Super report!
I don’t remember having any great food in Granada but I was last there about 10 years ago…
Look, next time you need to go to the Costa de la Luz for some mighty fine eating!!! You are right around the corner…no excuses!
One of these days I’ll get around to summing up my food adventures in Cordoba and Madrid from last month…
We got back into Madrid about 10:45, and had to leave for the airport (on the Metro) around 19:00. We went back to the Prado with opera glasses specifically to look at fine details in Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (the glasses came in handy at the modernist Palacio Longoria later). We went back to the Mercado Antón Martín for our cans of olives. And…
I had mentioned that we could not get reservations at any of the La Castela restaurants, but the one that really hurt was La Lloreria, a small place in Malasaña (eight or ten bar seats, four or five four-tops). After going to bed sad, I woke up realizing that I could try for this last day, and indeed there was availability at 2pm. (Two parties showed up while we were there and were turned away.)
The overwhelming impression of this place is of youthful energy contained and channelled to great effect. I don’t think there’s a fault I can point out. Either they will move to a larger place, or as with the audience at certain legendary concerts, they will each go off and start their own great place. “How often would you eat here, if we lived here?” my partner asked, and I said at least once a month, maybe twice if the menu changed, as from the erasures on the chalkboard it seemed to. (I could not live in Madrid due to the summer heat. San Francisco is my ideal summer, and I speak from experience.)
Sorry for the white dreads in this photo; at least I blocked out one of the two.
This photo has three of the four people working; the fourth was a guy with a larger circumference. We interacted mostly with the woman bending over, the larger guy, and the bearded guy (all perfectly fluent in English, especially the first woman, who we talked to the most). You can see them composing the plates; there are two smaller induction burners below the counter where they are working, and a larger induction stove behind them. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think any cooking is going on in the back room; I only saw larger containers and clean dishes coming out. If we had been seated closer to the left end of the bar, it could almost have been a masterclass.
The posted menu is in a minimalist style I’ve seen before (and honestly, if I were running such a place, which I would never do, I might opt for this) but we were offered two choices: either we order off the menu, in which case they would go through all the choices in detail, or we could put ourselves in their hands, in which case they would ask us some questions and then decide on what to give us (and explain just those in detail) until we decided we’d had enough. We, of course, went for the second choice, and I took notes on my phone. There was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and get details.
They went to the top of the agua del grifo ranking when we asked for it and were told, “That’s all we serve. The tap water in Madrid is so good!” Which is accurate, Granada too, due to the mountains. They do have bottled sparkling water, though. We got glasses, and a carafe, which was refilled without our asking.
A sous-vide egg yolk (70C for 45 minutes, I asked) intended as faux beurre for the bread, our amuse-bouche while we decided on dishes.
The menu says they have fifty wines but ask the team. I let them choose. Here is the first one, from Ribeiro, a mix of four grapes, primarily Godello.
Starter: oysters with emulsion of chicken wings, carrots, and sherry vinegar, with pickled jalapeños and Kampot peppercorns from Cambodia (I have a prized small container of these brought back from Cambodia in person, and they are my finishing pepper at the table).
First dish (all of these were media racións shared between us): cherry tomatoes peeled and cured in sugar and salt, dressed with white miso and toasted butter sauce, pickled mustard greens, and watercress. Shown as presented, and mixed up by us before serving.
Second dish: beef tongue stewed with chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, I asked), mussels in escabeche, raw snow peas, garlic and lime. The texture was really soft; I would not have guessed it was tongue (which I like).
Second wine, from Ribeira Sacra, primarily Doña Blanca, more mineral.
Third dish: cauliflower, bacon, raisins, French Vadouvan curry, puntillas (very small squids)
Fourth dish: tuna belly (ventresca de atún), roasted artichokes, tamarind sauce, samphire.
At this point we were asked if we were ready to move on to dessert. I was tempted to keep going for, I don’t know, a couple of days, but my partner wisely said, “We’re ready for dessert.”
Water pear cooked in sherry vinegar, toasted corn, coconut creme fraiche, fennel, lime zest.
