Cafe Madrid is gone; long live Cafe Madrid.
Cafe Madrid, you may recall, was the Cuban restaurant that occupied a corner of a strip mall on Curry Ford Road at Conway Road in Orlando for 28 years. I revisited it in January of this year to do an update review, and a week later it closed. (I swear it was a good review; here, read it yourself.)
In September, a new restaurant moved in, conveniently keeping the Cafe Madrid name but adding Deli & Bakery to it. As you might expect, it’s no longer a full-service restaurant as the old CM was, and selections aren’t as fulsome, either. There are no longer complete dinner entrees, for example. But the food I sampled at the new iteration is good and worth visiting if you’re in the area.
On my first visit I ordered a bowl of Caldo Gallego, the traditional Galician soup, and a Cuban Sandwich.
The soup had a rich, mouth-filling broth and bits of ham and chorizo, potatoes and turnip greens. There were surprisingly few beans in it, which was probably the luck of the ladle scoop (or misfortune, depending on how you feel about beans).
The sandwich had all the traditional components of a Cuban — ham, roast pork, swiss cheese, yellow mustard and pickles — but they were piled more amply between the slices of pressed Cuban bread than you usually see. A very nice Cuban.
A Ham Croquette that I ordered as an appetizer was a bit measly, however.
On a second visit I ordered the Breakfast Egg Burrito, scrambled eggs with ham and sausage plus bits of chopped peppers and melted American cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla. A filling breakfast sandwich if not particularly authentic.
I also had a Quesito, the Puerto Rican pastry that’s sort of like a cruller donut with sugar on the outside and a cheese filling on the inside. Perfect with a cup of coffee.
The old Cafe Madrid space was showing its three decades and was a bit dark and dreary. The new owners have brightened it up and given it a more modern look, including the logo and sigh out front. (The old sign remains on the side of the building.)
The staff were friendly and helpful. The food doesn’t come out of the kitchen at breakneck speed, so just be prepared to wait a bit.
Cafe Madrid Deli & Bakery is in Conway Plaza at 4502 Curry Ford Road, Orlando. It is open for breakfast, lunch and early dinner daily. The phone number is 407-704-2698.
