: Alonso Martínez (Lines 4, 5, and 10)

Here are the lists of the first-floor and second-floor vendors:

But there’s more…

   The Hovse Madrid

This year, the biggest innovations come in two forms:

Innovation #1: The Food

Innovation #2: Sybilla Atelier

   The Hovse Madrid

And the best part?

The Hovse

Info

• Web: The Hovse by Better
• Address: Calle General Arrando 40
• Metro: Alonso Martínez, Rubén Darío, Iglesia
• Hours: open every day from 11 AM to 9 PM until December 24th (Christmas Eve)

The Hovse

For more on holiday shopping in Madrid, check out:

• Best Gifts from Madrid
• Casa Mira, Best Turrón in Madrid
• El Riojano, Madrid’s best pastry shop

Going out to eat or drink on Calle Ponzano, the street with the highest concentration of bars in Madrid, is such an art that it has its own verb, ponzaning. It’s one of the best parts about living in Chamberí, with so many of the city’s best new places all in one place. One of the newest to come on the scene is Toque de Sal, which I learned about from the Madrid Confidential newsletter, naming it one of five new places to try this fall.

It had been on my bucket list all season, but then school got in my way. And finally, my friend and I were able to squeeze in (on a Friday night without a reservation) to finally get to try it. When you go inside you feel as if you’re in a chic restaurant in Paris, with beautiful tiled floors, dark wood, and a wonderfully lit bar. The front was absolutely full of people, which was to be expected because it’s the weekend and this is Ponzano. The dining area in the back is small and intimate, but you have tables to sit for two and larger tables that are more elevated (perfect for a fun dinner with your cuadrilla of friends).

Your place setting is equally elegant, with a menu in a gold leather cover:

…and personalized plates. The golden touches, from the silverware, the placemats, and the menu covers were analogous to the gold standard service we received. Our waitress was incredibly warm and attentive, and it was fitting with how precious and inviting the space is inside.

And now, the food. Was absolutely to die for. My friend chose the grilled sea bass that came with vegetables:

…and I first had the crema del día (which was mushroom when we went), and then, I had something I hadn’t had in a very long time: rabo de toro, or oxtail.

It was absolutely perfect: the meat fell right off the bone, and the sauce gave me the same warm feeling that I get when my father gets inspired to make boeuf bourguignon in his trusty crockpot. It was ideal for a cool fall night, and I’ll definitely be back to have this again and again and again.

If that gem of an Instagram close-up didn’t convince you enough, it’s evident in this shot that I was ready to dig in, and believe me, I enjoyed every single minute of it.

A girl’s night wouldn’t be complete without dessert, and since I really shouldn’t be eating sugar and I wanted to give myself a capricho, I decided to try the tarta de manzana. There was more apple than crust, which for me was exactly what I wanted, and I couldn’t get enough. For someone who doesn’t like heavy desserts I found something that would be worth doing an hour’s worth of cardio the next day for.

As for my friend, she got the chocolate coulant, which is her personal favorite desert of all time.

If the picture doesn’t convince you, take her word for it: it had a muy buena pinta and it was absolutely wonderful.

Toque de Sal definitely lived up to the hype, bringing a touch of chic to Ponzano, and I’ve found my new favorite neighborhood joint that I will inevitably now bring all of my friends to. It’s also a perfect way to enjoy ponzaning while having a great sit-down dining experience, whether with friends, a birthday, or maybe a dinner date.

Info

Toque de Sal Chamberí
Facebook

Address: Calle de Ponzano, 46
Tel.: 914 26 64 65
Metro: Alonso Cano (Line 7)

Ah, the merienda. It’s one of the best things about the Spanish eating schedule; one in between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner. While we normally think of a merienda as either a croissant or a tostada con tomate in the morning and then a pastry or sandwich in the afternoon, a little place behind Gran Vía meters from Terraza Gymage has a way for your merienda to have a more Japanese flavor. While for lunch and dinner Hattori Hanzo often requires a reservation at least 3 days in advance (see full restaurant post here), during the sacred afternoon merienda hours from 5 to 8 PM, you can get a taste of the sweet side of Japan at Panda by Hattori Hanzo. 

It is the first Japanese pastry shop and matcha bar in the city and allows you to experience a different side of Japanese cuisine (but if you don’t have a sweet tooth, never fear. There’s also a savory menu as well).

My friends and I found ourselves in awe with all of the choices of pastries, including Japanese-style macarons, mochi balls, teas, frappés, and more. Two main ingredients are highlighted in all of your options: sakura (cherry blossom) and matcha (a type of green tea that is currently all of the rage for its health benefits). I fell in love with matcha during one of my last trips back to New York when I found myself in a hipster coffee shop across the street from the Strand Bookstore (enough said) and the appearance of matcha in certain places in Madrid makes me incredibly happy. Within the different categories on the menu, there was a matcha option, a sakura option, and a traditional chocolate option.