This feast cost us slightly over 80€. So was this our best meal in Madrid? I feel Barmitón was not given a fair chance to compete. The two restaurants are really incomparable, and linear rankings are usually silly, but if I had to shuffle our meals into tiers, it would look like this:
La Lloreria, Barmitón
La Monteria, La Lopez, Sincio
La Canibal, Casa Dani, Tatema, Salino
Terzio
This opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.
We will return to Madrid, for sure. Mostly to eat, though we will hit the big museums again, and some smaller ones that we missed. And we will explore more neighbourhoods. And take day trips to Toledo and Segovia.
Thanks again to @Maribel, @erica1, and all the others whose posts here helped inform us. It was a really great trip.
Here is my excuse: there is no high-speed train from Lisbon to Cádiz or Sevilla or even Madrid or Vigo. When we went to Sevilla in October (partner had a conference), we took a regular train to Faro and a bus from there. It was a whole day of travel. Even taking the bus all the way, it is seven hours to Sevilla, longer to Cádiz. I looked into taking a day trip (by myself, partner could not spare a whole day) to Cádiz and/or Jerez de la Frontera but opted for Córdoba instead. We fully intend to visit the area (next winter, probably) but it is not as easy as it should be.
It’s already on the top 5 of my list, thanks for pushing it higher 
I love sitting at the bar and watching the action unfold. I take it reservations are an absolute must?
Yes, but their online system seems to work, which is not always the case. Ask for a bar seat on the left side!
Excellent, thanks! 
Thank you! I’ll see if I can find it on the shelf. Their house brand broth tetrapaks are still listed but I haven’t been able to find them lately (even in the stores I checked in Spain).
@plragde
About the agua del grifo issue (which by law they must serve you in Madrid now), next time try asking for a “jarra de agua del grifo” to see if you have any more luck!
I like both Sincio and LaLópez, but LaLópez gets the edge for me simply because of Maialen’s lovely hospitality and for others, for her excellent command of English, and for dessert, Sergio’s tiramisu prepared tableside.
Our friends, Raúl and Laura of Alboroque in Haro are very good friends of Jorge’s of Sincio.
Both are noteworthy dining destinations, even though they appear to be simply market holes-in-the-wall.
Another highly popular gastronomic destination in the Vallehermoso market: TRIPEA, seating only 20 at a long communal high table with stools, and now serving a tasting menu only, consisting of 8 courses and priced at 50 euros.
Chef Roberto Martinez pulls in in the food obsessed with his Southeast Asian-Peruvian cuisine, and reservations are hard to come by. They open the reservation system on the first day of the month and in minutes they’re filled.
Open only Tues-Sat. And serve 2 seatings, lunch at 2:30 and dinner at 9:30. One must be punctual because all 20 diners are served at the same time.
At the Mercado de Vallehermoso there are also other less “famous” contenders that we’ve also enjoyed: Kitchen 154 (with low tables), Batch (natural wines) and Miga Cana.
@plragde
I’m a little confused about La Llorería in Chueca.
I’ve never had tortilla or skate there, didn’t even know they served it. I’ve always done the dishes on the chalkboard menu (each consisting of 3 ingredients) and just told José when to stop when I was full.
These are the dishes:
https://lalloreriarestaurante.com/carta/
Maybe your photos are of someplace else?
“Tinta de chocos” is widely available in supermarkets, or fish shops if you ask. No need to go specially to El Corte Inglês :o)
@erica,
My explanation of the markets:
La Paz and Chamartín (northern business district) are the two most exclusive of the municipal markets because they sit in VERY high rent districts. You won’t find any tourists who make the trek up to Chamartín. I do, just to drool at the cheeses of Bon Fromage (like La Paz’s La Boulette) and the meats at Peña (like las Viandas de Julián at La Paz).
There aren’t as many places to dine. I combine the Mercado de Chamartín with a visit to Coalla Gourmet, which has a bounty of high end Asturian products and a very nice counter in which to enjoy them. CG hails from Oviedo, and is a beautiful, contemporary space. All of the best Asturian products, conservas and the like, you´ll find there.
The Mercado de Antón Martín is a middle class market where you won´t find Herpac or Gadira or Peperetes probably, but there is an excellent cheese and charcuterie stand outside of the market.
