Check our pointers on dining
customs and useful
terms / food dictionary to make eating
out in Madrid hassle-free. We have added
a collection of articles about spanish food
which you may find interesting, especially
if you're looking for a gift idea for the
gourmand back home.
he dominant and richly-varied Spanish cuisine
combines expansive regional flavours (Andalusain,
Basque, Galician, Valencian, Castilian, Riojan)
from the Mediterranean, the sun-drenched south,
the rugged central plateau and the lush green
north. Despite its location, Madrid also has
much to offer in the realm of seafood;
in fact anyone up early will see the truckloads
of fresh fish being brought into the city
every morning.
Given the love of meat, vegetarian
restaurants are thin on the ground, but their
numbers are increasing. A healthy selection
of international styles is available in the
city.
Tapas, one
of Spain's great contributions to world gastronomy
has a section of its own. For the most informal
setting, tapas or snacks can be had with a
drink in most bars and cafes, a good way to
sample a large variety of tastes in a short
time. There is also a section on Madrid's
famous dish, El
Cocido, which should not be missed.
It's perhaps a little surpising that a city
like Madrid, with such a large variety and
depth of local and Spanish food, doesn't have
a wider choice of international restaurants.
There's certainly no shortage of American
fast food chains and their Spanish imitations,
or bargain chinese restaurants but finding
good quality, genuine ethnic food can be something
of a challenge. We compiled a list of what
we think are some of the better choices in
town, but if you know of somewhere we've left
out, make sure to let
us know.
If you´re looking for ingredients to
cook your own ethnic (non-Spanish) food, refer
the to international
food in the shopping section.
Dining
customs
Breakfast
This is usually eaten in a bar and most
madrileños have little more than
a coffee (there is a description of the
various coffees in the food
dictionary) and a sweet roll or croissant
for breakfast. Freshly squeezed orange juice
is also popular and widely available. Probably
the most traditional Spanish breakfast is
churros
or porras
with hot melted chocolate. These are best
had early in the morning as they're at their
best and crunchiest just after being deep
fried. If you're looking for a more substantial
breakfast you could try a pincho de
tortilla,
a sandwich
mixto (ham and cheese grilled sandwitch)
or a mixto
con huevo (same but with a fried
egg in it).
Lunch
Eaten between about 1:30PM and 4:00PM,
it is probably more appropriate to refer
to this meal as dinner as it is the principal
meal of the day for many madrileños.
Virtually all restaurants offer a lunch
time menú which is invariably
much better value than an a la carte
selection and can be excellent. A menu is
usually a three course meal, with a limited
amount of choice for each course, and generally
includes (cheap) wine. The first course
can be as light as a bowl of soup of a salad,
or as hearty as a bowl if lentils with chorizo.
The second course will probably be selection
between fish and meat or poultry. Desert
will often be a choice of fruit or some
sort of pudding. The wine included with
the price of the meal will almost never
be of the finer variety, and it is often
mixed with casera or gaseosa,
a sweet carbonated drink. Of course it's
possible to pay more an get a better wine.
It is not uncommon to follow lunch by a
siesta.
Evening Meal
Madrileños eat the evening meal
quite late in comparison to other countries
- anywhere from 9.00PM to 11.00PM is reasonable,
particularly in the summer and on weekends.
While some people have a full meal at dinner
many have a only light meal, which might
consist of a few tapas.
Eating well, cheaply
Madrid has a lot to offer for those wishing
to eat well without spending a lot of money.
There are a few tips to follow. Try and
eat typical food. As mentioned before, it's
best to fill up at lunch, choosing from
the wealth of small restaurants offering
the lunch time menu. Seafood in
Madrid is much cheaper —and often
fresher— than in other European countries.
In fact, Spain is the second biggest per
capita seafood eating country after Japan.
Sit-down meals are usually more expensive
at supper than at lunch. Its probably more
economical to eat tapas for dinner, which
are well accompanied by a glass of wine
or a caña (small glass of
beer). Tapas also offer the visitor a means
of trying a large variety of Spanish delights
without spending a fortune. (Finding,
ordering and choosing tapas has been
covered in its own section.
A note on tipping
Tipping is not so rigid in Spain. It is
not uncommon to leave no tip at all, either
in bars, restaurants, taxis etc. Generally,
if service is good, a tip of 5-10% is more
than adequate.
