Together with our wanderlust, one of the desires that has always pushed us to travel is the curiosity for new cuisines, you know that already… so, if you’re just like us, here is our personal culinary guide if you visit Madrid!
First of all, let’s start with one of the most beautiful verbs in the world, in our opinion: TAPEAR. It is not only “eating tapas in bars”, it is more than that: it’s the soul of Spanish people; it’s their conviviality, their wish to enjoy company in front of a glass of wine and good food. Walking in Madrid during tapear time was a true pleasure for two gastronauts like us! Jam-packed bars, people chatting and eating… a real dream!
Here are the places and the dishes we tasted in town!
Garlic shrimps, still sizzling, are waiting for you together with a glass of wine in this super characteristic bar! Specialized in gambas (shrimps), we also tasted shrimp croquetas (delicious!) and a crouton with Cantabrico anchovy and tomato… YUM!
Jamòn, jamòn and jamòn again… bellota, of course! We ordered a croissant with jamòn and two croutons with traditional Morcilla (typical dish with blood and rice) and aioli sauce! Heaven!
The name of this place speaks for itself: this is the realm of octopus, to be eaten in many different ways, one tastier than the other!
4. La Gastro croqueterìa de Chema
The right place to taste one of Spain’s best-known specialties: las croquetas! Indulge in a long tasting, there are so many to try! Do NOT miss chorizo and shrimp croquetas, NOR forget to try dessert croquetas (we had tiramisù and lemon)!
The reign of tapas par excellence! This food market is a gastronomic paradise: fish, cheese, jamòn, dessert… a huge choice!
[Little extra: we also tried percebes, weird-looking crustacean from Galizia: very particular taste and very expensive too (€22 for 100gr)]
This market is marvelous: two floors, a wide food choice (we suggest visiting on Sunday). We tasted some fish tapas, then some fabulous tartlets at Mamà Framboise: we had a caramel and a mango/passion fruit one… sooooooooo good!
This place has been making hot chocolate and churros since 1894… is it enough to convince you to go there?
8. Vicens
Artisan nougats, with incredible flavours and other delicacies will make you drool: to visit absolutely!
Right in front of San Miguel market, this is the place where you can taste the very best of fish and clam gourmet tins and cans!
10. Botin
Since you’re in Madrid, why not eat in the oldest restaurant in the world? We did it… you can find our experience HERE!
11. Que si quieres arroz Catalina
This restaurant was on our bucket list before leaving home! Chef Rafa Morales started cooking with Ferran Adrià and that really intrigued us. We tasted a “Señorito madrileño”, an arroz with octopus and shrimps (the paella pan you see in the photo was for two people!); the starters were fabulous (jamòn croquetas were memorable!), their aioli sauce simply delicious! The desserts were really good too.
The restaurant is not downtown, you have to take the subway, but we really recommend going, it’s worth the “trip”!
On the top floor of El Corte Ingles, along the Gran Vìa, there’s a huge gourmet food market, where you can buy anything you can think of and eat tapas in the small bars. Very crowded during Spanish tapa hours of the day, it’s a place to visit even if you don’t go crazy for food: the view of the city at sunset is breathtaking!
13. El Envernadero
Imagine the most beautiful greenhouse your mind can create. Now erase that image and visit El Envernadero, which will outclass your imagination! A warren of rooms and beautiful corners, full of plants and flowers; vintage and peculiar furnishings, this place seems to have jumped out of a Lewis Carroll’s book! And cocktails are as extravagant as the setting: we drank from a mini bathtub (with a rubber duck in it!) and a bird cage! This magical place is located inside Salvador Bachiller store.
One of the most authentic markets we visited. It looks like the market where you buy food more than eat tapas. It really deserves a visit!
15. Origen
After all this food, some fruit is what you need! At Origen you can find a great choice of juices! We tasted two exotic fruits, Chirimoya e Guanabana.
Have you ever been in Madrid? What did you taste? Leave us a comment and share your experience!
©Where the Foodies Go
Some great tips, thanks 🙂
Small spelling mistake in your title for Chocolateria San Gines (not Ines)
Did you know Goya used to be a waiter at Botin?
We’ve just corrected the mistake, thank you so much! 🙂 Yes, we did! Isn’t that amazing?
So glad you visited Botín! Looks so cool! And I’m heading to Madrid (again) tomorrow so will be checking out some of those markets you’ve mentioned 🙂
So glad we could help! 🙂 Yes, you’ll love it! 😉 Enjoy your stay! Alessia
I’ve visited Southern Spain, Algecieras, Ronda, Jerez, but haven’t made it to Madrid or Barcelona yet. These were 15 extremely inspiring reasons to visit. Well, maybe not the octopus
Didn’t you simply love it? We visited Eastern and Southern Spain too, we had a blast! We’ll be talking about it next. Thanks for sharing and for stopping by! Alessia
Very good selection, of my Madrid , it is Chocolateria San Ginés go there since childhood and back again next month ::) Cheers
That’s the greatest compliment for us, thank you so much! 🙂 Alessia
De nada, thanks for Madrid!