Does anyone else find the run-up to Christmas just one big guilt-laden box of chocs? Surely it can’t just be me? As soon as December 1st swings around, I struggle not to be reaching for the party favours and my booze intake sky rockets – well it ‘tis the season. So in an attempt to not become 50% mulled wine, 50% turrón, I headed to La Espumosa, the new Chamberí hotspot which combines healthy grub and bubbles, of the champagne variety.

Myself and my vegetarian date (who is dragging a self-confused carnivore kicking and screaming into healthier habits) headed out last Tuesday and found ourselves salivating over La Espumosa’s menu. Juliette, the owner who coincidently quit her day job to follow her dream of opening La Espumosa, has curated a menu that sits perfectly within the era of clean eating. These days millennials (much like myself) enjoy a tipple but then again, we also love an avo – everything in moderation is my mantra.

So to this end, the menu sounded delicious, but not dangerously calorific. We split the following offerings; sautéed veggies which provided an instant shot of virtuous-ness, a burrata with pesto, halloumi fingers (I could’ve eaten a bucketload of these) and La Espumosa’s take on ‘patas bravas’ that was baked sweet potatoes with a vegan mayonnaise, which were less of the naughty, and a lot more of the nice.

In addition to the nutritious nosh, the cocktails were to die for (I wasn’t polishing my halo the entire time, we definitely embraced the notion of ‘a little bit of what you fancy does you good’). The waiter whipped us up a gin-based cocktail using my all-time favourite gin, G’vine and a yuzu-based bitter hailing from Japan which was dangerously more-ish. However, as it was a Tuesday evening and not a thirsty Thursday, we exercised a bit of self restraint. Come the weekend though, La Espumosa is the perfect place to enjoy a hard-earned glass of champers to toast farewell to the working week.

One of the other somewhat unique aspects of La Espumosa in a city with more restaurants than you can shake a stick at, is that the owner Juliette really wants the restaurant to become a social hub. There are already live music nights, fashion brunches and a whole host of events in the pipeline, even one of my own @littlemissmadrid mixers is pencilled in – so watch this space. And when Madrid edges its way out of its recent cold snap and people can feel their toes once again, I predict that the terraza will become quite the hotspot for Sunday morning brunches and post work cañas too.

La Espumosa looks set to to become my local, and not just for fizzy Fridays. It’s hard to walk on by when a venue boasts a menu that’s going to leave you feeling great, rather than guilty. The decor, the food and indeed the concept got my corks popping *couldn’t resist a champagne pun. And to this end, we all know there’s only one thing better than a glass of champagne, a bottle.

2020 update: monthly brunches!

Given the healthy nature of La Espumosa, the Chamberí locale is now offering what is currently planned to be a HIIT workout followed by a healthy brunch. As La Espumosa does a great line in champagne, the combination of burpees and bubbles is sure to be an appealing one! One Sunday per month, you can workout for 30 minutes at the venue with a fully qualified UK personal trainer and then enjoy a delicious (and nutritious brunch) – ensuring that there’s zero guilt about the calories. The brunch includes a healthy detox juice including green apple, cucumber, ginger and pineapple. A coffee of your choice meaning you get an endorphin and a caffeine hit. Followed by either scrambled eggs or avocado on toast. So don your leggings, grab a friend and put your Sunday to good use. Stay tuned to Naked Madrid for the date of the next one and kickstart your 2020 fitness goals.

La Espumosa

• Facebook & IG: @laespumosa.es
• Address: Calle Santa Engracia 60
• Metro: Iglesia

Thanks to waking up early for work during the week, I’m pretty much a guaranteed earlybird at the weekends. Luckily for me, this meant that last Saturday I had first dibs of the delectable treats on offer at La Prima Lejana. The cool little cafe that’s just a stone’s throw from C/ Huertas and offers up ‘gram worthy decor and cakes worth setting an alarm for.

A venture that’s the birthchild of three friends hailing from Galicia, La Prima Lejana combines two of my great loves – cake that’s worth the calories and gin. The gin needs no further explanation. Forget strawberries and cream, bangers and mash, fish and chips, there’s no pairing that I could love more. Especially when all of the gins on offer are Spanish, including one of my current fave, Nordes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t swerve my Saturday morning spin class to swig gin before midday, there’s great coffee on offer as well as fresh lemonades in a variety of flavours – I opted for lemon and ginger which was zingy and fresh and was an attempt to offset the cake-shaped goodies.

Now, onto the decor which was basically my own version of utopia. A mix of pinks, gold and marble –essentially the mood board for my own recent flat renovation – had me hot footing it to Maison du Monde to snap up the same shelving that they have there. The attention to detail is second to none, partly due to one of the lovely business partners being an architect, and clearly one with excellent taste.

I often find Spanish cakes waaaaay too sickly sweet but the cakes here were some of (if not the best) that I’ve tasted in the capital. I had carrot cake which was inhaled at breakneck speed and we also tried the courgette cake with lemon icing. Again, the plate was all but licked clean.

