The Best Places to Eat in Madrid

By some miracle we will soon be allowed to leave our homes more than for our government stipulated exercise, yet I think the chance of a summer getaway is likely to go a miss. Nevertheless, this time has been one to reminisce of recent holidays, in hope of curing the raging desire to travel. I think it was very lucky that we managed to travel to the Spanish capital of Madrid, not too long before the Coronavirus hit Europe. We may not have been bowled over with the weather, however we discovered some truly fabulous food. Even if I was a little concerned whether the tourist nature of the capital would stop us seeing Spanish cuisine in its true form, we were pleasantly surprised how Madrid has kept its traditional culinary roots in the city, with additional flairs of modern cuisine.

Mercado de San Miguel

All in all Spaniards have a completely different way of appreciating their food, stood up surrounding a sardine-packed bar with a glass of wine in one hand and pincho (a small bite, usually involving toast) in the other seems like the way to eat. The Mercado de San Miguel is the epitome of this. The indoor market is a central spot in Madrid that houses an array of tapas, pinchos, hams and even the famous Jordi Roca’s own ice cream parlour. Better still it is your best bet of eating before 8pm, as anytime prior to this the city is pretty much a ghost town on the food front. We walked the market for a few laps, before settling on bocadillo de calamares, or in English terms squid sandwiches. The slightly rich sandwich will have you reaching for a cold beer quicker than the tourists can take a picture, but there is no denying that the squid is the tenderest I have ever eaten. The very central Bar La Campana was tough competition for this, as there bar is famously recognised for serving these sandwiches. It seemed only right to try both.

San Gines

In keeping with tradition, it would seem only necessary to visit the famous Chocolateria San Gines, renowned for its extensively long list of celebrity customers and serving churros as far back as 1894. Doing our usual pre-trip research, I was surprised to find this place listed as a breakfast spot according to our trustworthy guide, TripAdvisor. Surely this was some sort of computer glitch, my partner and I confirmed, perhaps a little heavy for breakfast. It wasn’t until we tasted such hot, sugary coated churros and a saucer of thick chocolate sauce that we confirmed this was indeed a worthy breakfast.

Plenti cafe

Should you be not so tempted by eating chocolate for breakfast, Plenti, a small independent coffee place, close to the Prado and Reina Sofia museums, was an intermit and lovely breakfast spot. It was certainly well hidden, nonetheless it served, in my opinion, the best pan con tomate in all of Madrid. Along with this it raves an excellent range of baked eggs on their menu. This enjoyed with coffee and reading one of their many cookbooks propped up against the shelves on the wall, was a perfect way to begin a tranquil day of sightseeing.

Cafe Central

Whilst I endeavour to only tell you of food round the world, I think I may slightly cheat here, but all the same it seems like a worthy cause to do so. Should you be a fan of jazz, or even if you’re not, the atmosphere certainly makes it an alluring place to go, Cafe Central is must to visit for an evening show. It has an impressive upholding of hosting a jazz concert every night since 1978, although I think the coronavirus may have taken a blow to that the record unfortunately. The cocktail menu may be limited, but bound with all the classics. Their apple tart, appealing purely for its originality of being served in a mason jar, plus a cure for the boredom of any jazz haters forced to attend.

Inclan Brutal Bar

As always with my luck, we of course stumbled across the best place we ate on our last night in the city, even more typically just round the corner from our hotel. Claiming to just be a bar, I may have been slightly skeptical, but it was a take on tapas that no one could have seen coming. It was as if Heston Blumenthal had his own take on the classic Spanish tapas. Our expectations for the rest of the meal were set very high, after being presented with a goblet of pink rose sangria, even not a lover of rose wine had me chugging back the pink liquid glory. Perhaps a little too quickly all the same, so much so I began to question the cocktail shakers and book pages dangling from the bar’s ceiling. First was a huge platter of scallops sat on their very own shells, covered in a lime mayonnaise. As if that wasn’t good enough already, the extremely friendly waitress blazed them with a blow torch and embellished them with a touch of fresh lime zest. Those disappeared all too quickly, only another cocktail could masquerade my disappointment. This time served in a dragon’s egg glass, with dry ice smoke steaming from the saucer beneath it, coating the table in a fog, so much so that our fellow dinners across the long bar invoked a conversation with us and enquired as to what it was. If that hadn’t blown us away already, their tuna, with of course another winter’s worth of fog, was exquisitely tender, instead this time served in its own miniature figurine boat. We were disheartened when our last dish didn’t include said smoke, however, watching a ball of burrata being injected with two massive syringes, one dosed with a terrifyingly green basil sauce and the other vine ripened tomato sauce, balloon up to the point like it might burst, was certainly a way to end our dinner. Whilst we were convinced we were full enough, especially after eating a second round of table basket bread to mop up all the liquid the burrata had oozed out, when the waitress presented us with a crusted chocolate molten pudding with violet ice cream, we all of a sudden had room after all.