Restaurants in Madrid
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La Isla del Tesoro
La Isla del Tesoro is loaded with quirky charm – the dining area is like someone’s fantasy of a secret garden come to life. The cooking here is assured and wide-ranging in its influences; the jungle burger is typical in a menu that’s full of surprises. The weekday, lunchtime menú del día (€10) is more varied than most in Madrid. Our only complaint? The otherwise friendly waiters are often too keen to free up your table for the next punters on weekends.
reviewed
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Casa Mingo
Built in 1916 to feed workers building the Príncipe Pío train station, Casa Mingo is a large Asturian cider house known by just about every madrileño. It’s kept simple here, focusing primarily on the signature dish of pollo asado (roast chicken) accompanied by a bottle of cider. There are also a few Asturian specialities, such as chorizo a la sidra (chorizo in cider) and queso de cabrales (aged blue cheese).
reviewed
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Sula
If you want to catch Salamanca’s happening vibe, head for Sula, a gourmet food store, super-stylish tapas bar and clean-lined restaurant where Quique Dacosta (voted Spain’s best chef in 2005) serves up a range of Mediterranean dishes that you won’t find anywhere else. Design touches added by Amaya Arzuaga help to make this one of Madrid’s coolest spaces. Rumour has it that David Beckham had one of his farewell parties here.
reviewed
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Cervecería 100 Montaditos
This bar with outlets all across the city serves up no fewer than 100 different varieties of mini-bocadillos (filled rolls, without butter) that span the full range of Spanish staples, such as chorizo, jamón, tortilla, a variety of cheeses and seafood. Each one costs a princely €1 to €2 and four will satisfy most stomachs. You fill out your order, take it up to the counter and your name is called in no time.
reviewed
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Restaurante Momo
Momo is a Chueca beacon of reasonably priced home-cooking for a casual but stylish crowd. It’s got an artsy vibe and is ideal for those who want a hearty meal without too much elaboration. The menú del día (fixed-price three-course meal) is one of Madrid’s bargains and the famous chocolate moco (snot) is the tastiest of dessert dishes despite its worrying name.
reviewed
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La Negra Tomasa
Bar, restaurant and magnet for all things Cuban, La Negra Tomasa is a boisterous meeting place for the Havana set with waitresses dressed in traditional Cuban outfits (definitely pre-Castro), decent food such as cojimar (shrimps in a tomato sauce with rice and slices of banana fritter) and typical drinks of the Caribbean. There’s often live Cuban music in the evening.
reviewed
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Nagoya
Madrid has its fair share of Japanese restaurants, but you won’t find any better than this one. The service is friendly and fast, and the food is outstanding – from the tempura and sushi to the kami yaki soba (duck with noodles and teriyaki sauce). Ask for your maki with sesamo por fuera (sesame on the outside) and you’ll be in heaven.
reviewed
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Maceiras
Galician tapas (think octopus, green peppers etc) never tasted so good as in this agreeably rustic bar down the bottom of the Huertas hill, especially when washed down with a crisp white Ribeiro. The simple wooden tables, loyal customers and handy location make for a fine atmosphere. There’s another branch around the corner at Calle de Jesús 7, which keeps the same hours.
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La Casa del Abuelo
In Huertas, La Casa del Abuelo is famous for gambasa la plancha (grilled prawns) or gambas al ajillo (prawns sizzling in garlic on little ceramic plates) and a chato (small glass) of the heavy, sweet El Abuelo red wine; they cook over 200kg of prawns here on a good day.
reviewed
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Al Natural
Tucked away behind the Spanish parliament, Al Natural has an intimate ambience and terrific vegetarian food. There are the usual suspects such as salads and pastas, but some welcome creative touches, including grilled provolone cheeses, make this a terrific choice.
reviewed
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A Dos Velas
The food here is always creative, with Mediterranean cooking fused with occasional Indian or even Argentinian flavours. There’s a lovely dining area with soft lighting and exposed brick, and service is attentive without being intrusive.
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Chocolatería de San Ginés
Perhaps the best known of Madrid’s chocolate con churros vendors, this Madrid institution is at its most popular from 3am to 6am as clubbers make a last stop for sustenance on their way home. Only in Madrid.
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Bocaito
Bocaito, at Chueca, is a purveyor of Andalucian jamón (ham) and seafood and a favourite haunt of film-maker Pedro Almodóvar.
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Baco y Beto
Chueca is a stellar tapas barrio (district). A brilliant choice is Baco y Beto.