Let’s just say my choices followed a pattern: that they contained matcha.

After thoughtful deliberation, we resorted to asking our waitress, the one who knows the menu inside and out. After asking us about our preferences, she suggested that we try the signature offering at Panda: the matcha swiss roll. We followed her advice and we did not regret it one bit.

The matcha swiss roll is a matcha sponge cake with a mascarpone filling. There are droplets of red bean and matcha paste, crunchy raspberries, and a beautiful strawberry cut as if it were a rose. This is the star offering at Panda, and is definitely the perfect choice for your first time. It really gives you a sense what the most popular desserts are like in Japan: a perfect fusion of eastern and western flavors. And for someone who normally doesn’t eat things that are sweet, it was absolutely perfect.

For drinks, I chose an iced matcha latte, while one of my friends had one of the numerous Japanese teas on offer (expertly prepared and we were left with a timer so it could properly boil) and another had the sakura latte.

The matcha latte was naturally refreshing, and is creamier than a typical tea. The next time I go back I’ll naturally have it hot, but it’s something that you can have either in the summer or winter.

Are you ready to enjoy the sweet side of Japanese cuisine? Get a bunch of your friends for a fantastic afterwork and merienda at Panda.

Info

Website & Facebook

Address: Calle del Desengaño, 11
Tel.: 91 786 57 80 / 606 282 608
Metro: Gran Vía (Lines 1 and 5)/Callao (Lines 3 and 5)

Got Milk? Every single American child of the 90’s remembers the commercials and print ads of our favorite celebrities with their milk moustaches aimed at increasing our dairy consumption. Flash forward 15-20 years and in Malasaña, America’s Dairy Farmers can find a place where Madrid-based expats can make up for what they didn’t consume in their early days. One random afternoon, I found myself cutting through Calle de Manuela Malasaña when I stumbled upon a lechería, Cántaro Blanco. While I’ve found my fair share of carnicerías, fruterías, charcuterías, and pescaderías, I had yet to come across a lechería. As El Comidista, El País‘s gastronomy blog confirms, the lechería is now up-and-coming.

With its white façade and clean interior, it gives you immediate association with milk. As the owners, Nacho and Adrián aim, it’s like getting the fresh leche del pueblo (milk from the village). For those of us who’ve never had said experience (especially when your pueblo just happens to be one of the largest cities in the world), Cántaro Blanco gives you that fresh milk and much more.

Cántaro Blanco stocks fresh milks, cheeses, yogurts, and milk-based desserts. Its main supplier, according to the El Páis article, is Los Combos, a farm in nearby Móstoles. The fact that the milk is super locally-sourced makes it so so fresh (the owners had actually planned on bringing it from the North, but keeping the suppliers as local as possible gives you the truely fresh taste). Other than from Los Combos, two brands you’ll most likely be famliar with are Xanceda from Galicia and Pastoret (a dairy from Lleida, Catalunya that makes the non-fat yogurt I mix with berries for breakfast each morning). Pastorert’s yofurt is perfectly smooth and creamy, even in it’s nonfat form.

They don’t just stop at the stuff you can take home: they have some homemade products to satisfy your need for Vitamin D. First is the fresh frozen yogurt with your choice of toppings. My personal pick is the batido (or milkshake), which can be made with whatever type of milk you want in a variety of flavors. Since I can only drink skim milk, I was elated and enjoyed one with strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Strawberry and frutos rojos; ñam ñam indeed

There’s also ecological horchata (that tiger-nut drink from Valencia that tastes like almond milk with a touch of cinnamon), both to have on the spot or to take home.

Get yourself into Cántaro Blanco. Then you’ll be answering the question “Got Milk” with a resounding “¡Síííííí!”

Cántaro Blanco Lechería

Address: Calle de Manuela Malasaña, 29
Tel.: +34 91 029 66 39
Metro: San Bernardo (Lines 2 and 4), Bilbao (Lines 1 and 4), and Tribunal (Lines 1 and 10)
Facebook
Website

Summertime is here, and while many of us have already done a little bit of vacationing, there’s a little Made in Spain thing that is made for a truly authentic veraniego: the espadrille (alpargatas). Before I spent a lot of time in Spain, my summer footwear was just about limited to flip-flops and other summer sandals (and let’s face it, they really hurt your feet, and in my case, your tolerance for them stands at zero when your heel cracks for the first time). But then when I walked around major Spanish beach towns, it wasn’t flip-flops that were the main shoe of choice: they were espadrilles.

