La Troika

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This is one of the best/worst places I've had the chance to discover in Madrid. It is a Russian bar (hence the name) located in Calle Jardines 11 in the middle of Madrid. It can be accessed from Calle Montera, turning perpendicular to where the 100 Montaditos is on the corner. As long as 100 Montaditos is still there, of course.

The bar is quite small, has a single bar and two more or less separate rooms, one of which is the bathroom, whose hygiene "shines" by its absence.

During the winter, it's a perfect place to start a night out with friends. In summer as well, but it doesn't have air conditioning, just two fans that are not enough to cool the whole place down. So if you go here during the summer, it's important to choose a place near the fans if you don't want to melt down surrounded by sweat and beer odour.

This is one of the downsides of the bar. However, it's surprising to see how it still is the only bar in the street with a queue. This is due to its good value for money when talking about pre-parties.

It offers big portions of typical Spanish and Russian food. Personally, I nearly always have dinner here as it's very useful if you decide to eat something in a bar whilst you are drinking your first few drinks before going out.

Without the shadow of a doubt, the reason that La Troika is nearly always full every weekend from a certain hour in the evening is due to the beer that they offer. They serve a strong Russian beer called Baltika, which contains a bit over 8% alcohol and comes in 0, 5l bottles. There is also the possibility of adding (or taking it by itself) a Russian vodka shot to make the beer stronger and improve the taste and alcohol content. You can get all this for only 4 euros, which is certainly a good deal for the centre of Madrid.

There is no music in the bar, only the noise of the people talking and drinking. It is not the most charming place. However, from my personal experience, I can say that the environment is great, with helpful staff and the people that frequently go there are generally cool. What is more, as a positive point, it must be said that once inside you can leave and re-enter, although there are people queuing outside the bar, as a man at the door is responsible for putting a stamp on your hand as you exit.