La Prima Lejana is as pleasing to the eye as it was to the tastebuds and I plan to work my way through their menu, I urge you to do the same.

La Prima Lejana

• Website, Facebook & IG: @laprimalejanamad
• Address: Calle Lope de Vega, 7
• Metro: Antón Martín

So, for those of you who are up to speed with my slightly sporadic Naked Madrid musings (here’s looking at you Mum and Dad), you may have noticed that my insta handle is @littlemissmadrid, so I’m asking you to forgive me in advance for this post; I’m going somewhat off piste.

Before having road tripped to Los Caños, Tarifa well and truly had my heart in the seaside stakes – but now it’s getting too close to call. Having travelled to the Caribbean coast of Columbia back in July, Los Caños de Meca has more than a touch of the quirky cool that can be found there. There’s a stretch of bougainvillea lined road called Avenida Trafalgar that hosts a number of surf shack-type bars – where folks spill out onto the street as easily as the drinks flow.

My hands-down favourite beach bar is cocooned in the Mercado de Artesania and called La Perlita. It’s hard to describe just how picture perfect it is – but I’ll give it a go. Imagine your ideal back garden, by the sea and the dreamiest piña colada/carrot cake combo and yeah, you’re about halfway there.

Pic from @streetfoodcadiz

Now I love a food truck as much as the fellow millennial, but this one can’t be beat. The cocktails are fantastic, the food fresh (we had falafel, prawn dumplings, veggie noodles and a veggie burger – yes, I’m aware that gluttony is one of the seven sins) but with prices that definitely don’t match Madrid, it was nigh on impossible not to over order. The menu is what I’d call healthy hipster and the nice touch is that’s everything’s recyclable. As we all try to slide into sustainable socialising, La Perlita is ahead of the curve, with their food being served in paper bags and the gently lulling reggae tunes that swayed in the background added to my food coma.

No trip to Los Caños is complete without a trip to the infamous beachside mecca, La Jaima. Birthplace (I imagine) to thousands of insta stories, it’s so idyllic even the most hardwired stresshead would struggle not to be lulled into a zen-like state here – the views can’t be done justice on an iPhone (and god knows, I tried) but as the golden hour kicked in and the café del mar type tunes ramped up, I was positively horizontal on my beanbag and felt about a million miles away from the chaos and crowds of a city. The bar boasts live music and quite possibly the friendliest staff I’ve ever met – although who wouldn’t be beaming from ear to ear if you got to call the beach your ‘office’.

Feeling satiated having spent the day bar hopping and getting bronzed, we decided that we should try to find a place stay. Word of warning: it’s not easy. Los Caños is clearly not one for mass tourism, as we painfully discovered.

Spontaneity doesn’t always pay off so what I will say is book ahead. Clearly we weren’t the only ones hoping to sizzle our way into September so, sadly, there was no room, quite literally at the Inn(s) for this Mary and Joesph, but I did spot Hotel Guadalupe, a gorgeous looking boutique hotel on the aforementioned Avenida Trafalgar. Seriously, I can sniff out a decent-looking hotel like a bloodhound. Sadly, I just don’t seem to have the foresight to book them.

So whilst I didn’t get get to stumble back to a beachfront abode, I did get to enjoy a pretty perfect day that filled my cup right up and should keep me feeling warm and fuzzy into autumn (or maybe that was just my slightly sunburnt nose). Either way, cities are great and all, but sometimes your bod just craves some Vitamin Sea and ultimately the heart wants what the heart wants. In this case it was a delicious dose of daiquiris and downtime.

Los Caños de Meca, Cádiz

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Bless Hotel Madrid

• Website, Facebook & IG: @blesshotelmadrid
• Address: Calle Velázquez, 62
• Metro: Velázquez

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Follow @littlemissmadrid on Instagram for more gems in the city!

Much to the dismay of my bank manager, it’s a given that I spend pretty much all my cash on fashion and food. (Sorry if you’re reading this folks, I promise the odd tenner gets bunged into savings). My monthly bank statement often reads like a roll call of where to shop and where to eat, but having bought a pad last year, there’s definitely been a shift in my spends – from fashion to furniture and more noteworthy, given the theme of this post, now to flowers.

Over the past year I have gone hard on nesting. There’s no such thing as too many cushions or candles in my book, and blooms have become a weekly indulgence that I now pick up with the same level of regularity as I do milk, almond of course. This has largely been encouraged by the fabulous florist that’s now within walking distance of my casa, Botanyco.

In a city which is often lacking in much other than fairly insipid-looking florals, Botanyco is a haven for flower fans and has real pavement appeal. For a start, the shop itself is stunning. You almost feel like you’re entering into someone’s gorgeous garden thanks to the patio area at the back that’s cutely concealed from street view.

Now if you like your flowers, this is your one-stop shop. They whip up bouquets, stock insta-friendly blooms such as peonies (it can’t just be my ‘gram feed that’s littered with them come May time) and there’s a collection of cacti that wouldn’t be out of place in the desert.