The bottom floor is filled with eateries and is called the “mercado gastronómico”. ALL the food. tours take their clients there, including Devour, that I’ve often seen there sampling olives. And tourists flock to Cutzamala for Mexican, Yokaloka for Asian, and we like the specialty coffees and the tortilla at Cafés Tornasol. Doppelganger is also popular but upstairs (former Michelin-starred chef), but it hasn’t changed in years.
The Mercado de San Miguel is simply a gourmet food. court, a tourist magnet attracting millions of visitors per year, like the larger Lisbon Time Out Market. When I pass it, sometimes there
are people sitting on the sidewalk eating their purchases because there is not a stool to be had inside. Although I do like the dishes at Arzábal, the prices in this tourist attraction are high, Arzábal is best at its original location in Retiro, and I avoid this market (where “real people” don’t shop) like the plague.
The Mercado de la Cebada is an authentic, real people’s market, very large, but is changing due to the high number of tourist apartments in La Latina.
The Mercado De San Fernando is a “hang out” for the after-the-Rastro crowd and with dancing at night. It’s no longer a food market, as piragde says. The food stalls are closed. There’s a stall selling second hand books and things like that.
The Mercado de San Antón in Chueca used to be a real food market, but it also has changed with the renovation. Now, other than the wonderful charcuterie Octavio, most of the market is devoted to eateries, which is a shame.
The Mercado de Chamberí is still a real food market with a few eateries like Juancho´s BBQ in a separate corner, but I prefer La Paz, Chamartín and for Chamberí, I go to the Mercado de Vallehermoso, which is still the real deal. And the Michelin star chefs all order their chicken from Higenio Gómez, who is the "pollero de las Estrellas Michelin.
The next time you visit La Paz with me, I’ll take you to Casa Dani for tortilla, but first to Oh, Dèlice Bistró for a Bloody Mary oyster and a flute of champagne. Here the chef serves two delicious INDIVIDUAL rice dishes.
And next to La Paz at the Ayala entrance, there’s a new TORREBLANCA pastry shop.
I just read your wonderful description of your meal at La Llorería. I read it after I asked the question about the tortilla and skate, which I know realize was taken at La Lorenza in Lavapiés.
José of La Llorería is a wonderful host and all 3 are superb chefs! it´s very clear why La Llorería was awarded a Repsol sun this year! I like your listing as well of your favorites. A great job!
I wish I had had room for dessert. The dishes here are so very original.
Campo de Ourique is such a wonderful neighborhood way outside the trodden tourist zone, although Culinary Backstreets does tours there. We love the pretty park and just getting away from the hustle and bustle of the Baixa and Chiado.
I really should investigate Lisbon restaurants more. We have mostly been trying to act like we actually live here.
You are absolutely right, sorry about my mistake. I can no longer edit the post, it seems? Hopefully no one will be confused.
I got it. We go to LA LORENZA for its delicious tortilla and its extensive wine list. You did a wonderful digest of your Madrid experiences. Kudos! I enjoyed every minute of your Madrid dining explorations.
Thanks so much for sharing it with us!
Sorry to be dense, but where was the last batch of photos taken:
La Lloreria or La Lorenza??
Wherever they were taken, they look great!!!
Maribel, thank you for the summary of the markets. I will investigate Chamartin next time, and Coalla Gourmet. I’ve never been so far north except for the foray to Sacha, so it will be a lot of fun to walk around…
Those last photos were taken at La Llorería in Chueca. The tortilla española photo was from La Lorenza in Lavapiés.
Of all the newish, mid priced range openings in Madrid, La Llorería is the one that has most impressed me with its creativity.
And Northern Madrid, also has some great, casual dining spots, in addition to Sacha.
La Tajada for rice dishes, El Qüenco de Pepa for traditional dishes, especially guisos and vegetables, Sagrario Tradición, and the first restaurant venture of the Aparicio brothers, the most casual and different, Cachivache, where we sometimes go after a late morning visit to Coalla Gourmet.
I’ve never eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris. (In the provinces and in other countries, occasionally.) But I have had the privilege, thanks to forums like this, of eating at a few restaurants in Paris before they got their Michelin stars (after which they raised their prices out of the range I consider reasonable). Both my partner and I agreed that La Llorería had that same feel. I really hope they can hang on to that vibe and not turn into another place for the 1%.
