Now that it looks like I settled on a hotel I would like lots of suggestions for good restaurants for the 10 days I am in Madrid. They can range from 1 or 2 really nice places to mainly good, solid moderately priced food. My daughter, who is studying abroad, has mostly been eating at the home where she is staying and while she has been loving the food, I would like to be able to treat her to a few really excellent meals while we are there. As to an earlier reference to La Barraca for paella, we had it the last trip there and we were rather disappointed. I'm sure there are better paellas in Madrid. One more thing, I know it is touristy but since I've never gone, I'd like to know the best place to go to see Flamenco. I've seen some ads but they all seem like ripoff's for tourists, any ideas?????

My favorite Madrid restaurant is El Ingenio at Leganitos10, across from Hotel El Coloso. Leganitos runs from Plaza Santo Domingo to Plaza de Espana. Get off the Metro at Santo Domingo for a downhill walk.

They have a wonderful blend of good food, ambience and service at resonable prices. They also have a good (all Spanish) wine list and they makr their own licores for dessert.

For Flamenco, I recommend Casa Patas . It is near Sol, and the Plaza Jacinto Benavente.

I'll look up the address and post it later.

If it still exists, the Champañería Gala, at 22 Calle Moratín has pretty good paella, but not really any better than La Barraca. Way different atmosphere though...

There are two restaurants that I recommend. Because the food is good, and they are unique. For lunch...Casa Mingo. For dinner, a Galician restaurant at 7 Calle Jesús called Maceira. And after dinner, you can pop around the corner and hit all the bars on Huertas. A personal favorite of mine is a Cuban place called La Colonial.

A buen provecho!!

Mongo writes: If it's the place I'm thinking about, one of their specialty tapas is angulas (little baby eels). Wife's uncle used to play Dominos there and introduced me to the place.

I second the motion for Casa Patas for flamenco!!!

And for a real treat, I know it is touristy, but El Botin is still one of my favorites. It is off the Plaza Mayor down from Arco de Cuchilleros.
It is mainly inhabited by tourists, as it is listed in every guidebook, but the food is excellent and the ambience is lively and old world...

I haven't mentioned (nor will I) my own best bet for Tablao Flamenco in Madrid because once places are mentioned on MM's board, they are no longer 'off the beaten path.'

I like Florida Park's (a nightclub just inside el Retiro - O'Donnell Street entrance) bailes folkloricos show: I really enjoy Jotas Aragonesas in preference to Flamenco. Their show has both: Sevillanas y Jotas.

They also serve a (supper) meal with a variety of entrees.

how nice to hear about Florida Park;it bring back many memories of youth.
Do not know how old the board is but i am over 40 and the park was my first date with a local girl back in 1971!!!! they use to have parties in there then. Took my kids now to see it during the daytime (kids still under 15) back in 2005 and plan to do a more in depth look this september.
I agree its a delighful place indeed.thanks

Mongo, at your above recommendation, I had lunch with a friend at Restaurante El Ingenio . I had some trouble finding the proper street but once I did I thought it was such a cute place!

It's decorated in things about La Mancha. I laughed to myself when I saw the Men's Restroom was labeled "Quixotes" and the Women's Restroom labeled "Dulcineas".

For starters we ordered (and shared) the Migas Manchegas (fried bread pieces with tocino) & Gambas al ajillo (spiced olive oil boiled shrimps). All very tasty.

For the main course, we ordered (and shared) the Solomillo de ibérico al queso de Cabrales. WOW that was good - slices of steak under a bity cheese. And also Entrecot cebón gallego - raw steak slices on a HOT HOT HOT plate - you turn them over and cook them yourself.

All was served with fried potatoes and they'd served us two free tapas of more migas and black olives in a spicy red sauce.

Dessert: We ordered (and shared) Mousse chocolate blanco (yummm!) & Sorbete manzana verde con orujo gallego.

All totalled, with 3 beers, bread, bottled water, and tea the price was 45.75€. Not bad.

Thanks, Mongo, for the recommendation! I can see why you liked it so much. The menu's were cute too - wooden and hinged in the back with painted (?) characters dressed in traditional (?) La Mancha dress.

Eddie, I've been wanting to go to Florida Park Flamenco dinner show. I like the location and the place looks "so fine". I didn't know they also performed Jotas Aragonesas as well as standard flamenco. That makes it more interesting, I'm sure. I think I'd heard that the food was actually pretty good there too, although expensive. Can you confirm they have good food?

Eddie wrote regarding Restaurante El Ingenio: Eddie, their website's menu, HERE , doesn't mention Angulas so maybe it was the Gallego restaurant (don't recall the name now) just down the hill a little further on the same street towards the Plaza España. I was looking in their window while waiting for my other party to arrive and it looked decent. They specialize in Galician and Asturian foods there. Maybe you could find its name/location via the http://www.QDQ.com website with a photo starting point of Calle Leganitos, 10 and go down towards Plaza España.

Saludos, MadridMan

Maceira is a great place, but it's big drawback is that you can't make reservations there and it gets crowded quickly. Still, worth a try if you're willing to risk it. It has a sister restaurant, Maceiras, on Calle Huertas itself. You walk about 50 yards down Calle Jesús to the coner of Huertas and turn left and up that street. It's on your left and it's a little bigger.

