San Miguel Market
Almost a hundred years of history and an outstanding example of cast-iron architecture, one of only a handful of its kind in Madrid. This market has undergone a complete refurbishment that has turned it into a real gourmet temple.
San Miguel Market is a temple of quality products. Further to offering products to satisfy the day-to-day needs of the locals’ shopping bags, this space is also designed for visitors and tourists wishing to sample the merchandise available at its stores. The market offers fresh products of the finest quality, including meat, fish and fruit, some of which are difficult to find elsewhere. There are also bars where you can enjoy an aperitif.
Diver XO
Pure fantasy, two words to describe David Muñoz’s travelling cuisine. This young chef earned Madrid the privilege of having, again after 20 years, a three Michelin-starred restaurant. DiverXO opened in the district of Tetuán in 2007, then moved to a bigger place in the same neighbourhood, and is currently on Calle del Padre Damián, in the area of Paseo de la Castellana.
Muñoz’s dishes are difficult to label. His two tasting menus are made of lienzos (canvases), authentic works of art on your table. The waiters serve the food in stages on a smooth, white ceramic plate, as if they were putting paint on a canvas. The chef-owner’s cuisine is ‘total, straightforward, no distractions allowed. Sort of Cirque du Soleil performance,’ he explains.
It’s all like a real performance set in a dining room, finely decorated by interior designer Lázaro Rosa Violán, who thought of winged pigs for the walls – a symbol of the creativity and imagination that reign supreme at DiverXO.
A ‘ Barra
The new project by Group Álbora (the group resulting from the merger between Joselito and La Catedral de Navarra) was awarded its first Michelin star (2017 edition) a few months after opening its doors to the public. Manager and maître Jorge Dávila and chef Juan Antonio Medina (from coming from Zalacaín restaurant) focus on high quality ingredients and sophisticated cooking techniques to offer the best dishes.
The merger between two big names in Spanish cuisine (who received a Michelin star for their first project together, Álbora) has proved highly successful. Opened in May 2016, their newest, most ambitious project is housed where the traditional El Bodegón, run by Silka and Héctor Barrio used to be, now fully refurbished by its new owners.
Covering 700m2, the establishment contains a conventional restaurant offering traditional food made with high-quality fresh products that can be ordered à-la-carte or as a set menu, and a bar (with a counter of granite from O Porriño accommodating up to 22 customers), whose modern tasting menu is one of the best you’ll come across in Madrid.
Punto MX
Punto MX is committed to tradition in Mexican cuisine. Its gastronomic philosophy is based on honouring the typical Mexican recipes, combining age-old and cutting-edge techniques to obtain traditional yet contemporary cuisine. All of this has served to make it the first European restaurant serving Mexican food to be awarded a Michelin star.
Lifelong recipes are questioned in order to reinterpret them and update them whilst committed to the finest quality products that combine tradition, temporality, small producers, artisan products.
It also has the first MezcalBar in Spain with cocktails inspired by typical recipes, using natural, fresh, original and fun ingredients of the finest quality. Furthermore, it is the only Mexican restaurant in Spain that makes its own tortilla dough.
La Bunganvilla
Mediterranean market cuisine, excellent raw materials, uncomplicated dishes. Start with a selection of fried fish or Iberian cold meat and then go for rice accompanied by one of their delicious salads. They offer traditional dry or creamy rice dishes, as well as fideuá for customers who prefer the noodle variety. Apart from rice, there is also a good selection of simple yet delicious meat and fish dishes, like the fillet steak or gilthead bream in salt.
Casa Nemesio
This restaurant specialises in rice dishes, which is why this ingredient features in the majority of the house specialties: arroz abanda (rice in fish broth with squid), black rice (in squid ink), rice with vegetables, creamy rice with lobster… They also prepare delicious fish and seafood dishes like hake or red prawns. The establishment’s seafaring décor clearly reflects the type of cuisine on the menu. Casa Nemesio opened in 2002 and is located on Paseo de la Castellana, in the city’s entrepreneurial Golden Mile.
Marina Ventura
Located in the heart of Las Letras (Literary Quarter), this restaurant is specialised in rice, serving 20 different types, including dry, honeyed and fluffy rice, accompanied with seasonal produce, such as wild mushrooms, vegetables or seafood.
The specialities at Marina Ventura include rice with octopus, rice with duck and wild mushrooms or fluffy rice with lobster, monkfish, prawns, cuttlefish and a touch of spice. Its menu also includes meat and fish, such as, for example, smoked sardines or wild sea bass with shallots, nuts and wild asparagus.
