I usually avoid museum food (see Dateline: Bilbao) but I'm glad I made an exception at the Prado. The museum cafe had a good selection of tapas and hot dishes. Everything looked so fresh and smelled so good, it was hard to choose.
We settled on Serrano ham with honeydew melon, and smoked salmon with white asparagus. The ham and melon both had a hint of a smoky flavor, the sweet fruit balanced the salty meat, and the juicy, ripe honeydew was a great pairing with the meat's chewy richness.
The rich, salty, tender salmon and crisp, earthy asparagus also complemented each other in taste and texture.
Crusty bread and cafe con leche rounded out our meal. Rested from lingering over our midday feast and freshly fueled with caffeine, we couldn't wait to head back for more fun with El Greco, Velazquez, Ribera and their gallery mates.
Another thing -- besides the good, fresh food -- that surprised me at the Prado's cafe was the pricing. The tapas and hot food seemed very reasonable for a place that has a captive audience: most things were 5 to 7 Euros. But the "junk food" was pricey: 3 or 4 Euros for a small bag of chips or an ice cream bar. Small bottles of Coke cost about the same as small bottles of wine.
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