Just know that Mercado de San Miguel will be very, very crowded since it´s now a huge Madrid tourist magnet. Most stands are run by the Arzábal group, whose food is fine, but we go to Arzábal’s other original outpost on Menéndez Pelayo facing Retiro Park for a more non-tourist environment.
We’re headed tonight to Castelados but with reservations. Reservations here in Madrid have become absolutely essential, even for the casual tabernas, just so that you’ll know. We laughed last Saturday when looking for a place to drop in for a beer around the Edition and all the bars were jammed to the rafters, not even standing room. That’s why we ended up with a nice, quiet lunch at Jerónimo in the Edition.
About the Cava Baja tapas crawl–it’s really not what it used to be and on weekends becomes quite filled with hen parties and the like.
Taberna Tempranillo is still good bet as is Casa Lucas. I think of Casa Lucio more of a sit-down restaurant although one can have a bite (somewhat uninteresting) at the bar. Across the street is the Huevos de Lucio for his famous broken eggs, but they’ve taken the bar space and placed tables for two there.
This has been a common practice post-covid in the Madrid bars. For example, at Castelados one can only come in for a drink and tapa standing at either end of the bar, while the rest of the bar consists of high tables for two, which must be reserved in advance.
The other day we discovered two wonderful gastro bars that have opened on Cava Alta, the parallel street above, that were very well reviewed last week in El País. We hit them both. These two will bring back serious diners to this area, I hope.
The first, Trèsde, may transport you to the Left Bank of Paris, very reminiscent of a Parisian bistro, serving a la carte but also a formule for 41 euros. The chef trained with William Ledeuil of Ze Kitchen Galerie. Emphasis here is on vegetables and aromatics, and the food is absolutely first rate, from the finest local purveyors, as is the wine selection by the glass and desserts. It´s a project of 3 friends and has only been open for under 2 months.
The second is Barmitón, the sibling of the excellent Marmitón bistro, both in La Latina. One can sit at the bar here for tapas as well as sit down dining in the small dining room. We had wine and tapas here, then continued to Trèsde for lunch.
Both I would highly recommend over the options on the Cava Baja currently.
There are two Bodegas de la Ardosa, one on the bar/restaurant lined Ponzano and the other in Chueca/Malasaña. We prefer the latter (more atmospheric) and their tortilla is one of the best in town. And vermut on tap.
We were a bit disappointed with Comparte Bistro, as I think it’s over rated, although it was awarded a Repsol sun this year. I think the hype has to do with the unusual French-Andalusian combo. Some dishes just fell short.
In comparison and in the same general area, we much prefer the new-ish La Llorería, where we had a fabulous omakase style lunch the other day. The owners (Jesùs was our guide) will present to you their greatest hits and you decide how many courses you would like. We stopped at 6. Highly creative. And there is a very nice selection of small producer wines by the glass. My chef friend (1 Repsol sun) sent us here as well as to Brutalista in Argülles and Haranita off the Gran Vía.
The current “hot, hip, young, highly innovative, new kids in town” getting a lot of buzz from the local gourmands-
Brutalista
La Llorería
Haranita
Trèsde
Barmitón
LaLópez Bar (a must for us in the authentic Mercado de San Antón–just terrific)
María Sarmiento
Los 33 (for grilled meats from the folks at Charrúa)–one of the hardest tables in town to snag
Bichopalo (tasting menu only)
