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Recommended places for eating and socialising in Madrid

The restaurants, cafes, bars and tapas joints listed below represent only those places that we have enjoyed whilst living in the city.

If the place is underlined then we've written a few words about it. Click on the name to read our mini review! The Grill Club on Jorge Juan

However, our number one recommendation is to just try any place you like the look of. If you have a bad meal you will have been extremely unlucky because the vast majority of eating spots in Madrid, from the scruffy cafe to the ultra-modern fusion food boutique, offer exemplary fair at often reasonable prices. If you love meat you're in for an extra special time, if you're a vegetarian you're going to be eating a lot of tortillas. Regional specialists abound but don't overlook the native dishes either - we dare you to try 'Callos a la Madrileña'.

We also include in the list some of our favourite "bars de copas" for early evening drinks and aperitivos. In many, but not all, you will be served snacks with your drinks, be it olives, savouries or dips etc. It's considered important to balance the drink with food and is a most delightful custom.

Comer,Tapas y Ocio Madrid

Arepas con Todo					Colombian cooking - over 50 plates to choose from at 10-15 Euros. Salsa nights Thurs to Sat. C/. Hartzenbusch, 19
Bo Finn's					'Irish' pub popular with under 30's. Shows all important sports matches.
Casa Alberto					One of Madrid's oldest and most traditional tapas bars.
Casa De Abuela					Old-school tapas restaurant on C/. Goya. Always popular.
El Torreon					An elegant yet homely restaurant in the countryside. High quality dining.
Esfahan					Top class Persian restaurant on C/. San Bernadino street.
The Grill Club					Minimilast New York style decor, international cuisine.
Larios Cafe					Glamorous spot for the funky designer crowd.
La Terraza del Casino					Creative avant-garde gastronomy from Ferran Adria (El Bulli).
La Trini					Galician dishes, welcoming bar staff and friendly clientele.
Sabor					Modern restaurant offering traditional food.
Sabrino de Botín					The oldest restaurant in the world, or, at least in Madrid.
Vinitis					The tapas bar offshoot of 'La Creazione' restaurant.

Madrid Uno's eating and socialising guide.

Key:
Tapas y Raciones -	City Centre -

Restaurant -	Suburbs or Countryside -
Bar de Copas / Cafe -

Reviews / Comments:
Reviews and details described below represent the authors view only and places may change or close down over-time. We only write about what we have experienced and the places we have liked but if you have any comments or suggestions we would be happy to include them. Bo' Finn's - C/. Velazquez Yet another Irish themed pub (the Irish have the pub scene all wrapped up in Madrid) with the standard olde antiquey pub signs etc. The place is usually quite full and always a good ratio of boys to girls, most aged in their 20s to 30s. Three TV screens and they carry most important football and rugby matches including English Premier League football when you can meet some expats there occasionally. Pub grub available. El Torreon - Carretera Cristo de El Pardo / El Pardo A short drive from the city centre and located in the forest that surrounds the pueblo of El Pardo you can find this elegant and well-ordered classic Spanish restaurant. Definitely somewhere for a special occasion. If you want to get really stuffed on a selection of the best quality dishes we can recommend the "Gran Surtido de Tapas". The suckling pig is good also and they get their fish from up La Coruna way. A treat. Larios Cafe - C/. Silva, 4 Glamorous, trendy, funky and just a little bit posh, Larios is both a top restaurant (yummy Cuban cuisine) and a popular nightclub. Upstairs there are two bars and the eating area - very elegant, very stylish - downstairs is the club (open 'til 6.00am at weekends) which tips towards salsa and latin rhythms but some nice electronic latino-fusion crossover stuff too. Its pricey and you'll need to be dressed right but we think its well worth it. Click here for its website. La Terraza del Casino - C/. Alcala, 15 This restaurant is run by Ferran Adria, proprietor of the celebrated El Bulli restaurant and current overlord of creative gastronomy. The famous foam concoctions are on the menu (try a caipirinha nitro - a cocktail turned sorbet by liquid nitrogen) and sauces and accompaniments are squeezed on to your plates with syringes. The restaurant occupies the top floor of the Casino de Madrid and you can find out more by visiting its website here. La Trini - C/. Santisima Trinidad, 28 A cafe / bar managed by pair of Galician brothers. The result is a friendly, intimate local that serves the most scrumptious regional specialities of Galicia that has quickly become a hit with the locals who know good grub when they eat it. If you're lucky you may get a shot of their home-brewed aguadente. Sabor Restaurant - C/. General Pardiñas, 30 From the outside this looks like a some sort of post modern fusion eating clinic - it's all neon pink lights, bright white spaces and jet black fittings and borders - but the cuisine is traditional Spanish and its popularity makes it feel snug and warm. Ground level is a bar and dining area while upstairs is dining only (+ occasional private parties). Breakfasts, brunches and dinners are served and it's a good spot for aperitivos as well. We like the Tartas Caseras and the crepes are good mid-morning. Sabrino de Botín - C/. de Cuchilleros, 17 Self-styled oldest restaurant in the world (they have a plaque that says so so it must be true) which was founded in 1725. It's not cheap and is considered a bit kitchsy by the locals who prefer the tapas bars a bit further along in La Latina district, but the 'plata estrella' is probably the best suckling pig you will eat any where on the peninsula. The antique oven which has been roasting these little porkers for decades is the focal point in a dining area kitted out in dark wood fittings and painted ceramics on the walls. Vinitis - C/. Ventura de la Vega, 15 If you're looking for a good wine selection to go with your tapas and raciones this is a good spot. Only open at night it is the offshoot of 'La Creazione' restaurant. Nearest Metro station is Sevilla.

