Madrid food and nightlife

Overview

Madrid's real culinary tradition is a habit: going out. People meet for a drink and a few small plates at one bar, move on to another, and eat dinner late, often standing. Because the city draws people from every region of Spain, you can eat Galician octopus, Andalusian fried fish, Basque pintxos and Asturian cider in a single evening without leaving the center.

The home cooking of Madrid is hearty, built for cold plateau winters: cocido, tripe, garlic soup, fried squid sandwiches. It sits alongside some of the most ambitious restaurants in Europe, and the price gap between a perfectly good tapas crawl and a tasting menu is huge.

This page covers eating, drinking and going out in Madrid. For Spanish food region by region, see food in Spain; for wine, see Spanish wine; and for flamenco across the country, see flamenco.

The Madrid timetable

• Breakfast (8–10 am). Light: a café con leche and a tostada con tomate (toast with grated tomato and olive oil), or a slice of tortilla española (potato omelet). Hotel buffets are the American-style option.
• Mid-morning (11 am–noon). A second coffee and maybe a pastry. Office workers fill bars at this hour.
• The aperitif (1–2 pm). A caña (small draft beer) or a vermut (vermouth on tap, with an orange slice and an olive) with something small.
• Lunch (2–4 pm). The big meal. On weekdays most neighborhood restaurants offer the menú del día: a starter, a main, bread, a drink (wine, beer or water) and dessert or coffee for a fixed price, often €13–20 (about $15–22). It is the best-value meal in the city.
• Merienda (6–7 pm). An afternoon snack: churros, a pastry or a sandwich.
• Tapas and dinner (8:30 pm onward). A round of bars, or a sit-down dinner at 9:30 or 10 pm. On Friday and Saturday, restaurants are still seating at 11 pm.

What to eat in Madrid

Order these at least once. Most are cheap, filling and found in any traditional taberna (tavern).

• Cocido madrileño. The city's great dish; see the section below.
• Bocadillo de calamares. Fried squid rings in a crusty roll, sold at bars around the Plaza Mayor and Atocha. Madrid's street food, despite being 200 miles (320 km) from the sea.
• Huevos rotos. Fried eggs broken over French fries, often with ham or chorizo. Simple and addictive.
• Patatas bravas. Fried potato chunks with a spicy paprika sauce and often garlic mayonnaise. Every bar claims the best; they vary a lot.
• Callos a la madrileña. Tripe stewed with chorizo, blood sausage and paprika, a cold-weather classic. Try a small portion first.
• Oreja a la plancha. Griddled pig's ear with garlic and paprika, crisp outside and gelatinous inside. A taste of old Madrid.
• Soldaditos de Pavía. Battered strips of salt cod, a bar snack with a long history.
• Sopa de ajo. Garlic soup with bread, paprika and an egg, ideal in winter.
• Croquetas. Creamy béchamel croquettes with ham, cod or mushroom. Madrid takes them seriously.
• Jamón ibérico. Cured ham from black Iberian pigs; the top grade, de bellota, comes from acorn-fed pigs. Sold by the plate at bars and markets.

The best tapas streets

Madrid's bars are best enjoyed by neighborhood, moving from one to the next. These areas reward a wander; follow the locals and the noise.

Classic places with long histories

These long-running addresses are part of the city's story. Expect other visitors, and book the sit-down restaurants ahead.

How to eat cocido

Cocido madrileño is a slow-simmered stew of chickpeas, beef, chicken, pork belly, chorizo, blood sausage, cured ham bones, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. It is served in stages called vuelcos ("tippings"):

1. The broth comes first, as a soup with fine noodles.
2. Then the chickpeas and vegetables, with the cabbage often sautéed with garlic.
3. Finally the meats, on a platter, eaten with a little tomato sauce or pickled green chilies (guindillas).

It is a lunch dish, and it is big; skip dessert plans and anything active afterward. Many restaurants serve it only on certain days or from October to spring, so check ahead. If you want only one traditional meal in Madrid, this is the one to choose on a cool day.

Food markets

Madrid has more than 40 municipal markets. Some have turned into food halls, while others still sell fish and fruit to neighbors, with a few bars inside.

• Mercado de San Miguel (by the Plaza Mayor). A beautiful 1916 iron hall, now a gourmet tapas hall with oysters, ham, vermouth and croquettes. Fun for a look and a glass, expensive for a meal, and crowded from late afternoon.
• Mercado de San Antón (Chueca). Fresh stalls on the ground floor, prepared food above and a rooftop terrace.
• Mercado de Antón Martín (Barrio de las Letras). A real neighborhood market with small food stalls tucked between butchers and greengrocers.
• Mercado de la Cebada (La Latina). A big local market; on Saturday afternoons some fish stalls serve seafood and drinks to a party crowd.
• Mercado de Vallehermoso (Chamberí). A local market that added a cluster of creative food counters.

