Best Gastrobars and Tapas in Madrid

In Madrid, Spain's culinary revolution is taking hold in tiny, delicious bites. Nibble your way across the capital with our gastrobar tour
By Lisa Abend
Photograph by Gueorgui Pinkhassov / Magnum Photos
October 2011

The scene at Estado Puro.
I remember staring down my first taste of tapas in Madrid 20 years ago—and watching it stare back. One of those tiny fried anchovies the Spanish adore, its head (and eyes) were still intact, and I panicked as I realized I was expected to put the entire thing in my mouth.
A recent dinner at El Plató, one of the great new gastrobars found throughout the city, conjured that pivotal bite. I should have been dis-racted by the decor: The focal point at the sleek spot is a glass wall that overlooks a TV studio. But there in front of me was another anchovy, its tail still attached. In this case, its head and spine had been removed, leaving only a split fillet, smoky from the grill and awash in a low tide of garlic and olive oil. Between this incarnation and my first tapa, clearly something had changed.
That something is the gastrobar. Relatively cheap, informal places where the food is the draw, gastrobars like El Plató have elevated the concept of the humble tapas bar. Spurred partly by recession-era cost-consciousness and partly by the desire to work in a less-constrained environment, many of the country's most accomplished chefs—from Quique Dacosta in Valencia to Francis Paniego in La Rioja to Dani García in Málaga—are trying their hand at one. Barcelona gave rise to the gastrobar, but in terms of quantity, Madrid is its true epicenter. You can spend days here trying some of the best bites the country has to offer.
For the capital's first gastrobar, thank Paco Roncero, the Ferran Adrià-trained chef responsible for the culinary fireworks at the two-starred Terraza del Casino. He opened Estado Puro across from the Prado Museum in 2008, and recently doubled his bet with a second location on the ground floor of the NH Palacio de Tepa hotel in Santa Ana (an elegant base for a Madrid stay). The decor at both pokes gentle fun at Spanish stereotypes, and his reinterpretation of tried-and-true tapas is similarly inspired. Here the patatas bravas, those chunks of fried potato topped with pimentón-spiked aioli, are reimagined as a row of roasted new potatoes, each capped with a ladylike daub of sauce, while his "mini-hamburguesa" is a triumphant bite of seared meat, sweetly caramelized onions, and buttery brioche.
Across the Gran Vía, Juanjo López is renowned for his idiosyncratic restaurant, La Tasquita de Enfrente. He serves small plates at Mui next door, which opened in January. Here the deliciousness of fried baby squid is further magnified by the addition of lime zest. The Gilda, that old-fashioned skewer of tinned anchovy, green olive, and pickled hot pepper, seems newly sexy when accompanied by a pipette of verdant olive oil for the diner to apply to the snack. But what you really want are the chunks of pork belly, called torreznos, fried crisp and served with a gently poached egg.
Santceloni is one of the most formal restaurants in the city, which makes it all the more remarkable that its chef, sommelier, and manager have succeeded in making La Cesta de Recoletos so lively. Opened in Salamanca in late 2010, La Cesta fills with well-heeled madrileños happily spooning up chef Óscar Velasco's refreshing salmorejo—that bread-thickened gazpacho native to Córdoba, updated here with poached quail egg—or working through a plate of grilled squid jazzed up with a mustard-and-onion jam.
Perhaps no place embodies the gastrobar's playfulness better than La Gabinoteca, in Chamberí. Nino Redruello hails from a Madrid family beloved for its artful way with the classic tortilla española. But this funky spot, where the wine list is a personality quiz, is the antithesis of classic. The only tortilla on the menu, made with a creamy cod brandade, is deconstructed into a glass of deeply roasted potatoes and savory sabayon. One creative dessert even has the waiter bringing a siphon, a paintbrush, and a slew of sweet ingredients to the table.
Sure, there are still plenty of tapas bars that serve their fish fried simply and anatomically correct. But now, in the wake of Spain's culinary revolution, there is that—and so much more.


Fresh Direct: Gastro Markets
Another recent twist on Madrid's tapas scene is the edible market:


MERCADO DE SAN MIGUEL
In 2008, the old Mercado de San Miguel, located just off the Plaza Mayor, was converted into a center for gastronomic recreation. Stalls still sell raw ingredients, but the prepared-food stands run the show. The cheesemonger, for example, doesn't just hawk blocks of Manchego; she'll also slice you a chunk and arrange it with a bit of quince paste for an on-the-spot snack. Same goes for the charcuterie stall, and the oyster vendor, and the lady selling freshly fried potato chips. Throw in a wine bar and some full-fledged tapas bars and you've got one of the city's hottest culinary destinations from morning until late at night. mercado desanmiguel.es


MERCADO DE SAS ANTÓN
The ground floor of the recently opened Mercado de San Antón, in the hip neighborhood of Chueca, is dedicated to the gourmet shopper. The second floor features prepared-food stands and tapas bars, with seating that allows clients to graze on plates of just-made pasta or flash-fried Padrón chiles while they watch the shoppers below. Upstairs is La Cocina de San Antón, a popular restaurant serving (what else?) market-driven cuisine—so market-driven, in fact, that a diner can purchase, say, a whole sea bass or a coil of pork sausages on the ground floor and, for a four-euro charge, bring them up to be cooked and served. Gastronomic recreation indeed. mercadosananton.com


Lisa Abend is the author of The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli. She Lives in Madrid.
Keywords:
travel,
Madrid,
Spain,
El Plato,
Estado Puro


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