Entertainment in Spain
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Toscano Antico
Bored with running the family Tuscan restaurant in Milan, the young Italian owners of Toscano have transported the classy Milanese aperitivo to Barcelona, mixing it with local energy. On the bar are snacks alla Milanese, to be taken (free) with generous cocktails. Let the bar staff fix you a special, unlisted concoction and grab one of the handful of tiny tables out back.
reviewed
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B
Heliogàbal
This compact bar is a veritable hive of cultural activity where you never quite know what to expect. Aside from art exhibitions and poetry readings, you will be pleasantly surprised by the eclectic live-music program. Jazz groups are often followed by open jam sessions, and experimental music of all colours gets a run. While many performers are local, international acts also get a look-in.
reviewed
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C
Gran Café de Gijón
This graceful old cafe has been serving coffee and meals since 1888 and has long been a favourite with Madrid’s literati for a drink or a meal – all of Spain’s great literary figures of the 20th century came here for coffee and tertulias. You’ll find yourself among intellectuals, conservative Franco diehards and young madrileños looking for a quiet drink.
reviewed
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D
Cervecería Alemana
If you’ve only got time to stop at one bar on Plaza Santa Ana, let it be this classic cervecería (beer bar), renowned for its cold, frothy beers and a wider selection of Spanish beers than is the norm. It’s fine inside, but snaffle a table outside in the plaza on a summer’s evening and you won’t be giving it up without a fight. This was one of Hemingway’s haunts, and neither the wood-lined bar nor the bow-tied waiters have changed much since his day.
reviewed
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E
Mercado de la Reina Gin Club
In this area of Madrid known for its classy cocktails, this gin club fits right in. But unlike other choices nearby (eg Bar Cock, Del Diego and Museo Chicote), this place has no pretensions to former grandeur; the décor is super-modern and, like the clientele, all dressed in black. With 20 types of gin (€7 to €12) and DJs at night from Thursday to Saturday, it’s a happening place.
reviewed
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F
La Fira
A designer bar with a difference. Wander in past distorting mirrors and ancient fairground attractions from Germany. Put in coins and listen to hens squawk. Speaking of squawking, the music swings wildly from whiffs of house through ’90s hits to Spanish pop classics. You can spend the earlier part of the night trying some of the bar’s shots – it claims to have 500 varieties (but we haven’t counted them up).
reviewed
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El Oasis
When Spain does teahouses, they’re often awash in faux- mudéjar interiors, but this lovely little café down the Huertas hill breaks the mould with clean-lined modern décor. Exotic teas and coffees and free wi-fi make this a fine spot to kick back in the late afternoon, while cocktails and copas mean that you could move on to the harder stuff without leaving your chair.
reviewed
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Café Manuela
Stumbling into this graciously restored throwback to the 1950s along one of Malasaña’s grittier streets is akin to discovering hidden treasure. There’s a luminous quality to it when you come in out of the night and, like so many Madrid cafes, it’s a surprisingly multifaceted space, serving cocktails, delicious milkshakes and offering board games atop the marble tables in the unlikely event that you get bored.
reviewed
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El Corral de las Cigüeñas
The secluded courtyard with its lofty palm trees and ivy-covered walls just inside the Ciudad Monumental is the perfect spot for a quiet drink in relaxing surroundings and also does worthwhile breakfasts (€2.20 to €3.40). It has snacks at other times and sometimes live music in the evenings.
reviewed
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La Escalera de Jacob
As much a theatre-bar as a live music venue, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ is one of Madrid’s most original stages. Magicians, storytellers, children’s theatre (on Saturdays and Sundays at noon), live jazz and other genres are all part of the mix. Behind this intimate venue is a philosophy of crossing boundaries (very Lavapiés). This alternative slant on life makes for some terrific live performances and a crowd of like-minded patrons. And regardless of what’s on, it’s worth stopping by here for their creative cocktails that you won’t find anywhere else – the fray aguacate (Frangelico, vodka, honey, avocado and vanilla) should give you an idea of how far they go.
reviewed
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Le Rachdingue
Le Rachdingue, about 8km northwest of Roses on the road to Vilajuïga, is a clubbing institution that celebrated 40 years in action in 2008. Name DJs from around Europe converge on this masia (country house) to spin sets of house, deep house and even deeper house (among other grooves and beats). Clubbers from all over the continent make an effort to get here. The pool comes in handy!
reviewed
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K
Taverna La Violeta
They just don’t make bars like this anymore. A broad and sociable space with a pool room next door, this crumpled, cheerful bar was long something of a working-class meeting centre. Drinking goes on much as before at its mostly marble-topped tables, but the bulk of the punters are now of the student variety. The atmosphere is good-natured and rowdy, and you can pick up tapas and bocadillos (filled rolls).
reviewed
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Noise i Art
Step back into the 1980s in this retro den. Red, green and other bold colours dominate the decor in a place where you might encounter Boney M on the video music play. Drape yourself on the circular red lounge, have a light meal (served up on old LPs) at red-lit tables alongside floor-to-ceiling glass windows, or perch yourself at the bar. The daiquiris may not be the best you’ve ever had, but are probably the biggest!
reviewed
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M
El Paraigua
A tiny chocolate box of dark tinted Modernisme, the ‘Umbrella’ has been serving up drinks since the 1960s. The turn-of-the-20th-century decor was transferred here from a shop knocked down elsewhere in the district and cobbled back together to create this cosy locale.