Lavapiés for the cheap Indian food

What: Restaurant and Bar
Location: Lavapiés
Summary: The beers at the cafe were beautifully chilled. The food at the restaurant was distinctly average. The ambience of the area fascinating; a zone containing near-east and subcontinental shops, local cafes, hipster bars, artist-types, immigrants and local wildlife - the various crazies roaming the streets.

Onwards to Tirso de Molina metro station, one stop south of Sol to meet Jasmina and her friend Rosé V, for we are to have Sunday lunch at an Indian restaurant. Our meeting is set for 2.00pm but my cellular is still on English time so I realise I don't have over an hour to get there and am 10 mins late. The ladies assure me they're not pissed off but that they are thirsty so we immediately head down the hill towards Lavapié in search of a cafe. We choose well for the 3 canas - half pints of beer - are ice cold and served with frosted glasses. It's 2.30 pm, we're sat outside the bar, the sun is warming our backs and faces and my companions both have basic English so we can converse in a mixture of Spanglish. Que rico.

After polishing off our cervezas, and being harangued by a lady trying to sell us artist sketch pads (nice patterned velvet covers but none of us draw) we move back up the hill a hundred yards or so where there are 3 restaurants in a row all sharing the same part of the street for their terraza dining. The one major drawback of this is that all the laid out tables and chairs slope somewhat - it is a steepish street. You have a choice of 3 kinds of cuisine: 1st up is Turkish / Iranian with kebabs the main offer, second is Indian, and the third is Pakistani. Madrid-Uno does not let on that, coming from England, he regards himself as somewhat of an expert on the curry front, so stays silent in the choosing period. The ladies settle on the Indian.

It's going to be a samosa starter and we will all choose an individual dish and share. Its 1 chicken sag, 1 chicken tikka and a lamb curry + pilau rice. The samosas are good and they lay on three diferent pickles to complement. The place is also now suddenly full and the staff are busy adding tables around the edges of the existing customers. I'm feeling a bit corralled - as long as they don't start to shoot we'll be fine. Maybe this is why the main courses are pretty average, although another guess would be the Spanish distaste for most things too spicy. Some sausages are allowed to be spicy hot but not much else. I think the kitchen is allowing for local taste because even the 'vindaloo' on the menu is accompanied by an instruction to inform the waiter if you want it 'with extra spice'. Now, where Madrid-Uno comes from, asking for a vindaloo with extra spice is like asking for hit in the head. The tikka is good but the other two dishes are bland and cold. The rice is proper pilau but coloured red - not the usual yellow saffrony tinge.

2 x Coffee and another lager for Madrid-Uno. It's 4.00pm and the first diners are starting to leave, some having to climb over the newer arrivals. A bid for freedom! We join them paying a cuenta of 29 Euroweenies. That's less than £25 for 3 + drinks and OK it wasn't very inspiring but it wasn't bad either.