LA CENTRAL, C/Postigo de San Martín, 8. Metro: CALLAO

This is La Central bookshop café. It is in a three-storey, old palace with a bright, covered patio. The café has a very high ceiling and two huge windows, wooden tables, a smooth cement floor and bits and bobs from the palace hanging on the walls (glass panels and a door, for example). The coffee is very good and they have home-made cakes. There is also a daily menú but it's expensive. The bookshop itself is worth a visit. They have preserved the old wooden staircase, which cracks, the wood panelling in the ceiling on the first floor and the paintings in the small chapel (now the Children's Literature section). A highly recommended place to get away from the hustle and bustle of Madrid's main shopping thoroughfare in Gran Vía. If you fancy a hot chocolate with churros, Chocolatería Valor is just opposite and there is a terrace with gas heaters.