The Bent Page

Churros y chocolate make an excellent snack on the way home from a night of tapas and wine. After several trips to Spain, I finally decided to indulge in this decadent treat, selecting the Chocolateria San Gines which lies between the Plaza Mayor and Plaza Isabel II. In other words, it was on the way back to my hotel from the aforementioned tapas rampage. Here’s a photo of the entrance:

It’s hard to miss with a neon sign up top that you can see glowing from a block away even if you can’t exactly see the sign itself.

The churro is a bit of fried dough extruded into a stick topped with sugar. Some purists avoid the cinnamon. However, I’ve had them with the cinnamon and it is a welcome touch. Here’s a view of a typical order of the regular variety:

A word about the chocolate. It is thicker than hot cocoa that many Americans may know, and yet thinner than you would expect. It is the perfect consistency in that when you dip the churro into the chocolate, it adheres without being gooey. How this is achieved, I have no idea. Doesn’t matter. Furthermore, the chocolate is not overly sweet and still possesses no bitterness. Amazing. This is a fine treat right before you go to bed. Good for your teeth, too. (Just kidding on the teeth part.)