The best restaurants in Madrid can change from time to time, even in difficult times. The level of openings, concepts and kitchens, young talents or powerful businessmen who bet on the hospitality industry is so great that it is impossible to control it one hundred percent. Always, we repeat, you will always have a full list of pending addresses. For several years now, the city has been an international gastronomic hotbed, where as soon as a star-studded chef debuts his project (see Dani García and his brasserie or Quique Dacosta with his highly anticipated Ritz project), as soon as you discover a small local that they have barely spoken to you but that leaves you speechless because the quality of what comes out of their stoves is excellent. In Madrid, the offer for lunch or dinner is infinite, yes, especially when now in times of pandemic the offer is also being expanded with the incessant search for the best restaurants with terraces in Madrid.
Robuchon
The Robuchon Group has arrived in Spain in a big way, in what was the space of the mythical Embassy, and brings together its three concepts L’Atelier, L’Ambassade and Le Speakeasy spread over 950 square meters of France in vein. Jorge González (formerly at the Ritz) commands the three spaces on several floors, upstairs with a bar and room for a complete tasting menu and downstairs for a more informal snack that adds a nice terrace on Paseo de la Castellana. The company’s great specialties are not lacking so, of course, you will give a good account of its universal mashed potatoes.
St Germain Wine Bar
Did you want France? Take two cups. We really wanted this charming wine bar in the Chamartín area and how we liked it. Their menu is full of small wine producers with a very special emphasis on Champagne and that makes us very happy. Discovering labels by the hand of his fantastic team is always a joy, because they always change. Rotation and good prices is their motto in a bluish setting as delicious as the solid accompaniment to the glasses: oysters, confit, cassoulet, duck foie gras, cheeses and a huge product, also Spanish, which is why they are here, from some anchovies to a jerky. When we come back?
Nunuka
A surprising and ideal bistro in the heart of the Chueca neighborhood commanded, cooked and completely inspired by Georgia. Surely you have rarely (or never) had the opportunity to try dishes as tasty as “khinkali”, a cooked dough filled with different combinations such as minced meat and broth, which is taken by hand in a delicious ritual, or their “badrijani nigvzit”, the traditional aubergine stuffed with walnut paste and spices in a light almond sauce. The charming Nino Kiltava leads a project that will win you over, for sure. He will leave you wanting to go back for his hearty “khachapuri”.
Zingara
The consultant Ansón & Bonet, also behind Nunuka or others as well-known as Fayer, has taken charge, together with the property, of devising this other concept, in this case vegetarian, which cannot break any more clichés or be prettier. Has it all. ‘plant based’ trend, healthy and cared for; interior magnetic despite its cute size; great cocktail bar (as if not) signed by the greats of Angelita; the neighborhood and the trendy atmosphere; and an attractive concept that articulates everything in perfect concert: nomadic cuisine, like its owners, free, with influences from all places touched in some way by gypsy culture and its aesthetics. Favorites? The causa acevichada of mushrooms on sweet potato, the almond pâté saam with tamarind and peanut sauce or the grilled hearts with creamy sunflower and miso and spicy sunflower seeds.
Bistronomika
Large grilled fish, seafood stews for dipping bread and combinations of sea and mountain are the three axes around which Carlos del Portillo’s cuisine gravitates, who has made this place a benchmark for products (mainly seafood) in Madrid. . Open kitchen, with a counter where the product of the day is presented, wonderful. The attention is exquisite, in a cozy atmosphere, and the wine list by Silvia Manzano is impeccable.