The restaurant question is a tough one because there is so much out there. Another well-known paella place is St. James on Juan Bravo. A classic traditional restaurant is Casa Domingo on the Calle Acalá,or Ciriaco on the Calle Mayor.

As for a economical but pretty restaurant, you can always go to La Finca de Susana. Once again, no booking, and the place fills up often by 9:00 p.m.

These are just a couple off the top of my head, but the list really goes on and on.

Hey MadridMan! Thanks for giving El Ingenio a try. My brother discovered them by accident ten years ago and I have been slowly converting my Madrid circle (with one exception )to fans ever since. I try to visit at least twice every trip.

If you enjoyed the menus and the restroom signs, next time catch the government warning sign on the cigarette machine. It is the same painting of Don Quijote as on the menu, warning Sancho Panza of the dangers of smoking. It is hilarious.

Mongo, I am going to Madrid next week and I will definitely try El Ingenio, based on your suggestion and MadridMan's review! My family is staying at a hotel on Cuesta de Santo Domingo, so El Ingenio is very convenient. Thanks for the idea!!

The restaurant question is a tough one because there is so much out there quote by Murdy.

yes indeed very subjective opinions here.

but i agree with Ciriaco in Calle Mayor as well.

Thanks, MM! No, that Gallego restaurant isn't the one I was looking for - too close to the Plaza de Espanha; but that QDQ.com site is great for finding restaurants by cuisine (i.e., Basque, Gallego, Asturian, etc.). Esperanza may want to do a look-see.

this was a great restaurant we went to in madrid typical spanish they could not speak english, and me no spanish (arent i ignorant i apologize)the food came and what a concoction no one knew what we were eating but it was delicious anyway
i cant remember the name but im sure some madrillians will know the place i would recommend it

billy the man, don't keep us in suspense! And while you can't remember the name of the restaurant can you tell us where in Madrid it was? It doesn't look familiar to me.

Saludos, MadridMan

im just looking on the map of madrid now, if you walk from puerta del sol towards parque del retiro
onto carrera de san jeronimo im sure it was on this road or one that is running paralel to it
im sorry im not more specific but the map does not give small streets and it was not a busy road

Here's the area you described on Paginas Amarillas . I don't know if that helps or not. I'm very intrigued!

Hello,
I know that place. I don't remember the name. Is a bar in Calle Carrera de San Jerónimo. In your picture I can see that it is beside number 14. So, I went to yellow pages and searched for a restaurant in San Jerónimo n. 16, 'et voilà'.

Restaurante Madrid 1

I saw that restaurant many times, but I never entered. I looks to me like a place for tourists.

On this website you can see a picture of the building.

http://www.qdq.com/indexfotos.asp?city=Madrid

as you can tell valenciano i was a tourist probably a typical tourist catchment area but still we enjoyed it there are lots of restaurants near me i would not go into but people from out of town think they are great.
another restaurant was opposite the bernabau stadium that was a nice meal straight off the touristica bus, into the stadium tour, straight into the restaurant very very touristy
but i loved it

Going back to Restaurante Bazaar in Chueca for lunch tomorrow. I liked it a lot the first time for one of our MadridMan lunches.

Saludos, MadridMan

after much searching and guessing (it was all in spanish, yes i am ignorant)
this is what i came up with
http://www.madrid1catedral.com/
the place was very oldie worldie with traditional spanish furniture and decor.
not got great reviews by some websites but we all enjoyed it

Hello Bylly,
I will try Madrid 1, it looks nice.
Thanks

Today I had my second lunch at Bazaar on Calle Libertad just a couple blocks below Plaza Chueca. This time I ate in the downstairs - which is QUITE nice.

I ordered the Menú del Mediodía (as it was called) fo 9.89€ and chose the zuchini with chorizo soup. For the next course I chose the steak tips in sauce. For dessert I chose the natillas. Quite a tasty meal in a stylish place.

We arrived at just after 2pm and the upstairs was nearly full so we chose to sit downstairs and we were happier with that location as it was a little more peaceful. When we were seated there was only maybe 2 other tables occupied. But by the time we left, at about 3:30pm, the place was FULL!

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, I am now writing them down. Leaving next Wed. night. Can't wait to try out all the great food and atmosphere!

any reason that the famous El Brillante hasn't been mentioned on MadridMan for some time???

(worried, Oldham )

Tonight we're going for a Flamenco show at Café de Chinitas - going with some friends visiting from the USA. We thought about having dinner there too but after calling they'd told us the dinner+show price was about 65 Euros PER PERSON! Instead, we'll have some tapas elsewhere before the 10:15pm, 35-Euros-per-person show. Tomorrow, I'll give you a full report. ( READ THAT REPORT HERE )

Tomorrow afternoon (Thursday/Jueves Santo) I'm meeting a message board member at Restaurante La Sanabresa for lunch - location of MANY a MadridMan Lunch. Should be as good as usual. Will let you know.

Regarding El Brillante, I guess I've been focusing more on the old city center than around Atocha lately. Some friends from Barcelona were visiting, NEVER having visited Madrid before, and they were anxious to go to the famed El Brillante for a bocadillo de calamares. I was surprised this place had Spain-wide/World-wide fame!!

Saludos, MadridMan