Paul Richardson’s Eating in Madrid
To say that Madrid is well supplied with restaurants would be an understatement. Statistics vary, but the consensus is that the Spanish capital harbors around 15,000 eating-places of every possible type—or one for every 218 residents. Why this enormous number? Partly it reflects the gregarious, hyper-social character of Spain in general and the fondness for life lived en la calle (‘in the street’, ie outside the home). More than anything, madrileños simply love to eat, drink and be merry.
And if one thing characterises the restaurant scene here, apart from quantity, it’s diversity. Madrid runs the gamut, its hugely varied restaurant ecosystem covering all of the Spanish genres - taverna and cervecería, marisquería and asador, wine bar, market bar, and gastro-bar (a term newly coined to describe the bar with culinary ambitions) – and many of the global ones besides. There’s deliciousness to be found at every level of price and sophistication, from a bocadillo de calamares (a sub stuffed with fried squid rings, Madrid’s signature street-food) on the Plaza Mayor to a plate of juicy salt-cured anchovies or a platter of acorn-fed ibérico ham at an upscale tapas bar beside the Retiro park. Whether you’re grazing on griddled shrimps at El Boquerón, sitting down for a full-on cocido madrileño (a long-simmered chickpea stew mixed meats and vegetables) at Malacatín, or admiring the surrealist creations of David Muñoz at his three-Michelin-starred DiverXO, it’s quite possible to eat badly here but you’d have to try quite hard.
But with so much variety to choose from, navigating Madrid’s restaurant scene can seem like a daunting task. Before you even set sail, it’s worth taking stock of the city’s idiosyncratic dining customs. Most notoriously, the timetable. Madrid eats late: lunch is commonly taken between 2pm and 4pm while dinner is not much earlier than 9pm and often (especially in summer) as late as 11pm. Like the madrileños themselves, there’s little place for solemnity in the city’s restaurants. Except at the very highest end of things there is no dress-code beyond ‘smart casual’. Tipping is not the set-in-stone practice it is in the US: in theory at least, wait staff in Spain are paid a reasonable wage, so a tip is not necessary unless you feel one is particularly deserved. (And the check may already include service charge.)
Even more than in most world cities, the restaurant scene here is in a state of permanent flux. In a recent development, a massive injection of money into Madrid from (mostly) Latin American investors has supercharged the scene, with new places opening (and also closing) at an incredible rate. (It’s also led to a new wave of high-end Mexican and Peruvian restaurants). Partly to cater for the influx of wealthy latinos and their taste for the high life, restaurant interiors have become ever more extravagant displays of design and decor, as if competing for the biggest ‘wow’ factor, and other aspects of the experience, such as the food, are often secondary. At a certain level, unfortunately, the restaurant world in Madrid is dominated by corporate groups for whom profit margins tend to be the main consideration.
The good news is that Madrid is still generously supplied with eating-places where good food is very much the main attraction. What follows is a highly selective—as well unashamedly subjective— guide to the best of them.
MICHELIN BIG-HITTERS
If historically Madrid was never exactly a haute-cuisine hub, in recent decades it’s been making up for lost time. The city now has a total of 35 Michelin stars, which though an impressive haul, barely reflects the energetic creativity going on at a less exalted level. The starry names have settled into a long-standing constellation headed up by Dabiz Muñoz, he of the Mohican haircut and multiple piercings, and his three-starred DiverXO. (Such elements as DiverXO’s high-glam all-white dining room and the staff in T-shirts have caught the city’s attention but it’s Muñoz’s food—the net result of his painterly eye for color and form and his formidable arsenal of global ingredients and techniques—that truly cuts the wasabi). Among Madrid’s five two-stars and 22 one-stars, other names to conjure with are Deessa (Madrid’s most opulent dining room in its loveliest hotel, the Mandarin Oriental Ritz); Paco Roncero, a graduate of Ferran Adriá’s avant-garde academy at El Bulli, now ensconced in the fin-de-siècle Casino de Madrid; and Coque, where the plus points are a gorgeous new venue, Mario Sandoval’s high-wire contemporary cooking and a monumental wine list.
Smoked Room is the latest triumphant concept from Málaga-based mover and shaker Dani García, taking the classic asador (grill room) into radical new territory. (Tables are much in demand: if nothing’s available try Leña, García’s second-string restaurant in the same building.)
Jockey was a favorite of the madrileño elite during the 1980s and everything about Saddle, its successful re-incarnation in the same venue, is currently riding high (not to mention the prices). Among representative dishes you might find smoked eel and ibérico ham velouté with palo cortado and Swiss chard stems; tartare of Mediterranean red prawn; and a refined modern take on tournedos Rossini. Service is finely honed and perfectly pitched. There are those in Madrid for whom Saddle is, right now, the city’s best restaurant bar none.
