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

When I first moved to Madrid, I had a few initial goals: get an apartment, make new friends, and find a badass bakery where I could satisfy my carb cravings—not necessarily in that order. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about bread that makes me feel right at home. For me, it’s the ultimate comfort food and the simplest culinary pleasure. So when I moved to a new city thousands of miles from home, finding good bread was clearly a priority.

Luckily for me, it didn’t take long. Soon after I moved into my apartment in Lavapiés, I stumbled upon the perfect place entirely by chance. Panifiesto doesn’t look like much from the outside—or the inside, for that matter. It’s a minuscule, minimalist space on the corner of Calle Mesón de Paredes and Calle Juanelo. The tiny storefront features a bench and a counter, behind which the fresh bread is displayed on tall metal shelves. If you peek through the loaves, you can see the magic happening in the kitchen in the back.

When it comes to bread, I’ve learned that simple is almost always better, and Panifiesto confirms that conclusion. All they do is bread—no pastries, empanadas, or even tostadas. You can’t come here for breakfast or a drink with friends. In fact, you might not even notice it if you aren’t specifically looking.

They offer around five to eight varieties each day: wheat, whole wheat, rye, spelt, baguettes, and gallego (half wheat, half rye) are almost always available. Some days they also have tritordeum (a grain that’s a combination of wheat and barley), seeded (full of poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, and more), and heavenly golden-hued corn bread (my personal favorite). Also look out for seasonal specialties, like the raisin, rosemary, and honey loaves they offered last Semana Santa.

The prices are, naturally, a bit more than you might be used to paying for bread: €1.35 for a baguette or €3-5 for a full loaf. You can also buy half a loaf for half the price, and they’ll slice it for you if you ask!

So what exactly makes this bread special? The short answer is that it’s made with masa madre. If you’re as gluten-obsessed as I am, you know what that means. If not, pay attention, because this is important. There’s not an easy English equivalent for this term. The closest thing we have is “sourdough,” but while all sourdough is pan de masa madre, not all pan de masa madre is what you might think of as sourdough.

Essentially, it means that the bread is made without chemical leaveners like baking powder—just flour, water, and salt. It rises due to the natural bacteria in the dough (sometimes called a pre-ferment or “mother dough”), making it denser and lending it a slightly sour flavor. You can bake any kind of bread with this method, as you can see from the variety of options on offer at Panifiesto.

Have I convinced you yet? If not, I dare you to go to this place and not immediately fall in love. Forget about the sad, stale barras at your local alimentación, set aside a few extra euros, and indulge in some of the best bread money can buy. It’s worth it.

Info

• Website & Facebook
• Phone:  694 44 90 20
• Address: Calle Mesón de Paredes, 10
• Metro: Tirso de Molina & La Latina

La Oriental is a teeny tiny traditional pastelería that offers a whole array of gluten free goodies. Founded in 1950 and currently run by the fourth generation of bakers, here you’ll find locally inspired pasteles, elaborated using traditional Madrileño methods and the best local ingredients. This is the place to go to step into the world of traditional artisan pastries and try some local specialities. Luckily for gluten free foodies, it is central to the city and just a short stroll from the Argüelles metro stop!

When you step into the bakery you are immediately surrounded at all heights by stacks of galletas, trays of mini pasteles, counters brimming with all sorts of chocolates, beautifully decorated tartas, light pink meregues and boxes of assorted chocolate-dipped shortbreads.

It is not hard to find the gluten free goodies as the shop is covered in ‘sin gluten’ symbols to help you find your way around.

You’ll find delicacies in every counter, including the tall fridge in front of the window, which is jam-packed with tartas, cheesecakes and birthday cakes (see the raspberry cheesecake above, yum!). There is also a counter with an entire selection of rocas, which are chocolates filled with caramelised nuts, in dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate… well, in every kind of chocolate that you could imagine.

Also sitting on nonchalantly on top of the counters, as if they have no idea of the effect they’ll have on you, are boxes of assorted biscuits, which are, indeed, gluten free too.

There are Viennese-style biscuits covered in jam and chopped nuts, star-shaped shortbreads, vanilla cookies topped in dark chocolate and sprinkles, and many more options. In addition to the boxes on the counters, there are also boxes behind the shop front, which the shop assistants will no sooner whisk out for you than you can say ‘sin gluten’.

As well as the shop’s excellent ‘gluten free’ signing, the best part of visiting the shop is being greeted by the shop’s incredibly smiley fourth generation owner, or one of her friendly assistants. As soon as you mention that you are ‘celiaca’ or ‘celiaco’, a whole range of extra delights will be whisked out from the back and you’ll wonder why you never came here before.

The pastel of choice on this visit was one of the ‘bandejas’ of mini pasteles, which I can say are without a doubt the most delicious little morsels I have tried in my natural gluten-free, and non-gluten free, life.

Each tray is slightly different, with six rows of beautifully presented mini pasteles, each little pastel like a mini work of art. You can tell that at La Oriental they take their baking seriously. In this particular ‘bandeja’, there were six types of mini pasteles: a custard-cream topped sponge; a light pastry sandwiched with chocolate cream; dark chocolate cups with vanilla custard filling and chocolate sprinkles; a profiterole-style pastry filled with dark chocolate cream; an orange cream square and, last but not least, dark chocolate cups filled with whipped cream and topped with a raspberry.

The mini selections of pastries like this bandeja are wrapped up in a sweet little La Oriental box with reflective gold lining and tied up with string, making them the perfect treat to buy for a friend, gluten free or not gluten-free, or maybe, let’s be honest, just for yourself.

In addition to this, the tartas in the tall fridge counter in front of the window can also be ordered for special occasions like birthdays, or just selected from the shop on the day (they all look delicious!).

Extra notes

There are also sugar-free and lactose free options. Just ask the owner.
Extra tip: some of the boxes of biscuits already have prices on, but the rest are priced according to weight, so make sure you check with the owner before you select your box.

Info

Word of the post

I hope that you liked this post on La Oriental. Today’s special word, in homage to the delicious nature of the post’s content, is:

natillas– a creamy custard, yum.

You’ll also like:

• Gluten free pastelerías in Madrid: Part 1, Confeterías Marqués

• El Riojano, Madrid’s best pastry shop in the centre with a hidden tea room!

• María’s – sensational sweets on Calle Zurbano