“Everything on this menu looks so deliciously appealing! I can’t decide!”, is what my Madrid native BBF exclaimed, perusing the menu when visiting this contemporary casa de comidas yesterday for the first time.
And our excellent waiter responded with “it’s a very hard decision because every dish is like a visit to your beloved grandmother’s kitchen”.
One finds this non fussy bistrot, recently celebrating its fifth anniversary, continually filled with happy diners.
The multiple plaques displayed on the exterior also reflect its popularity and its stamp of approval by the major gastronomic guides—Macarfi, Michelin, Repsol, Time Out, Tapas, Metrópoli, TA Traveller´s Choice, etc.
Once instead, you´ll fine a purposefully paired down look in its long, narrow interior of bare wood tables, soft lighting, unadorned walls, painted clay dishware, natural colors. The emphasis here is on the cuisine, dishes that every Spaniard loves, rather than the décor.
Some of Spain’s traditional dishes that we’ve enjoyed here:
award winning Iberian ham croquettes, gildas, Iberian pork skewers, patatas a la importancia, torreznos on a bed of patatas meneás, traditionally from Salamanca, ensaladilla rusa with blue fin tuna, fried Padrón and Piquillo peppers, morels with Robuchon potatoes, meatballs, duck rice, stewed lentils with wild boar & pochas with clams….
The chef, Pedro Gallego, excels at guisos (stews) and serves excellent breads to soak up his rich sauces.
For dessert we love his version of the torrija (caramelized French toast, accompanied by apple jam and biscuit ice cream. And his flan, one of the city’s best and his cheesecake. And for children, pan con chocolate.
We accompanied our shared items with a Versos 2023 godello from El Bierzo.
The entire menu is a hymn to one’s memory, flavors of yesteryear given a modern touch.
Casa Mortero is located just a 5-minute walk from the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, so it makes a handy lunch destination after a visit to the museum, but reservations are essential!, as its also popular with parliament members (it sits behind Las Cortes).
It’s so popular that now on weekends the restaurant has instituted a two seatings arrangement.
Closed Sunday/Monday
the amuse bouche–cream of morels
gildas
Iberian pork croquettes
my husband’s favorite—meatballs with fried Padrón peppers
duck rice with baby asparagus and lucious Torta del Casar cheese from Extremadura
pickled (en escabeche) mussels and grilled artichokes
patatas a la importancia topped with a fried egg
caramelized French toast (torrija, the traditional Lenten dessert with biscuit ice cream