Now wait, you’re probably thinking: All Spaniards wear the wedge ones everywhere? Nope (except for the woman at my gym who wears them on the exercise bike and to lift weights); there’s actually a lot more variety of them than the ones you normally see in New York, Miami, LA, London, or Palm Beach. You can find them in just about every shoe store around (and even in Zara!), but as a true proponent of finding things that are really authentic and handmade, here are three places where you can get your hands on them in Madrid, some more traditional and others more modern.

1. If you’re looking for something traditional… Casa Hernanz

A few years ago, when I was an alpargata novice, I checked, like any good New Yorker does, The New York Times. I had seen an article about Casa Hernanz, just off Plaza Mayor. And this is without a doubt the most emblematic place to get espadrilles in Madrid, While we often tend to get concerned about a place’s proximity to Plaza Mayor because of the fear of it being a tourist trap, coming here, like going to the rooftop bar at The Hat or eating your way through the Mercado de San Miguel, is absolutely worth it (while an expensive relaxing cup of café con leche is not).

Founded in 1840, and in the fourth generation, you’ll find the wide selection of threads and fabrics the family produces. And of course, the star product- the espadrilles themselves. It’s no wonder you’ll find a line out the door onto the street

…on a Friday at 10 AM

Be sure to try everything on! You want them to be snug at first because they stretch out over time!

 2. If you’re looking for a “capricho” (to treat yourself)… Mintandrose

Modeling my Skorpios along the Alameda de Apodaca in Cádiz

Mintandrose is a fairly new player in the espadrille market, but their 100% handmade models are making a splash not only in the fancier parts of Spain, but also abroad, including in American retailers such as Nordstrom and Anthropologie. With single-soled and double-soled models in a variety of hues (such as all black, white with a black tip, or marine blue with a white tip), this is your go-to for a splurge.

The main way to buy them is online, but in my experience the best thing to do is to try them on. You want them to be SUPER TIGHT because since they’re all made by hand, they’ll gradually grow looser (my first pair is now a little too big for my feet). They also make canvas models and the line has expanded to include sandals and bags.

Should you want to try them on, the website offers a list of stockists. I went and got one of my pairs at Etbang in Chueca (which I will have to go and write about at a later date).

Some of the selection of Mintandrose at Etbang

3. If you’re looking to go where the locals go (and for other shoes all year-round, too)… La Alpargatería

They say that Chamberí is one of the city’s most castizo, or authentic, neighborhoods, in this ‘hood (which is my favorite to live in) there’s a hidden gem of a store at La Alpargatería. If you associate García de Paredes with the Extranjería office where your drop off your prórroga paperwork, than just know that this street is so much better than that. A lot of my haunts happen to be on this very street, and when it’s time for my pairs of espadrilles in the summer, this is my spot. I bought my family matching ones for our family vacation last year in Greece; let’s just say that I got them converted (or at least that’s what I’d like to believe).

The most basic model, which comes in a whole plethora of colors, is €7.50. That’s what I call a great quality/price example. My favorite color is crudo (which is a type of off-white) because it’s the perfect neutral tone that goes with most of my wardrobe, and it deals better with urban wonders that would get a white pair very dirty in no time. I’ve also gotten my black wedges there, perfect for those who like the idea of tying the rope up your ankles, but would rather buckle in at the top.

They even have new models, which you can see in the picture above, that have a rubber sole as opposed to the traditional one. This is perfect for city-dwellers who love their espadrilles, but want a little bit more safety in their step.

La Alpargatería isn’t just a place for summertimes espadrilles; they also have Victoria sneakers, ballet flats (aka manoletinas) in a wide plethora of colors and fabrics (suede AND leather), and if you need some zapatillas de casa (because going barefoot in your piso compartido really isn’t going to fly), they’ve got you covered.

Check out our new Made in Spain category for more on local designers and producers. And feel free to make some recommendations!  

You may also like our previous post on: Best Gifts from Madrid

Madrid has no shortage of amazing ice cream parlors, and considering the oppressive heat waves we’ve been under lately, it’s no wonder that people are craving frozen treats. But what about ice cream’s neglected cousin, the popsicle? The snack that every American child (at the very least in the New York Tri-State area) craved at the end of a long day at day camp? It’s been revived, and majorly upgraded in Malasaña, becoming the new it spot of the summer.

Truth be told I should have written about this a long time ago, but it took me a little while to actually get myself there to try them. When I, currently prohibited from eating ice cream because I can only consume non-fat dairy products, found out about Lolo, I jumped for joy as I knew that at last I could have popsicles and not have to only eat Bimanan ice cream that you can buy at a pharmacy.