I’ve often nipped in to pick up a last-minute gift that always surpasses the price tag. Don’t get me wrong, the flowers aren’t cheap, but this is a swish little spot where you can sit and enjoy a coffee post shop on the house.

I’m often berated by friends and fam for what on the surface might appear to be a rather frivolous and costly habit, my response – stop and smell the flowers, quite literally. Who doesn’t love walking into their piso to find a pretty little posey and of all the things that I splash the cash on (of which there are a few), a bunch of blooms that spark joy is not what’s going to break the bank.

In addition to being your neighborhood florist, Botanyco supplies flowers for events – weddings and the like. And if you fancy yourself as a frustrated florist in the making, they even do classes on weekday evenings where they’ll teach you the tricks of the trade. It’s a blooming lovely spot (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) and I urge you to not leaf it out on your to-do list.

Botanyco

• Website, Facebook & Instagram: @botanyco_
• Address: Calle Santa Engracía, 59
• Metro: Iglesias

So for once I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Possibly as short as my time spent at the lovely Faraday, my current top pick when it comes to a cracking cup of coffee, in a spot as cosy as cashmere.

Nestled on Calle San Marcos in the perennially popular Chueca, I first suggested it to a pal for a quick post-work drink a few Friday’s ago. Quick disclaimer – they do not bear booze. So if you’re after vino, cañas and the like, just walk on by. But if you’re after coffee with a kick, served in surroundings that make you forget that you were craving a G&T, then this may well be the place for you.

It’s worth me noting that it’s hipster heaven. There’s luxe leather chairs aplenty and vinyls (to be purchased) galore. Faraday’s USP in a city heaving with coffee competitors is that it’s a coffee shop slash mini-concept store. Aside from the vinyls there were other vignettes to be snapped up post flat white.

Whilst I was there to chew the fat with my mate, there was no shortage of folk taping away on their Macs, making it a desirable locale for a digital nomad. The eclectic tunes being pumped out also made it fiesta friendly but not deafeningly so.

Although I eventually left to sink my well-earned G&T at a neighbouring waterhole on the nearby Calle Belen, Faraday proves that sometime’s there’s some fun to be had in abstaining.

All photos from Faraday’s instagram account

Faraday

• Instagram @faradaymadrid
• Address: Calle San Lucas, 9
• Metro: Chueca

Also check out:

• Gin O’clock – time to enjoy Madrid’s finest G&T’s
• 5 Work-friendly cafés in Malasaña with great WiFi

Picalagartos

• Facebook, Website, & Instagram: @picalagartosmad
• Address: C/ Gran Vía 21
• Metro: Gran Vía 

We really are spoilt in Spain. From the glorious blue skies to the culture of napping not being frowned upon, we really do enjoy the good life. So when it rains, I have to admit that I’ve become one of those people who hunkers down and reaches for the remote and Netflix.

However, this last Saturday, in spite of the torrential rain and the fact that my hair was starting to look more and more like Rod Stewart’s (I’ll thank the humidity for that) I donned my gladrags and kept my dinner date at NuBel – the quite frankly stunning setting that’s part of the Reina Sofia museum on the south side of the city.

So before a mere morsel had passed my lips, the first thing that floored me on arrival was the space. Lofty and chic, yet deceptively cosy, NuBel is kind of like entering a club, albeit, one without the sticky carpets and two for one drinks that littered my youth. There was a DJ playing dance classics that I remembered from the days where I didn’t turn into a pumpkin if I stayed out past midnight; and the whole ‘vibe’ was one of people ready to party (just not on an empty stomach).

So having taken our seats for dinner (pretty pink velvet ones in case you’re interested) we plumped for some cocktails, a pisco sour for me and a ‘hard drink’ for my pal – I can attest, it was indeed strong, absinthe will do that I guess.

We perused the menu and our waiter, Angel, suggested that we try a range of the mini plates so that we could salivate over a spectrum of flavours. I think we ordered ten in total and each little bite was as delicious as the last. I loved the mange tout falafel with feta, while my amiga lapped to the snow crab cocktail. The mains were every bit as delectable as the desserts. I don’t have the sweetest tooth but my deconstructed lemon meringue pie was so good that I was not one for sharing.

However, food aside, what I really loved about NuBel was the atmosphere. So often these days I go for dinner and feel ready to be rolled home, the lure of my pyjamas too great to resist. NuBel manages to straddle the line of being a restaurant/club perfectly – the music will have your toe tapping away and ready to ditch the dessert in favour of the dance floor.

For art aficionados, the proximity to renowned works from the likes of Picasso, adds that little extra pizazz that a regular restaurant would find hard to rival.

All photos from NuBel

NuBel

• Facebook, Website & Instagram: @nubelmadrid
• Address: Museo Reina Sofía, Calle de Argumosa, 43
• Metro: Atocha
• Phone: 915 30 17 61

• Facebook, Website
• Address: Augusto Figueroa 21
• Metro: Chueca