When it comes to answering the question of where to find the best food in Madrid, one could spend a lifetime chasing the answer.
What I can offer instead is my own Madrid food guide—a collection of restaurants and food experiences that made my first trip to Spain, and my first trip to Europe as an adult, unforgettable.
Kind of crazy to say those words out loud, but better late than never.
This was a family vacation, so our choices reflected that. But one thing quickly became clear: Spain is a place where one can eat high and low and find both experiences equally rewarding. Some of my favorite bites came from formal restaurants, others from humble cafés and bars where lunch cost little more than a couple of coffees back home.
The Vitals:
the spot: La MaMá, near Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
the eats: Tomato salad, Grilled Squid, Shrimp with rice, croquettas, the whole menu
the bucks: €20-€40
the full nelson: Michelin Bib Gourmand winner that could pass for a Michelin 1 star restaurant
Tourist Bonus: Walking distance to Real Madrid’s legendary stadium
Our most formal meal in Madrid came at La MaMá, a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand restaurant located near Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Honestly, if someone told me this place had earned a Michelin star, I wouldn’t have argued.
Spain makes lunch the main event, and by our second day I had fully embraced the concept. Perhaps a little too enthusiastically, because we ordered enough food to feed a small army.
Yet the dish I still think about wasn’t some elaborate tasting menu creation.
It was a tomato salad topped with smoked herring.
A tomato salad.
The tomatoes in Spain are simply remarkable. The dish ended up being one of the highlights of the entire trip and a reminder that extraordinary ingredients often require very little embellishment.
Thank God my wife isn’t afflicted with the same food obsession that plagues me because I nearly lost my mind over the thing.
The staff spoke English, graciously accommodated my son’s peanut and tree nut allergies, and humored my embarrassingly poor attempts at speaking Spanish.
Bajo Cero HeladeríaThe Vitals:
the spot: Bajo Cero Heladería, near the Royal Palace
the eats: Gelato, cappuccino, croissants filled with Jamón
the bucks: €10-€15
the full nelson: Get the damn gelato
Tourist Bonus: Perfect stop before or after visiting the Royal Palace
Twenty-five years ago, when friends returned from Europe raving about gelato, I promised myself I too would someday experience the magic.
Of course, America has since experienced its own ice cream revolution and quality gelato no longer carries quite the same mystique it once did.
Still, Spain sits next door to Italy and shares plenty of culinary DNA.
Which means one thing:
Get the damn gelato.
Bajo Cero proved to be the perfect stop before one of those tourist attractions everyone does because, frankly, everyone should.
While my son indulged in gelato, I enjoyed a cappuccino and a croissant stuffed with Spanish jamón.
Let’s just say I consumed an irresponsible amount of jamón during this trip and regret absolutely nothing.
Affordable and with multiple locations throughout Madrid, Bajo Cero quickly became one of those places we recommended to anyone who asked.
The Vitals:
the spot: La Venencia
the eats: Sherry and Pinchos
the bucks: €10-€15
the full nelson: Hemingway vibes and the art of sip and nosh
Tourist Bonus: Old Madrid atmosphere that feels frozen in time
La Venencia is first and foremost a sherry bar, and according to legend, one of Ernest Hemingway’s favorite haunts. Then again, if you spend enough time researching Madrid, you’ll discover Hemingway apparently drank everywhere.
The sherry is the attraction here. In America, sherry is often relegated to dessert wine status. In Spain, it feels much more like a cocktail, one that pairs beautifully with pinchos and small bites.
The place gets crowded and the service is brisk. Photos aren’t allowed, which somehow only adds to the old-world atmosphere. I managed to sneak a few on my phone, though perhaps Hemingway himself would approve of keeping some things mysterious.
What I loved most was the rhythm of the place. A sip of fortified wine. A little bite. Another sip. Another bite.
No giant meal.
No fuss.
Just the simple pleasure of eating and drinking, which the Spanish seem to pursue with both constancy and consistency.
Honestly, that felt like Spain in miniature.
Café HortensiaThe Vitals:
the spot: Cafe Hortensia
the eats: Fabada, Asturian cider, hearty northern Spanish cooking
the bucks: €20-€30
the full nelson: some of the heartiest cooking of Northern Spain in the middle of Madrid
Tourist Bonus: One of the best places in Madrid to explore Asturian cuisine
Café Hortensia was high on my list because I wanted to experience the food of Asturias, the region in northern Spain known for hearty cooking and famously hard cider.
The signature dish is fabada, a rich bean stew loaded with cured pork and blood sausage—the kind of meal built to sustain one through a cold winter.
Naturally, I ordered it on a ninety-degree afternoon.
The restaurant was offering a €22 two-course lunch, which felt like one of the better values we encountered during our time in Madrid.
Alongside the famous fabada, I enjoyed a fish dish cloaked in a sauce so rich it bordered on decadent.
The Asturian cider provided a welcome lift and tasted nothing like the sweet concoctions college students consume back home. We even finished lunch with an herbal liqueur, because by that point I had fully embraced the Spanish way of life.
Or at least my approximation of it.
Madrid reminded me of Tokyo—not because the cities are similar, but because both places take food seriously at both ends of the spectrum.
Of course one can find plenty of fine dining, but greatness can be found in the €10-20 range. And once you move into the €20-30 category, the quality becomes truly extraordinary, especially with tried and true regional Spanish fare.
Still, there were two noteworthy standouts:
The Tomato salad from La MaMA was the right-hand knockout blow I didn’t see coming. My eyes are always drawn to rich, fatty meat dishes because I am, above all else, a savory eater. But this salad was every bit as savory as the Fabada at Cafe Hortensia, but better suited for the warm weather we experienced in Madrid. The Fabada is the dish I will attempt to create at home though . . stay tuned for that.
As I write this back in Austin, Texas while waiting for my son’s late-night volleyball practice to end, I can’t help but laugh.
There’s a decent chance dinner tonight will come from a fast-food drive-thru.
Such is life.
But for one glorious week, life tasted like sweet and tart tomato salads, thirst quenching Asturian cider, savory jamón, and sherry.
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