Travel around Spain

I t’s no coincidence that one of Madrid’s most historic cafés is called Gijón. Its founder, Gumersindo Gómez, was from Asturias and wanted to honour his homeland by naming his café after a city he must have sorely missed. There’s a similar story behind El Palentino, an uber-famous bar associated with the La Movida movement, which for years livened up virtually any time of the day in the Malasaña neighbourhood. It was named after Palencia, where its first owners were born. Many people still remember its famous steak sandwiches.

Madrid, as a plaque in Puerta del Sol attests, is the site of Kilometre Zero, the point of origin of all of Spain’s ring roads, and the city has always welcomed people arriving from all kinds of places. That’s why it’s so easy to find restaurants whose culinary traditions stretch beyond the local horizon. From north to south, from east to west and from island to island, this trip is bursting with flavour. And there’s no need for your GPS: it’s all much closer than it might seem.

Published in esMADRIDmagazine in March 2023

ST. JAMES

Juan Bravo, 26. NÚÑEZ DE BALBOA. Tel. 91 575 60 10

Mediterranean cuisine par excellence. This restaurant in Barrio de Salamanca has an inviting atmosphere with a coastal feel, and has been serving what many consider Madrid’s best rice dishes for over 50 years. On the menu, you’ll find Valencian paella, but also all sorts—over 30—of other varieties, such as arroz del senyoret, with cuttlefish, mussels, pork loin, chicken, vegetables and prawns; black rice, made with squid ink; meloso (“brothy”) rice, with monkfish and clams; and the house speciality, arroz a banda, with Norway lobster, scarlet prawns and regular prawns. Or perhaps you’d prefer the blue lobster fideuá (similar to paella but made with noodles).

The heart of Valencia can also be found in its other two branches, located on Calle de Rosario Pino (No. 14) and inside the gourmet mecca that is the Galería Canalejas Food Hall (No. 12 Calle de Alcalá), a sophisticated space with a large bar that serves fantastic drinks.

LÚA

Paseo de Eduardo Dato, 5. RUBÉN DARÍO. Tel. 91 395 28 53

Lúa, which means “moon” in Galician, boasts a Michelin star which attests to the skilful work of Manuel Domínguez, who has lived in our city for over 15 years. The menu has something for all tastes, with traditional Galician dishes like pulpo à feira (octopus topped with olive oil, paprika and salt), fun optical illusions like the bravas, made with battered prawns rather than fried potatoes, seafood salad and classic stewed dishes like tripe with chickpeas or verdina beans and scarlet prawns.

The restaurant has 150 different wines, including its own vintage, A Tiro Fijo, which includes a Ribeiro white and red made from grape varieties indigenous to the region by Orensebased winery Coto de Gomariz. It has a spacious dining room with large windows and a charming al fresco area for those who prefer to enjoy their authentic Galician tapas outside.

SURTOPÍA

Núñez de Balboa, 106. NÚÑEZ DE BALBOA. Tel. 91 563 03 64

José Calleja, who was born in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz) but has lived in our city for over 15 years, brings us the culinary essence of the land of manzanilla. His menu is one hundred percent Andalusian, with offerings like shrimp pancakes, baby cuttlefish, coastal squid and dogfish, as well as heartier dishes like tripe stewed with chickpeas, chorizo, blood pudding and mint.

At this fantastic restaurant, the fish and seafood come directly from fish markets in Cádiz and Almería, the beef and Iberian pork from the meadows of Huelva and Córdoba, the cheese from the Grazalema mountains, the oil and olives from Seville and Jaén, and the wine from Málaga. For those with a sweet tooth looking for dessert, there’s a tempting option made with piononos, little roll cakes typical of Granada. Utterly scrumptious!

LA GUISANDERA DE PIÑERA

Rosario Pino, 12. CUZCO. Tel. 91 425 14 25

In Asturias, guisanderas (literally, “women who stew food”) are more than cooks: they are the custodians of age-old recipes. This restaurant pays tribute to all of the mothers and grandmothers who have spent many years over the stove using traditional methods to cook simple, tasty dishes whose recipes they have passed down from generation to generation.