BEEN-THERE-FOR-EVER PLACES THAT ARE STILL GREAT
You’ll often hear locals complaining that so many new restaurants open in Madrid that it’s impossible to keep tabs on all of them. This is largely true, but there’s a high level of ‘churn’ and few of the newcomers are likely to stay the course. Which is why it makes sense to seek out the ones defined by the Spanish phrase de toda la vida (roughly ‘it’s been there for ever’). Amid a downtown zone busier than ever with visitors Lhardy, historic and charming, is known for its sole cooked with champagne, its exemplary steak tartare, and consommé served from a silver samovar and spiked with a dash of sherry. Something as basic and substantial as the huevos estrellados (eggs and potatoes, fried) at Casa Lucio still bring in the politicians and celebrities day in, day out. Two long-standing old-school joints which venerable age has turned into madrileño classics are Casa Salvador (est.1941) and Casa Ricardo (est.1935) – both recommendable for their atmospheric interiors, crammed with tiles and bullfight memorabilia, and for real-deal Spanish cooking along the lines of riñones al Jerez (kidneys in sherry), gallina en pepitoria (chicken in an almond and saffron sauce), and rabo de toro (bull’s tail).
A number of venerable establishments are to be found in the upscale Salamanca neighborhood – among them La Trainera (1966) with its maritime-themed interior and fish-forward, Basque-inflected menu. (Order the grilled turbot, often said to be the best in Madrid.) Well-to-do residents of toney Calle Monte Esquinza swear by La Parra, opened in 1983 by Tessa Walmsley Pérez de Guzmán and Ginés Sánchez Rubio and now run by their daughter Andrea. ‘The vine’ combines a discreetly exclusive vibe (the Obamas dropped in here recently) with a quirkily comfortable Anglo-Andalusian interior and, not least, a pleasingly un-fussy menu running to steak tartare, roast suckling pig, and black rice with prawns.
Of all Madrid’s well-loved survivors, though, none has a more loyal gourmet following than Sacha. At this ironically self-defined fogón y botillería (‘kitchen range and bottle-shop’), chef and host Sacha Hormaechea maintains the laidback atmosphere and idiosyncratic bistro menu adored by his upper-class fan-base. (On a summer night the little terraza out back is one of Madrid’s prettiest dining spots.)
OLD-STYLE TAPAS TAVERNS
The old-fashioned bars that have somehow clung to life in the heart of the city, often conserving their original interiors intact, are a particular pleasure of madrileño life. A relaxed crawl around three or four of these historic locales, with a drink and tapa in each, is a perfect plan for a sunny day in Madrid. In the downtown zone, three time-honored favorites are La Dolores (handy for the Prado, good for an iced vermouth and a gilda, the lip-smacking combo of olive, anchovy and pickled pepper); Casa Amadeo, where owner Amadeo Lázaro, now aged 96, is still dishing up plates of caracoles (snails) and other hardcore madrileño specialities, and El Boquerón, a marvelous old seafood bar in Lavapiés. Casa Labra and Revuelta, two classic bars in the Puerta del Sol/Calle Mayor area, both offer as their specialty tapa a chunk of juicy cod fried in crisp batter. Not to be missed is nearby La Venencia, an ancient, dark and musty taverna, more than a century old, where sherry is served from the barrel along with simple tapas of olives, cured manchego cheese and mojama (air-dried tuna). Meanwhile up in the Chamberí district, Calle Ponzano has won fame as a tapas hot-spot popular among a young and enthusiastic crowd, with traditional cervecerías El Doble and Fide once again packing them in. In all these old-school places the drink of choice is either wine, vermut, or (preferably) a caña of cold draught Mahou beer, expertly ‘pulled’ with a nice head of foam on top.
TEMPLES OF ‘PRODUCTO’
A particular sub-genre of Madrid restaurants puts the emphasis firmly on tip-top raw materials at their peak of market freshness – a tendency known as cocina de producto. A major example of ‘product cooking’ is the city’s galaxy of fine seafood restaurants and marisquerías, often originating in the maritime regions of northern Spain, such as Ribeira do Miño, El Pescador, Rafa and, most famously, O’ Pazo. (Fun fact: Madrid has the world’s second largest fish market after Tokyo, dealing in fish and shellfish from both the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea). There are few more recommendable venues in town for a grand seafood feast than El Señor Martín, which started out as a fishmongers and maintains a laudable policy of supporting sustainable fishing practices. Fresh from his success in Barcelona and Ibiza, Rafa Zafra is now doing the business with his shellfish temple Estimar, in Madrid.
Vegetarian diners can have a hard time in protein-loving Spain, so the Michelin-starred El Invernadero is somewhere to be cherished. At Rodrigo de la Calle’s much-admired restaurant the menu is composed entirely of vegetables, many of which come in daily from de la Calle’s own farm in Aranjuez.
