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This is a place that we very much recommend. Not perfect by any means but the prices are fantastic. Bottles of wine can be bought for €8!
The starters are brilliant and very large. The portion of mussels was huge and very good. The desserts are mouth watering.
The main weakness of this place is that some of the meat based mains are not as good as the rest of the menu. The fish based mains are good.
Staff are businesslike rather than friendly - food comes quickly but having said that there is no push to get you out if you are nursing your drinks.
One other note - bread is not free!
Plaza El Ángel 12, 28012 Madrid, Spain
+34 913 691 059
Google map: bit.ly/oODb9o
Really good food, vodkas and wines and excellent value. Set lunch at 15 euros includes drink. Evening meal a la carte 35-40 euros. Staff are eager to please and speak English. Relaxing, appetising, clean ambience! Convenient five-minute walk to Thyssen and Prado museums.
Calle del Prado 15, 28014 Madrid, Spain
+34 914 293 659
Google map: bit.ly/i6kmAy
Fabulous market, recently revamped, brimming with good vibes + interesting crowd + food/drink of all descriptions, from morning cafe con leche to long after midnight. Reasonably priced. Brilliant site for people watching round the clock, not to mention the food - one of the most amazing places in the entire city!
Just a minute off plaza mayor
Great food at a great price. No main was more than €10! Wine was about €8-€9 a bottle.
We don't normally go to the same restaurant twice when we are on holiday, but we came here three times when we were here in Madrid in summer 08.
There were queues into the place on some evenings.
Plaza El Ángel 12
28012 Madrid, Spain
+34 913 691 059
Slap bang in the centre of Madrid near to many of the major attractions, the old town, main shopping areas and a block from the Plaza Mayor is 100 Montaditos. It's your best bet for cheap lunch on the run in the city. Take a ticket and wait for your turn to order from the extensive menu of bocadillos (small Spanish sandwiches), starting from just a Euro, there's something for all tastes.
Calle Mayor 22, 5 mins from the Sol metro station
Amazing vegetarian food. It's buffet style and you pay by weight. Not the cheapest place but the best, most delicious, and filling food that we have eaten on our whole trip. Right near the big three art museums. Highly recommended. 100grams of deliciousness for 2euros.
Viva la Vida
c/ Huertas 57
Madrid isn't necessarily the cheapest city in the world in which to eat out, and if you're on a budget, and fancy hitting the town too but don't know how you can afford to do both, this is the answer: do as the Spanish do and drink and snack all evening in the multitudes of Tapas Bars throughout the city. Placa Santa Ana is one of the liveliest and most celebrated places in which to do this, though prices can be higher than in more up and coming districts such as Chueca or Lavapies - though both these areas have a wide range of trendy places serving quality food and drinks. Avoid the Placa Mayor and its immediate environs as you pay vastly inflated prices which don't equate to value for money. If you're not sure which bar to choose, just check out the menus and prices, ask one of the (usually friendly and helpful) locals or as a rule of thumb head for somewhere that looks busy. Not only are you eating and drinking for far less than a restaurant or cocktail bar, you are getting a real taste of what Madrid life is all about. Enjoy!
Across central Madrid
Visit the world's oldest restaurant - Botin, in Madrid, a favourite haunt of Hemingway to boot. Try the famous roast suckling pig - delicious.
Calle Cuchilleros, is a beautiful old Madrid road next to the Plaza Mayor. It has lots of great underground mesones (inns), for when it's too cold to sit out on the terrazas.
The Meson de la Tortilla only has four things on the menu (tortilla, garlic mushrooms, cheese and ham) - order one of each and enjoy, occasionally with live music.
C/Cuchilleros, Leave the plaza mayor from the south-west corner.
The hotel Laura in Madrid is a great place for families in the very centre of this wonderful city. Modern and comfortable design, friendly staff and affordable. It's just a B&B so you have to explore the city for food. Go to the Latina district for tapas and avoid the Plaza Mayor for overpriced and badly cooked food.
Don't join the long line of people waiting to get in the Prado. If you are with your kids go to the Reina Sofia instead and see some marvellous contemporary and modern art paintings like Picasso's 'Guernica'.
After, go to the café/restaurant for some great food and of course a bottle of wine from the Ribera Del Duero region, superb.
