Eating Around Madrid Flourishing Food Scene

Forbes

5 days ago

The vast Mercado de San Miguel is one of several markets for eating at counters in Madrid.
There are about 14,000 restaurants in Madrid, and while you can find any kind of ethnic eatery, from sushi bar to a biergarten, the vast majority are Spanish and very traditional. As I've written in other articles, the city also has a cutting edge fine dining segment in restaurants––many with odd names, like DiverXo, DStage and Smoked Room––but I find it hard not indulge my appetite for the true classics Madrid offers in profusion, from Iberian hams and roast baby lamb to paella and suckling pig.
And despite being landlocked in the middle of Spain, there are many good seafood places that draw from the huge Mercamadrid market—second only to Tokyo's in size.
There is another market, Mercado de San Miguel (among others) that is an exhaustive education in small plates of food, including myriad tapas, with eighteen different sections and counters spotlighting charcuterie, baked goods, chicken, seafood and paella. It would take a week or more to eat your way through everything, which is always thronged, now with more tourists than ever.A small din ing room is on the other side of a bodega tapas bar at La Catapa.
A new discovery for me (though it's no news to the city's gourmands) out in the Retiro neighborhood is LA CATAPA (Calle de Menorca 14), on one side a very popular bodega tapas bar and to the left a small, eight-table restaurant with tile floors, burgundy banquettes and white stucco walls. Chef-owner Miguel Angel Jimenez is well worth consulting for the night's specials and a wine from the impressively deep good list.
Begin perhaps with the cured tuna belly and don't miss the 'famosa' egg tortilla with potatoes. There's oxtail with its marrow, and a plate of rice and mushrooms. At least eight seafood dishes are on the menu, including mussels in a red curry broth, and navajas (razor clams) grilled a la plancha. The beef is very good here, available as steak tartare 'La Catapa.'
Raw tuna is a fine appetizers at La Catapa. MARISQUERIA RAFA (Calle de Narváez 68) was opened in 1958 by brothers Rafael and Rodrigo Andrés, first as a small bar, and today, it is a large establishment managed by their sons Rafael and Miguel. You should begin with some white anchovies in olive oil or fried crunchy Andalusian calamari with tomato. Then have the wild rodaballo(turbot) seared on the plancha grill or the bogavante lobster. Finish with bizcocho borracho, a dessert of 'drunken biscuit,' soaked in rum. Also nice to know is that Rafa is open Sunday nights.
Marisqueria Rafa is known for its excellent seafood and is one of few restaurants open o n Sunday ... More for dinner.Tapas bars are rife throughout Madrid and to choose one over the other merely means you are walking through one neighborhood or another. CERVECERIA SANTA ANA, set on the Plaza de Santa Ana, was once a convent to Carmelite nuns, and has been a cerverceria since 1985. Its tapas selection is broad and varies, but I also like that there is a good menu of heartier plates of food, like the tripe stew. For more squeamish tastes there's a platter of sweet green peppers cooked in olive oil and baked ham cut thick and covered with boiled potatoes. For dessert the pastelito of torrone meringue and hazelnuts is light a delicious. The place stays open till 1:30 AM. (By the way, Santa Ana is two doors down from the tourist-flocked Cerveceria Alemana made famous by Ernest Hemingway and his matador friends.)
At Cerverceria Santa Ana there is very good tapas in addition to heartier Spanish fare.
One of the great pleasures of outdoor dining in Madrid––provided it's under an umbrella in the scorching summer heat––is to sit at one of the restaurants than ring the gorgeous Plaza Major. They are all large, have much the same menu and I wouldn't be surprised if the same owner ran several of them. You do have to ignore the hawkers outside, nut once you sit down, whether it's for a glass of sangria or a full meal, you'll be satisfied throughout the afternoon or evening––especially if there's a moon rising. I went alone and enjoyed watching the throngs in the Plaza from CERVECERIA TINEO, beginning with a cold beer and a plate of grilled langoustines and following with a paella a la Valenciana. The bill came to 45 euros.
Paella is available for a single diner at Cerverceria Tineo on the Plaza Major.
I mentioned that you can get any kind of food in Madrid, and, having gone six days without any pasta, found a delightful Italian place named TOSCANA, just off the Gran Via in the theater district. It was a handsome, two-level spot with very friendly staff where my friend and I enjoyed cannelloni with two sauces and a very welcome, multi-layered lasagna. They also offer more than two dozen pizzas and a good Italian wine list.