Take a trip in time from Modernisme to medieval by heading downstairs to the brick and stone basement bar area. Amid 11th-century walls, DJs spin on Thursdays (from 10pm) and live bands – funk, soul, rock, blues – hold court on Fridays and Saturdays (from 11.30pm).
reviewed
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Up & Down
An uptown club that has its moments, Up & Down attracts a mixed crowd, tending more to 30s and above. Upstairs is for drinking and revival music while downstairs you can dance to a mainstream mix of international tracks. Leather sofas and even leather padding on the pillars recalls an age when clubs were called discos. Although it can feel passé, this place gets packed early in the week when other venues can be limp.
reviewed
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Sala Mephisto
Heavy metal, Gothic and hard-rock fans converge on this one-time workshop for concerts by groups from all over Europe. The music determines the crowd, so expect pale people in theatrically dark clothing. Long-haired lads with tats and leather mingle with pale wraiths in flowing black dresses and heavy make-up. It’s all in the name of good fun. Heavy metal lovers should especially check the place out from 1am on Saturdays.
reviewed
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Blvd
Flanked by striptease bars (in the true spirit of the lower Rambla’s old days), this place has undergone countless reincarnations. The culture in this club is what a long line-up of DJs brings to the (turn)table. With three different dance spaces, one of them upstairs, it has a deliciously tacky feel, pumping out anything from 1980s hits to house music (especially on Saturdays in the main room). There’s no particular dress code.
reviewed
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Q
Costello Café & Niteclub
Very cool. Has smooth-as-silk ambience wedded with an innovative mix of pop, rock and fusion in Warholesque surrounds. There’s live music every night of the week (except Sundays) at 9.30pm, with resident and visiting DJs keeping you on your feet until closing time from Thursday to Saturday. Even when there’s nothing happening, it’s a funky place that draws a sophisticated crowd which usually includes the odd local celebrity.
reviewed
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R
Plaça de Braus Monumental
A decision by the regional Catalan parliament in July 2010 means that bullfight may be banned from January 2012, so aficionados need to get in a last look in the 2011 season. Fights are staged at around 6pm on Sunday afternoon in spring and summer. Tickets are available at the arena. Prices range from €20 to €120. The higher-priced tickets are for the front row in the shade – any closer and you’d be fighting the bulls yourself.
reviewed
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Delic
We could go on for hours about this long-standing cafe-bar, but we’ll reduce it to its most basic elements: nursing an exceptionally good mojito (€8) or three on a warm summer’s evening at Delic’s outdoor tables on one of Madrid’s prettiest plazas is one of life’s great pleasures. Bliss. Due to local licensing restrictions, the outdoor tables close two hours before closing time, whereafter the intimate interior is almost as good.
reviewed
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Lika Lounge
The publicity noise about Barcelona’s only ‘ice bar’ (a bar with a strip of ice to sit your drinks on) is a bit of a distraction. But this backstreet cocktail lounge is a low-lit, fashionable place to sip on creative combinations. The Pornstar Martini, with Cointreau, passionfruit and a side glass of cava, hits the spot. Through the back is a second smaller bar, and DJ sounds cover a broad, mainstream spectrum.
reviewed
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Kapital
One of the most famous megaclubs in Madrid, this seven-storey club has something for everyone: from cocktail bars and dance music to karaoke, salsa, hip hop and more chilled spaces for R&B and soul, as well as an area devoted to ‘Made in Spain’ music. It’s such a big place that a cross-section of Madrid society (VIPs and the Real Madrid set love this place) hangs out here without ever getting in each other’s way.
reviewed
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Santa Marta
Foreigners who have found seaside nirvana in Barcelona hang out in this chilled bar back from the beach. A curious crowd of Rastas, beach bums and switched-on dudes chat over light meals and beer inside or relax outside over a late breakfast. It has some tempting food too: a mix of local and Italian items, with a range of filled rolls (bocatas) for €5, or a dish of mozzarella di bufala (buffalo-milk cheese) for €8.
reviewed
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Casino
Murcia's resplendent Casino first opened as a gentlemen's club in 1847. Beyond the decorative façade, completed in 1901, are an Arab-style vestibule and a patio. Penetrate as far as the magnificent ballroom and pop around €1 in the slot to see the 320 lamps of its candelabra shimmer with light as Strauss' Radetsky March wafts from all corners. Closed for improvements when we last visited, it should again be open.
reviewed
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Bodega la Penúltima
There is a baroque semi-darkness about this dark timber and sunset-yellow place, which gives off airs of an old-time wine bar. In Spanish lore, one never drinks la última (the last one) as it is bad luck. Rather, it is always the ‘second last’ (penúltima) round. A mixed group crowds into the lumpy lounges around uneven tables at the back or huddles at the bar for endless second-last rounds of wine, beer or cocktails.
reviewed