Enthusiasm paired with raw emotions translates into a menu in which, in addition to cheeses and anchovies from the northern province, we can find iconic dishes like fabada (meat and bean stew), Lastres-style fish and seafood stew, Cantabrian monkfish with prawns, and free-range chicken with new potatoes. Dessert options include Asturian classics like rice pudding and other offerings that seek to surprise without abandoning their traditional culinary roots, such as apple sorbet with a hint of cider.

CAN BONET

Avda. Menéndez Pelayo, 15. IBIZA. Tel. 91 046 44 08

Tradition, ingredients and love. That’s the threepronged approach that underpins everything at this restaurant next to El Retiro Park, which specialises in Catalan cuisine. It may not be on the sea, but natural light is the key element in a space that makes us feel like we’re on the Med - iterranean coast.

The menu only enhances this: L’Escala anchovies, artisan butifarra sausage and esqueixada—a cod salad—share the spotlight with authentic Catalan dishes like caracoles a la gormanta (flambéed, herbed snails) with aioli, and romesco sauce with calçots (grilled longstalk onions), when they’re in season.

JAI ALAI

Balbina Valverde, 2. NUEVOS MINISTERIOS. Tel. 91 561 27 42

It was in 1922 that some members of the Bustin - gorri family of pelota players and hoteliers from Markina-Xemein, in Biscay, decided to open this restaurant that serves classic Basque cuisine. They had no idea it would survive to see its 100th anniversary.

At the time, the establishment was located on the ground level of the pelota court with the same name on Calle de Alfonso XI. And just like today, three generations on, back then its hake in green sauce, cod, white beans, St. George’s mushrooms and rib steaks delighted one and all. Its story includes an anecdote: it was here that the first txipirones en su tinta (baby squid in ink sauce) were served in Madrid.

GOFIO

Lope de Vega, 9. ANTÓN MARTÍN

Safe Cruz and Aida González have given Canary Island cuisine a very special place in the city. Since they opened their restaurant in 2015, myriad diners have discovered what guinea fowl ropa vieja and cod sancocho in red mojo-flavoured pilpil sauce taste like. Customers can enjoy the gastronomic offering in the form of three different tasting menus: Gofio, Canariedad Máxima and Canariedad Máxima Plus.

LA HUERTA DE TUDELA

Prado, 15. BANCO DE ESPAÑA / ESTACIÓN DEL ARTE. Tel. 91 420 44 18

“Our work is based on the love of a job well done”, says Ricardo Gil, who, by studying and respecting their essence, has succeeded in drawing all of the flavour out of vegetables from Tudela’s riverbank area to bring the best of Navarre’s cuisine to Madrid. The menu features traditional dishes like “crystal” red peppers roasted over a wood fire, sautéed vegetables and pochas (fresh white beans) in cod stew.

SANTERRA

General Pardiñas, 56. LISTA. Tel. 91 401 35 80

Miguel Carretero honours his Castilla-La Mancha roots at this iconic restaurant in Madrid. The El Monte Bajo tasting menu pays homage to the land and the food that it produces, reinterpreting traditional dishes with offerings like “Manolo’s garlic ash soup” and roast roe deer. His pickled dishes are out of this world.

SA BRISA

Avda. Menéndez Pelayo, 15. IBIZA. Tel. 91 022 45 40

One of the set menus at this restaurant that serves Balearic food has a name we couldn’t love more: “Viva la Posidonia” (Long Live Neptune Grass). The tempting offerings begin with a bite of ensalada payesa (“country salad”) with dried fish from Formentera, and continue with dishes like cold red prawn cannelloni and amberjack ceviche. For dessert, there’s flaó, a goat cheese and mint cake served with homemade ice cream flavoured with a liqueur made from Ibizan herbs.