Restaurants
The best places in the city to sample cuisine from the most traditional kitchens to the most avant-garde
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Recommended restaurants
Juanita Cruz
Juanita Cruz restaurant is located a few steps from the Alberto Alcocer, Madrid Avenue. This is an excellent restaurant serving international cuisine, the same group as other renowned restaurant Pipa & Co and Marieta. The gastronomic restaurant Juanita Cruz is fresh and innovative, is based on various cooked delicious cooked all with excellent raw materials from the best markets. In the restaurant's menu you will find tapas, Japanese specialties, delicious pizzas and other main dishes like ravioli with spinach and Galician octopus.
Tándem
In the space of the now-defunct Motha, where you went to feel a bit happier (and which a few still miss), the little brother of TriCiclo now stands tall as one of the most successful restaurant openings of 2014 in Madrid. The new space shares a few winks and nudges with TriCiclo, such as its name – in tandem with the mothership and its location on the same street, just 100 metres away. In some cases the relationship is obvious. At first there was 'our Ferran's cannelloni' on the menu, and the same steak tartare. But now they've grown their own wings, they've got new goals, and Tándem is more casual, has a less orthodox timetable, and features a lighter menu. Although there is a bit of a trendy air about the place and it's managed to become a meeting point for a very mixed clientele whose ages range between 30 and 50, we could debate some interior décor decisions (as well as the comfort of the chairs and tables). But that's not much (after all, it's not intended to be a spot for lingering meals), which shows that the emphasis this time around is on the food, which does still have a bit of maturing to do (details such as the wine, which arrived far from its ideal serving temperature), but which opens up the already promising field of work for its three chef-proprietors. And now for the main attraction: the food. The seasoned oyster is a starter that sets the tone for the meal to come. First off, you get to choose between a touch of Thai or Peruvian for the seasoning. They're ou
Álbora
Haute cuisine through the creative talent of David García, a Basque chef with experience in the kitchens of Spain’s most important restaurants. An experienced team in front of house and top-quality ingredients (from 'presa ibérica de Joselito' to wild sea bass) make this restaurant a solid, growing concern. It’s popular with critics and already has one Repsol sun.
Mercato Ballaró
Two floors. Different menus. The lower floor (with a bar and a few tables) is more informal, with fast service and small dishes made for sharing. Prices are higher in the restaurant upstairs but the cuisine is also more elevated, featuring more intricate dishes with more select ingredients that take you on a journey to Sicily.
Top Madrid restaurants
DiverXO
David Muñoz’s restaurant needs no introduction. In only five years, this chef went from being a complete unknown to winning the Spanish National Prize for Gastronomy and being awarded three Michelin stars for his restaurant DiverXO, where he has gone for an elaborate type of cuisine, mixing the flavours, textures and techniques of haute cuisine. Surprises in the dishes are guaranteed. It can be difficult to book a table here, but it’s worth the effort.
Santceloni
Oscar Velasco’s Santceloni has grown steadily, marked by the sure touch, drive for excellence and personality of a great chef, bringing creativity to tradition and putting the product before artifice. The cheeseboard alone, presented by maitre d' Abel Valverde, is already envied by establishments of a similar category. The cuisine here has received the seal of approval given by two Michelin stars.
DSTAgE
If Diego Guerrero's name is attached to a project, it's a sure hit. Trained in the kitchens of Martín Berasategui, Guerrero earned two Michelin stars for his work at El Club Allard. In 2014 he took a chance and opened his own restaurant, and it took just a couple of years to be awarded two Michelin stars for DSTAgE as well. Chueca is the neighbourhood where he decided to set down new roots with an industrial aesthetic, including exposed-brick walls, metallic pipes, and a kitchen at the back that diners have a view into.
Kabuki Wellington
The temple where executive chef Ricardo Sanz creates his art (worthy of a Michelin star) has become a reason for pilgrimage all fans of Japanese cuisine must make sooner or later, though it's often a destination for top executives as well, located as it is inside a luxury hotel. Phenomenal classic dishes are interwoven on the menu with Sanz's original and dazzling creations.
Punto MX
Mexican cuisine that blends tradition and innovation; at Punto MX they reinterpret classic Mexican recipes, giving a modern touch to their dishes without renouncing a shred of flavour. They also prepare their own nixtamal dough. The restrained and elegant decor of this restaurant sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill Mexican establishments.
La Terraza del Casino
The very staid environs of this gentlemen's club dining room (wear a tie) provide the unlikely setting for a restaurant inspired and originally overseen by iconic chef Ferran Adrià and now run by one of his most illustrious disciples, Paco Roncero. It can boast of three Repsol suns and two Michelin stars. What more can we say?