reviewed
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La Tasquita de Enfrente
To succeed on the international stage, Spain’s celebrity chefs have to take experimentation to new levels, but to succeed at home they usually have to maintain a greater fidelity to traditional bases before heading off in new directions. And therein lies the success – it’s difficult to overstate how popular this place is among people-in-the-know in Madrid’s food scene – of chef Juanjo López. His seasonal menu never ceases to surprise (he was preparing cream of pea soup with caviar and hamburgers with foie gras and truffles when we were there) but also combines simple Spanish staples such as squid with broad beans to stunning effect. His menu degustación (€48) …
reviewed
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Sula Madrid
A gastronomic temple that combines stellar cooking with clean-lined sophistication, Sula Madrid – a gourmet food store, super-stylish tapas bar and top-notch restaurant all rolled into one – is one of our favourite top-end restaurants in Madrid. It’s the sort of place where Madrid celebrities are on first-name terms with the waiters, and the name-dropping continues in the kitchen where wunderkind Quique Dacosta (voted Spain’s best chef in 2005) prepares a range of Mediterranean dishes – some traditional, some with the most creative of twists – that you won’t find anywhere else. Design touches added by Amaya Arzuaga help to make this one of Madrid’s coolest, black-clad spa…
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Zalacaín
Where most other fine-dining experiences centre on innovation, Zalacaín is a bastion of tradition with a refined air and a loyal following among Spain’s great and good. Everyone who’s anyone in Madrid, from the king down, has eaten here since the doors opened in 1973; it was the first restaurant in Spain to receive three Michelin stars. The pig’s trotters filled with mushrooms and lamb is a house speciality, as is the lobster salad. The wine list is purported to be one of the best in the city (it stocks an estimated 35,000 bottles with 800 different varieties). You should certainly dress to impress (men will need a tie and a jacket).
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Jockey
Fine Spanish cooking, with the occasional nod to international sophistication, and celebrities and royalty dotted around the dining room (Prince Felipe, heir to the Spanish throne, and Letizia Ortiz chose the Jockey chefs for their wedding banquet in May 2004) make for a top-quality dining experience. The menu is more traditionally European than most in this price range, although there are some innovative flourishes. Otherwise, it’s along the lines of Persian caviar, snails and soufflés. If we could choose one dish, it would probably be lobster ragout with truffles and fresh pasta. Men must wear a tie and a jacket.
reviewed
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Santceloni
The Michelin-starred Santceloni is one of Madrid’s best restaurants, with luxury decor that’s the work of star interior designer Pascual Ortega, and nouvelle cuisine from the kitchen of master Catalan chef Santi Santamaría. Primary responsibility for the kitchen has passed to one of his acolytes, Óscar Velasco, but the quality hasn’t dipped at all and Santamaría flourishes still make regular appearances. Each dish is an exquisite work of art and the menu changes with the seasons, but we’d recommend one of the set menús gastronómicos to really sample the breadth of surprising tastes on offer.
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Casa Alberto
One of the most atmospheric old tabernas of Madrid, Casa Alberto has been around since 1827 and occupies a building where Cervantes is said to have written one of his books. The secret to its staying power is vermouth on tap, excellent tapas and fine sit-down meals; rabo de toro (bull’s tail) is a good order. As the antique wood-pannelled decoration will suggest straight away, the raciones (large tapas servings) have none of the frilly innovations that have come to characterise Spanish tapas, and jamón, Manchego cheese and croquetas are recurring themes.
reviewed
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Nina
Sophisticated, intimate and wildly popular, Nina has an extensive menu (available in English) of nouvelle Mediterranean cuisine that doesn’t miss a trick. We like the decor, all exposed brick and subtle lighting, we love just about everything on the menu, but we adore the honey-and-sobrasada-glazed grilled ostrich steak with a salmon and raspberry crust. What we’re not so keen on is the policy of two sittings (at 9.15pm and 11.30pm), which inevitably means that staff can start to hover when your time’s nearly up. The weekend brunch (€21.90, noon to 5.30pm Saturday and Sunday) is excellent.
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El Alboroque
The new home kitchen of Madrid’s hottest home-grown chef, Andrés Madrigal, is all that you’d expect from a temple of gastronomy, with experiments in flavours and textures that never miss a beat. Dishes like cherry gazpacho, smoked crayfish with cardamom and pear, and rocket and parmesan ice cream are the star turns, but everything’s a revelation. The evening set menu for €55 gives you a range of the chef’s latest experiments. Fine wines and a refined setting in a mid-19th-century palace make it one of Madrid’s best new restaurants.
reviewed
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La Musa
Snug yet loud, a favourite of Madrid’s hip young crowd yet utterly unpretentious, La Musa is all about designer decor, lounge music on the sound system and food (breakfast, lunch or dinner) that is always fun and filled with flavour. The menu is divided into three types of tapas – hot, cold and BBQ; among the hot varieties is the fantastic jabalí con ali-oli de miel y sobrasada (wild boar with mayonnaise of honey and sobrasada). It doesn’t take reservations, so sidle up to the bar, add your name to the waiting list and soak up the ambient buzz of Malasaña at its best.
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Estado Puro
A slick but casual tapas bar, Estado Puro serves up fantastic tapas, many of which have their origins in Catalonia’s world-famous El Bulli restaurant, such as the tortilla española siglo XXI (21st-century Spanish omelette, served in a glass). The kitchen here is overseen by Paco Roncero, the head chef at La Terraza del Casino and who learned his trade with master-chef Ferran Adrìa. Most of the tapas involve spectacular variations on traditional Spanish themes. There’s a funky indoor area and outdoor tables (often reserved and with higher prices).
reviewed
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Sua
Sua is the height of softly lit sophistication and cooking that provides a new slant on nouvelle cuisine. Dishes are organised around four temperatures – 25°C, 50°C, 75°C and -2°C (desserts) – and it draws its inspiration from the Basque Country, Spain’s hothouse for culinary innovation. The service is faultless and adept at helping you negotiate your way through the menu, but we suggest the €36 menú de degustación (tasting menu) , which gradually increases the temperature.
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