Markets usually open in the morning and close by 2 or 3 pm on many days, with afternoon hours on some weekdays. Most close on Sundays. Food halls such as San Miguel stay open all day and into the evening.

Churros and sweets

Churros with chocolate are Madrid's comfort food, eaten for breakfast, as a merienda or at 4 am after a night out. You dunk them in a thick, barely sweet hot chocolate. Porras are the thicker, fluffier cousin. Any traditional churrería serves both.

• Through the year. Rosquillas (small ring cookies, plain or iced) appear for the San Isidro festival in mid-May; torrijas (Spanish French toast soaked in milk or wine) at Easter; and the roscón de Reyes, a ring cake with candied fruit and a hidden figurine, for Three Kings on January 6. See festivals.
• Convent sweets. Some cloistered convents sell cookies and pastries through a turntable window so the nuns stay out of sight. It is a quiet, charming errand.

What to drink

• Beer. A caña is a small draft, about 7 ounces (200 ml); a doble or tercio is bigger. Mahou is the Madrid brewery and on tap in most bars.
• Vermouth. Vermut on tap is a Sunday ritual, especially in La Latina and Malasaña around 1 pm. "Ir de vermut" means going for a pre-lunch drink.
• Wine. Bars pour Rioja and Ribera del Duero reds by the glass, plus Verdejo whites from Rueda. Madrid has its own wine region, Vinos de Madrid, with good Garnachas from the hills west of the city. See wine.
• Sherry. A few old bars specialize in dry fino and manzanilla from Andalusia, served cold with olives and almonds.
• After dinner. A gin-tonic in a huge balloon glass is the Spanish nightcap. Spirit pours are generous by US standards.
• Coffee. Café solo is an espresso, cortado has a splash of milk, café con leche is half milk. Iced coffee means a hot coffee poured over a glass of ice.

Nightlife

Madrid is one of Europe's great night cities, and the schedule is the main adjustment for Americans. People meet for dinner at 10, move to bars at midnight, and clubs fill between 1:30 and 3 am. Many bars stay open until 2 or 3 am, clubs until 6.

• Malasaña. Indie music bars, cheap drinks and a young crowd around the Plaza del Dos de Mayo.
• Chueca. The heart of LGBTQ+ Madrid, with cocktail bars, dance clubs and a welcoming mixed crowd. Madrid's Pride (MADO) in late June and early July is one of the largest in Europe; book hotels months ahead.
• Huertas and Santa Ana. Pubs, live-music bars and big crowds of visitors and students.
• La Latina. Sunday afternoon and evening drinking after the Rastro, plus cocktail bars.
• Rooftops. Hotel and cultural-center terraces along Gran Vía and Alcalá offer sunset drinks with city views, often with a door fee or minimum spend.
• Live music and jazz. Madrid has a long-running jazz scene and many small concert halls; check listings for the week you visit.

Flamenco shows in Madrid

Flamenco comes from Andalusia, but Madrid has been its commercial capital for more than a century, and many of the best artists live and perform here. A tablao is a venue built for flamenco, with a small stage, a guitarist, singers and dancers. Shows usually last about an hour and run several times a night. For more on what flamenco is and where to see it elsewhere, see flamenco in Spain.

• How to choose. Smaller rooms with unamplified sound feel more intimate; bigger tablaos give you more dancers. Early shows (6 to 7:30 pm) suit jet lag and families; later shows have more atmosphere.
• Dinner or not. The show-and-drink ticket is usually the best value. Tablao dinners are expensive for the quality at most venues; eat elsewhere first or after.
• Festivals. The Community of Madrid's Suma Flamenca festival, usually in June, brings top artists to theaters around the region; Teatro Real and other theaters also program flamenco through the year.

Diets, allergies and practical tips

• Allergies. EU rules require restaurants to tell you which of 14 major allergens a dish contains. Ask for the carta de alérgenos (allergen menu). For celiacs, "sin gluten" is widely understood, and Spain has strong awareness of celiac disease.
• Vegetarian and vegan. Easier than it used to be, especially in Malasaña, Lavapiés and Chueca. In traditional bars, ham turns up in surprising places, including salads and vegetable dishes; say "sin carne ni jamón" (no meat or ham).
• Reservations. Book popular restaurants a few days ahead for dinner on Thursday to Saturday, and a week or more for well-known places. Tapas bars do not take bookings.
• Paying. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; small old bars may prefer cash for tiny amounts. Service is included in prices, and tipping is modest: round up, or leave 5 to 10 percent for good table service.
• Terrace prices. Some bars charge more for sitting at an outdoor table (terraza) than standing at the bar. It is legal if posted.
• August. Many family-run restaurants close for two to four weeks in August. Check before you cross town.