Madrid Eats: Restaurante Xiongzai aka "el Winnie"
A quick review of Restaurante Xiongzai near Plaza de España in Madrid!
This restaurant is known by some as "el Winnie," for good reason: Winnie the Pooh appears all over the restaurant exterior, interior...
...and menu!
This place seems to specialize in foods from the Xi'an area, headlined by rou jia mo 肉夹馍, the stewed meat "burger" served in a griddled flatbread. It was delicious and suitably meaty, though not quite as generous of a filling, moist, and fragrant as the version I had in Milan.
I hadn't had cumin lamb skewers (羊肉串) in the longest time, and while nothing compares to my memory of eating them fresh off of a charcoal grill by the mosques in Hangzhou so many years ago, they were still good: juicy with the requisite overdose of cumin.
This was also my first time having xiaolongbao (小笼包) with soup in them, not the more bready xiaolongbao that one can also get. These did contain a good amount of soup, but the wrappers were a bit doughy and thick.
All of these dishes were solid. I also ordered a boba milk tea, but when informed that they had run out of boba, I settled for just a milk tea. It was rather watery and lukewarm, not quite fitting for the rainy and windy night that it was. Perhaps the other drinks are better, but I'd just stick with the food next time, and perhaps order one of their bowls of spicy noodle soups which also looked good.
If you're craving for some different Chinese food, Restaurante Xiongzai is worth a journeying a bit out of your way for!
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Restaurante Xiongzai
Calle San Leonardo, 3
28015 Madrid