Teatriz restaurant in Madrid is a fantastic restaurant designed by Philippe Starck, converted from an old theatre. I had lunch there on Christmas Day with my family to celebrate my wife's birthday and it was one of the best meals I have ever eaten.
Calle Hermosilla 15, Tel.91-577-53-79
Reservation recommended.
If anyone feels like having a pleasant evening with candlelight and intimate ambiance, try 1917 Blinis & Vodkas. They have a good assortment of smoked fish (salmon, tuna, herring, etc) on top of freshly baked blinis and a choice of 30 different kinds of vodka from Estonia, Russia, Poland, France, Argentina, etc. And the location is perfect: next to the Teatro Real (Madrid's Opera House).
Calle de la Independencia 1, 911 429 800, Opera metro station, bar1917.com
Restaurant serving dishes from the País Vasco
(Basque) region of northern Spain.
Brilliant food, and that's why I am taken here by my hosts in Madrid who seek a change from the usual.
The most popular delicacies are patatas con bacalao, cocochas de merluza y centollo, zortziko de almejas, solomillo dantxari -al vapor, bacalao al pil-pil, con aceite de oliva virgen y pimiento, and tarta fina de manzana.
You could avoid these and try the more innovative dishes. I appreciated the excellent use of seasonal products and dishes such as 'pil pil' and their cod croquetas.
Ventura Rodríguez 8, 28008 Madrid
Tel: 915 423 524
www.dantxari.com
Notes from Madrid is a blog about Madrid written by a bunch of city-savvy expats. It includes everything from where to shop, eat, drink, and go out (neighborhood by neighborhood) to information on museums, parks, excursions outside the city, even what to avoid in the city.
Marisqueria in Madrid, best restaurant to eat fish. Not very stylish but really good food.
Tribunal
A great restaurant chain for tapas and larger raciones. They don't do just ham, as the name might suggest, but all sorts of food. Calamares, Tortilla and gambas al ajillo are excellent. Prices are very reasonable. You can eat at the counter or in the salon (waiter service is a little dearer). They have restaurants in Puerta del Sol and on the Gran Via. They also do excellent three-course menu for under 10 Euro.
La Puerta Del Sol
or La Gran Via
This tiny and historic tiled bar in a sidestreet near Sol serves up sensational cod croquettes and battered fish pieces fresh from the fryer, as light and fluffy as deep-fried cloud.
Wash them down with glasses of house wine if you can get to the bar. A Madrid institution.
Calle Tetuán, 12
www.casalabra.es
Part of me is loathe to share this tip - it's my restaurant. No trip to Madrid is complete without lunch here for this former Madrid resident.
A local neighbourhood restaurant, sandwiched between the traditional madrileno working class district of Lavapies and Plaza Santa Ana.
Don't be put off by the long menu translated into English and German as I initially was. If you arrive on a Monday or Thursday lunchtime the queues of Madrilenos, business men in suits to builders in boilersuits, waiting for their cocido and paella specials will convince you it's not a tourist trap.
The service is at times brusque. I ate here at least once a week for a year and only during my last week in Madrid did the waiters show me any familiarity - and I lived next door.
The food is simple but good. There are a selection of menus at various prices to suit any budget.
The atmosphere is pure Madrid. TV blaring in the corner, twice as many tables crammed in as should really fit and shouted conversations echoing off the tiled walls and wooden floor. You do not come here for a relaxing lunch. But all the same don't come here if you are pushed for time. You can be out the door in 40mins having eaten a 3 course meal or waiting for your dessert 2 hours later.
Try the pollo al ajillo. Or the grilled asparagus. or the fried aubergines. or just about anything!
Enjoy.
C/Amor de Dios
M. Anton Martin.
There are plenty of sidrerias (cider bars) in Madrid, but this one in the gay-friendly Chueca district is a huge stand-out for the quality and, especially, the quantity of the complimentary tapas. 1.50 a 'caña' isn't cheap, but you'll get a steaming pile of piggy, bready delights along with it, and that's every time you take a drink.
Also a great place for vast filled 'bocadillos' (baguette sandwiches), and various other tasty 'raciones'. Just watch out for complimentary paella - myself and others have been laid low by food poisoning for some time after a visit. The fact that I'm still recommending the place tells you just how good it is.
One final thing - get there early if you have any kind of designs on a table.
c/ Infantas, metro Chueca
Is this your business?Search Been there
