Rafa Latorre

Updated Friday, January 19, 2024-12:33

Reina Sofía music school

C/ Requena, 1.

Go to the INAEM website and see what's happening at the

National Auditorium

.

There was a time, they say, when the big orchestras came to Madrid and their timbre gave the staff a huge complex.

That doesn't happen anymore.

The OCNE is an exceptional orchestra, with musicians like

trumpet Manolo Blanco

, who could be headliners in the Chicago Symphony, only they prefer to live in Madrid.

The German of Persian descent David Afkham is such a talented director that fans are always afraid that he will be taken away to one of the big calls, but since that has not happened yet, you have the opportunity to enjoy it.

In case the calendar is not favorable, here is an alternative.

One of the national prides is, or should be, the Reina Sofía Music School.

It is a conservatory where the most promising, the future concert elite, are trained, along with world-class teachers.

The students offer recitals periodically and from time to time they put on a very fun show to introduce

classical music to children between 4 and 12 years old

.

Lua Restaurant

Eduardo Dato Walk, 5

The first obligation of a person when they wake up is to find where to have breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We will try to make your task easier by recommending four places located

in the Chamberí/Almagro neighborhood

, which is where we assume you are staying, because you like lively but not bustling places.

For breakfast you have

Naji, who is an Iraqi who has settled in Cardenal Cisneros

.

He has to be patient, because he doesn't go fast with the coffee.

He will end up thanking you.

I think he should accompany it with an Iraqi toast, but if the ingredients seem too exotic you can order something more conventional.

You will have the aperitif at

Ostras Pedrín

, next door.

To eat you will go to Lúa, in Eduardo Dato, a Galician that after having switched to signature cuisine has returned to the origins and is the most welcoming restaurant in Madrid.

There you will order broth -yes, broth-, octopus á feira and a lobster salpicón that competes with

Rafa's, in Narváez

, as the best in the world.

Let them serve you the house wine, a red or white ribeiro called A shooting fixe.

Dinner is at Saku

, a Japanese tavern on Olid Street.

The sushi is very good, of course.

Because of the precision with which they handle the most complicated thing: temperature.

But you will go, above all, for the fried chicken and, also, to try the reinvention of carbonara or

the only edible tofu on the planet

.

Diego's Cocktail Shop

C/ de la Reina, 12

In Madrid it is much easier to find where to eat well than where to drink well.

If I had to choose a bar, mine would be Del Diego, on Calle de la Reina.

Lively but not excessive.

It has an atmosphere that we could define as Spanish art deco and bartenders with prodigious wrists.

Drinking is a very personal matter

, but if a taqueria is measured by how the pastor makes it and an Italian by his carbonara, a cocktail bar is judged by its

Dry Martini

and its

Manhattan

.

As for the walk to and from there, it is curious how tranquility is felt on this street parallel to Gran Vía, probably the only street that Madrid has as a metropolis.

It's not very funny anymore.

However, years ago the accesses were impassable and refute the absurd nostalgia of those who believe that problems make cities genuine.

A little further on, on the same street, is

the Cock

.

Good, but better Del Diego.

Luchana Theaters

C/ Luchana, 38

Making plans without children has no merit.

It's like playing without rules.

Managing one's own boredom is a task within everyone's reach.

When you suffer is when you look for something to entertain a child with.

You can connect them to the usual assisted care devices, such as the tablet, or

give them a more suggestive and long-lasting pleasure

.

The Luchana Theaters, next to Chamberí Square, have a very fun children's program.

They are shows with just three actors, in a small room and works with a very moving effect.

Sometimes you can see the inspiration and

patchwork

of classic plots but they always have a good time.

They have a fairly varied program, with small musicals predominating.

Don't expect anything even close to the musicals on Gran Vía. This is

neighborhood theater

, in a room that can hold less than 50 people, in which creativity compensates for the absence of apparatus and where children always have some participation.

They will enjoy it more between 4 and 8 years old

.

The adult does not suffer.