MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant

Posted by: La Sorpresa

MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/16/05 09:43 AM

Hi all,

I just saw a show on the Travel Channel called Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown. She was in Madrid and had lunch at a restaurant called La Barracca (Chueca area I think).

They claim the best Paella in Madrid.

Anyone been there? Opinions? Reviews? Worth seeking out in October when I am there next? Better ideas?

PS - I am starving right now. A little food talk would help a lot!

Spark
Posted by: MadridMan

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/16/05 10:58 AM

Frommer's online ( here ) has a write-up about La Barraca in Madrid. It states:
Quote:
Cuisine Valencian

Hours Daily 1-4pm and 8:30pm-midnight

Address Reina 29-31

Location On or near the Gran Vía

Transportation Metro: Gran Vía or Sevilla. Bus: 1, 2, or 74

Reservations Reservations recommended

Phone 91-532-71-54

Prices Main courses 12€-20€ ($14-$23)

Credit Cards AE, DC, MC, V

Frommer's Review

La Barraca is like a country inn right off the Gran Vía, and it's a longtime local favorite. The food, frankly, used to be better, but perhaps my tastes have changed since my student days. This Valencian-style restaurant is a well-managed establishment recommended for its tasty Levante cooking. There are four different dining rooms, three of which lie one flight above street level; they're colorfully cluttered with ceramics, paintings, photographs, Spanish lanterns, flowers, and local artifacts. The house specialty, paella a la Barraca, is made with pork and chicken. Specialties in the appetizer category include desgarrat (a salad of cod and red peppers), mussels in a white-wine sauce, and shrimp sautéed with garlic. In addition to the recommended paella, you can select at least 16 rice dishes, including black rice and queen paella. Main-dish specialties include brochette of angler and prawns and rabbit with fines herbes. Lemon-and-vodka sorbet brings the meal to a fitting finish.
Posted by: GoMadrid

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/16/05 01:17 PM

I have eaten at La Barraca three times, although it has been a few years.

I thought it was great.

They have an inexpensive white wine there, Mantel Blanco. It was quite good.

A buen provecho.
Posted by: Bev

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/22/05 12:45 AM

Ate at La Barraca last month. Someone had recommended it to us. We had a hard time finding it but the paella was really enjoyable. However, it didn't compare to the paella in Barcelona in El Rey de las Gambas in Barceloneta.
Posted by: Cornelio

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/23/05 12:59 PM

My own personal favorite in terms of paella is also in the Barceloneta area of Barcelona and the name of the restaurant is SET PORTES.
Posted by: Bill from NYC

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/23/05 03:06 PM

The Travel Channel? I do not know if this is the same Travel Channel given by Time Warner in New York City. But Travel Channel on Timer Waner is mostly full of Poker game programs. frown

Hopefully the Food Channel will do a few shows about the food from Spain.

Bill
Posted by: maestroyaron

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/24/05 04:31 PM

Speaking of Paella, can somebody tell me how seemingly every business serving Paella in Madrid and elsewhere has the same "OK Paella" and "Casa de Paella" signs? Do these businesses make their own or do they buy it pre-made from a vendor?
Posted by: albert

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/27/05 08:00 AM

guys, if you want to have good paella, you have to go to Valencia!!!

Besides the fact that you need good quality ingredients, It's all about the water, in madrid the water is too soft, so it takes less time to cook and therefore not leaving enough time for the rice to steam nice and slow, to make sure it soaks up all of the ingredients flavors.

In valencia and the coastal regions, the water is much harder, helping to cook the rice better.

As for the question Maestroyaon makes, it all depends. If you don't see a publicity sign that says "yes we serve paella" with a nice pic of a paella dish, then most likely they make their own paella.

The bars with the publicity sign are usually frozen dishes where you just add water and boil it for 20 mins. So, if you want homemade paella, try to avoid those places.

I agree in that La Barraca, has lost a lot of quality. They have really focused their business toward tourist and from what I know, people from Madrid, don't usually go there.

Let it be also said, that if you don't know how a real paella should be like, but you love to eat rice, then the price-quality ratio is really good.
Posted by: La Sorpresa

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/27/05 08:55 AM

I have seen people eating the "OK Paella" and it looks just like it does on the sign - plastic!

Albert, I will not be able to go to Valencia on this trip, so do you have a better recomendation for Madrid? I am open to suggestions! I just had never heard of this restaurant and wanted some reviews.
Posted by: JoseR

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 06/27/05 12:13 PM

Sparkalina, We just returned from Spain and it was recommended by the hotel Villa Real. We had late lunch and we really enjoyed ourselves. They even have a web site www.interocio.es/labarraca/
which I found after we returned.

Jose
Posted by: msk

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 07/25/05 03:10 PM

We just returned from the Villa Real and they sent us there too. You are about the 4th other person I've heard that went to La Barraca via this hotel. Yes, the food was good but I am a bit suspicious that they get the old "concierge kickback."
Posted by: Puna

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 07/25/05 03:35 PM

rsk,
La Barraca has been around for years and years - and, as MM and a few others mentioned, used to serve about the best paella in Madrid. The concierge who directed you might get the occassional tapas and glass of vino but I doubt if he/she receives a cash kickback.

Also, because it has been around for years, when a visitor asks for the best place to get paella in Madrid it would be a safe recommendation.

Head for Valencia on your next trip - you will taste the diffeence! And never ever order a dish that is on displayed via a plastic picture. eek
Posted by: lakey

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 07/25/05 10:40 PM

Spent 7 wks in Valencia many yrs ago and lived with a family. Our landlady taught us well. She was, as all Valencians are, quite fussy about the supreme local dish. Now, what I came to enjoy had: very fresh local seafood (no, not chicken, sausage etc) including cigalas (crawdads) and mussels.Also a vegetable known as judias verdes (kind of large flat string beans things) tomats, saffron.When I once asked her about chicken,pork,etc she quietly paused, and informed me that maybe some Barcelonans or Madrileños might do such things. (But not in her household).There was definitely a local pride issue here. I did not argue. And I had the seafood paellas offered in many different places around Valencia.
Later I read about paellas as originating as outdoor food sizzling over available tree branches and whatever was readily available near the rice fields. The outdoor paellas might have (in other times) included such handy ingredients as rabbit or snails.
So to this day I wonder if anything with chicken isn't just good ol' arroz con pollo (chicken & rice). See if you can get the seafood version. It is transcendant. No comparison.Divine.
laugh
Posted by: Puna

Re: MADRID: La Barraca Restaurant - 07/26/05 10:39 AM

I'm with you and that landlady, lakey - for me, a true paella is with seafood - no chicken, no rabbit, absolutely no sausage .... just as many types of fresh seafood as can be found!

Now I;m hungry .... eek