What does a local breakfast look like in Madrid?
A proper Madrid breakfast is small, unhurried, and happens twice: a quick coffee at home before work, then a second breakfast around 10 or 11am at a bar near the office. That mid-morning stop is the one worth understanding. You order a café con leche and either a tostada con tomate y aceite (thick-griddled bread rubbed with tomato, finished with olive oil and salt) or a churro or two dipped in thick hot chocolate, though churros are more weekend than weekday. Bars like Chocolatería San Ginés near Sol have been doing the chocolate-and-churro combination since 1894 and open through the night, so you can go after a late evening out. In Malasaña or Lavapiés you'll find the same tostada format in neighborhood bars for around two euros. The pastry case matters less here than in Paris; what Madrileños are actually after is the sit-down pause, the coffee, and ten minutes away from wherever they just were.
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