La Tasquita de Enfrente, a tiny locale marooned on a tatty street behind the Gran Via, was initially run as a humble eating-house by the parents of current owner Juanjo López, whose insistence on top-notch raw materials has accorded it near-cult status in recent years. In early springtime, López’s sublimely simple dish of guisantes lágrima - the season’s first baby peas, cooked with a little ibérico papada (bacon), is a luxury greater than caviar.
REGIONAL CUISINES
Sitting as it does at the geographical centre of Spain, Madrid is a showcase for the foodways of the country’s 17 ‘autonomous communities’. The city was historically a major draw for migrants leaving rural areas to look for work, and some of these incomers opened simple eating houses offering food and drink from their home region. Nowadays, Spanish regional traditions are also represented at some of the city’s most interesting restaurants. So it’s possible to take a culinary tour of this kaleidoscopic diversity without ever leaving Madrid.
Stops on the tour might include:
Andalucía: Taberna La Giralda, Sanlúcar
Asturias: Casa Hortensia, La Máquina
Basque Country: Zerain, Jai Alai, Haramboure, Asador Donostiarra, Casa Julián de Tolosa, Bascoat
Canary Islands: Gofio
Cantabria: La Maruca, La Bien Aparecida
Castilla La Mancha: El Tormo
Galicia: Ribeira do Miño, Lúa, Montes de Galicia
Murcia: El Caldero
Navarra: La Manduca de Azagra
Valencia: Paella de la Reina
WINE-FORWARD RESTAURANTS AND BARS
As a global leader in wine production Spain offers the double advantage of dazzling variety and astonishing value for money. Madrid’s restaurants are a shop window for the country’s winemaking excellence and the low mark-up on wine lists makes a refreshing change from the US and UK. The wine bar as a genre, a recent arrival in Madrid, cuts across all social classes, from the downtown bohemia of La Fisna and Cruda (both strong on natural wines) to the smart uptown vibe at Vinoteca García de la Navarra (also NB the fine vegetable-based cooking here). For lovers of sherry, flamenco and the culture of southern Spain, Corral de la Morería is a unique one-stop shop: a flamenco show that’s also a Michelin-starred restaurant with a fabulous range of Jerez wines. The modest exterior of Asturianos gives no hint of the glories, both edible and in liquid form, to be found within. Brothers Alberto and Belarmino Fernández enthuse over their latest wine discoveries while their mother Julia, the cook, brings forth steaming bowls of perfect fabada asturiana and chorizo a la sidra.
MADRID DE MODA: WHAT’S HOT RIGHT NOW (BUT MIGHT NOT BE NEXT MONTH)
Compared to other aspects of Spanish life, in which fashion moves at a relatively slow pace, Madrid’s febrile restaurant scene turns over with great speed. Parts of the city, even particular streets, rise and fall in the fashion stakes but Ibiza, a small neighborhood to the north of the Retiro park, is holding on to its reputation for classy tapas and prestige ingredients (Arzábal, Laredo, Barrio Húmedo). The moneyed Salamanca district still has the greatest concentration of ritzy joints where the posh people go (Ten con Ten, Los 33, Barra Alta, Kabuki) But other areas are coming up on the inside. At this point in 2025, getting a reservations at the reinvented neighborhood bar La Capa, just across the Manzanares river in rough-and-ready Carabanchel, was one of the toughest assignments in town. In a refurbished riverside mansion a little further north along the Manzanares, the two young chefs at Osa are taking fine madrileño dining in a whole new direction, what with home-made charcuterie, an on-site smokery for game and fish, French techniques and a Japanese sensibility. Now with a Michelin star, this is definitely one to watch.
Meanwhile the trends continue to roll across the city like waves on a Mediterranean shore. The fancy hamburguesa (burger) is now so ubiquitous that Madrid will surely tire of it very soon. On the other hand, rare and expensive meats are a mainstay of some of the city’s fanciest new eateries (Lana, Piantao, Lecanda, Ceferino). Other trends we’re seeing in 2025 are nostalgic ‘grandmother cooking’ (Caja de Cerillas) and the exotic flavors of Georgia (Persimmon’s). Though Spanish-Asian fusion food has been around for two decades now, a recent uptick brings us Hotaru and Maison Macao.
Meanwhile Bakko, a sensational first foray into fine dining by food critic and influencer Alberto de Luna, combines haute Japanese cuisine with a high-flying wine list. The result is generally agreed to be Madrid’s biggest restaurant hit of the season. Until next season.
A British writer on travel, food and culture, Paul Richardson left London for Spain in 1989. He is a Contributing Editor on Conde Nast Traveller US/UK and works for the Financial Times, Telegraph, Daily Beast, Saveur magazine, and many other media. Paul’s published books include 'A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain' (Scribner), ‘Rustic Spanish’ (Williams-Sonoma) and most recently 'Hidden Valley, Finding Freedom in Spain’s Deep Country' (Abacus, UK). Together with his husband Nacho he produces his own organic olive oil, wine, ham, fruit and vegetables, on his off-grid farm in northern Extremadura.