Tomas Mowlam explains where to eat in Madrid, with a different way of dining and meeting new people. (Note: little to no running actually involved).

The concept is pretty simple really: three different courses – starter, main course and dessert – eaten at three different houses while meeting a load of new people.

Participants are paired up in male-female teams and each team prepares a course at one of their houses, before heading to the other teams’ houses to enjoy the other courses.

The night ends with all the running gourmets meeting up in a bar to talk over the night and have a few drinks.

If this sounds a bit hurried and like an un-Spanish way of eating, the organisers promise: “You have an hour and a half to enjoy each course; afterwards, the teams have half an hour to get to their next destination.”

So you’ll have to prepare your course in advance like a good Boy Scout, but the organisers say: “We’ll try and make sure (as far as possible) that there isn’t too great a distance between the flats each team will visit.

“The more participants sign up as hosts, the more flats there will be and the shorter the distances will be.”

It’s free to take part and each team splits the cost of the ingredients

The first ever Running Dinner is on the 24th July 2010, but you have to register by 17th July, with your name, address, phone number and of course any dietary requirements. You’ll then receive an email with your team mate’s details, the course you’re going to prepare and where you’ll be eating the other two courses.

Check out runningdinnermadrid.blogspot.com/ for more information or email them at runningdinnermadrid@gmail.com.

That picture’s a Van Dyck. The food will be fresher than that. Image Credit: Wiki Commons

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