When you walk inside Lolo, you get a playful décor that reminds you of a little chiringuito on a beach somewhere in Cádiz or on the Mediterranean or your childhood. You can also get coffee, tea, and other drinks to go with your popsicles, but let’s face it, what most people come here for are in fact the frozen fruit on a stick.

Every day, Lolo posts its menu outside of ten different flavors. But we’re not talking about your standard cherry, grape, and Sunny Delight-tasting orange. You do have some flavors that are indeed more classic, like chocolate…

…but many of the flavors play with sweet and savory.

Such as Orange and Lemon

While some of the flavors may be creamier, like strawberry-banana with yogurt, others are just straight-on refreshing and are the ingredients themselves and water. You’ll find some that have truly off-the-beaten-path flavor components, such as lemongrass. There’s even an avocado-flavored popsicle (which I have yet to try, but have on my pre-August-in-New-York checklist). This is reminiscent of the new savory gelato trend happening in Rome.

So now that I’ve covered the “popsicles for grown-ups” part of the title due to the major gourmet flavor upgrade (perfect for the foodie in all of us), it’s time that we move on to the healthier part. All of Lolo’s popsicles are 100% natural. This means, that unlike the popsicles of our childhood there’s no extra funny stuff like chemicals of 100 times more sugar than necessary. For those who have to be really strict about eating (like me), LOLO lets me in on the summer frozen treat fun.

My personal picks? I’ve tried the sandia y pepino (watermelon and cucumber) and the frambuesa y agua de jamaica (raspberry and Hibiscus tea).

Watermelon and cucumber. Please forgive the use of a Snapchat photo.

I prefer the raspberry one, but I’m still wanting to try avocado. And I’ll celebrate publishing this article with two LOLOs, one being avocado!

Now, one last thing. LOLO has its own hashtag, #LOLOSelfie, for all of the selfies you may just happen to post with your popsicles. Like I added later on to this one (I took my friend visiting from Barcelona to LOLO. He was very impressed).

My frambuesa y agua de jamaica #LOLOSelfie with my friend visiting from Barcelona

Now go to Malasaña and get your very own LOLO!

LOLO Polos Artesanos

Address: Calle del Espíritu Santo, 16
Hours: Every day from 12:00 pm – 1 am
Metro: Tribunal (Lines 1 and 10)
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

You’ll also like:

Madrid’s Best Icecream Shops

María’s: Sensational Sweets on Calle Zurbano

Madrid’s Best Gluten-free Bakeries

Madrid’s Best Rooftop Bars

This may be the déjà vu (and if you’ve read some of my previous work on Naked Madrid, you already know this). But I once again have found a spot on Instagram. Lovely Pepa, a Madrid-based fashion blogger had a beautiful gold-plated bangle and, curious, about where she got it, I clicked on the pin which had the designer tagged.

¡Fenomenal! I said to myself, it’s right on my way home from Plaza de Castilla (on my way back from one of my July gigs in Alcobendas). Looking for relief from the oppressive heat, I headed down the hill as Plaza de Santa Bárbara merges with Hortaleza and Fernando VI off to the little storefront on the Travesía de San Mateo (which I, considering myself to have an excellent handle of my Madrid geography, had just found out existed) where you’ll find Dimequemequieres.

Run by Eva Verdeal, who divulges on the blog that she studied fashion design in Madrid and London, and until having kids, worked in the fashion industry. One day, she came up with the name “Dime que me quieres” from the idea that there are an infinite amount of ways for us to say “I love you.” And by personalizing bracelets and necklaces we can manifest however we want to say te quiero (or I love you) to the people around us.

When I walked into the store, I was in love with everything and began trying lots of things on. The biggest conundrum was that my desired message was too long for what Eva considered to be her preferred piece. After a little bit of debate, she proposed abbreviating my desired phrase, and I agreed.

After waiting for a few minutes while she engraved the bracelet down in the basement workshop (and browsing through the sale section), my brand-new bracelet was proudly on my wrist

Front

and back

There are plenty of other non-personalized pieces such as statement necklaces, earrings, and rings (all in my exact taste!)

While I’m a gold-plated kind of girl, you can also get pieces in silver or rose-plated as well. I’m already creating a mental wishlist.

Her pieces are stocked in some El Corte Inglés locations (I have seen a display case in the one on Preciados), but it’s well worth going to the store/workshop to have yours engraved in the moment (and as an added bonus, if you’re a tea lover. you can take samples from a tea shop in the vicinity.

Dite que te quieres (Tell yourself that you love yourself) or whoever you love how much with something from Dimequemequieres

Dime que me quieres

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Helena Rohner, handmade jewellery in the heart of La Latina