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El
Amparo
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Price:
€55. Wine: €19 |
| El
Amparo’s deserved reputation as one of Madrid’s
top gourmet restaurants owes a good deal to the creative
partnership of culinary consultant Martín
Berasategui and head chef Iñigo
Pérez and their flair for giving traditional
Basque recipes the nouvelle cuisine treatment. Recommended
dishes include mille feuille of apples with smoked fish
and foie gras, hake in a parsley sauce with clams, and
for dessert, cinnamon ice cream with dark chocolate
and pistachios. Another plus for the restaurant is its
setting – a former coach-house in Madrid’s
smart Salamanca district. The decor is the work of leading
Spanish designer Pascua Ortega, who also worked on the
refurbishment of the Teatro Real (see Culture). The
sun streams in through a skylight during the day, while
the restaurant space is lit by lanterns at night. |
Callejón
de Puigcerdá 8
Telephone number: (91) 431 6456. Fax number: (91) 575
5491 |
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El
Cenador del Prado
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Price: €30. Wine: €10 |
| Chef
Tomás Herranz has won numerous accolades for
his imaginative menus, which showcase the best of Spanish
regional cuisine. Salted cod in breadcrumbs with garlic
and grape garnishing, medallions of venison with cheese
ravioli and quince, beef carpaccio with pig’s
trotters in a mushroom sauce – all the dishes
here are prepared with virgin olive oil and dressed
with fresh herbs. The prices are reasonable, the ambience
is cool and refined, the service impeccable. The trellised
garden room is another plus. |
Calle
del Prado 4
Telephone number: (91) 429 1561. Fax number: (91) 369
0455 |
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Jockey
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Price:
€60. Wine: €19. |
| Patronised
by the rich, famous and discerning, Jockey has earned
itself the reputation as one of Madrid’s top-flight
restaurants since opening in 1945. The restaurant is
quite small and intimate, with dark wooden panelling
and framed prints of jockeys and their mounts. Sea bass,
wild fowl and game (when in season) are all to be found
on an ambitious and often exciting menu. The wine cellar
is also excellent. Typical dishes include lobster ragout
with truffles and fresh pasta, marinated partridge in
jelée of thyme and lamb à la Provençale. |
Amador
de los Ríos 6
Telephone number: (91) 319 1003. Fax number: (91) 319
2435 |
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La
Broche Sergi Arola
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Price:
€85. Wine: €19 |
| One
of the brightest stars in Madrid’s culinary firmament,
La Broche’s master chef, Sergi Arola,
has been awarded two Michelin stars for his original
interpretations of traditional Catalan and Spanish recipes.
The menu changes monthly but signature dishes include
turbot con patas de puerco, where pan-fried turbot is
sprinkled with coriander and served with a jelly of
pig’s feet wrapped in onion, and solomillo de
buey, ox steak stuffed with goats’ cheese, anchovies,
cherries and pine-nut puree. The stark, uniformly white
decor helps to create a relaxed and surprisingly informal
ambience. |
Miguel
Angel 29–31 (next to Hotel Occidental Miguel Angel)
Telephone number: (91) 399 3437. |
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Zalacaín
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Price:
€110. Wine: €19 |
| One
of Europe’s finest restaurants, Zalacaín
has gathered just about every gastronomic award and
include the coveted three Michelin stars. Master chef
Benjamín Urdaín has spent
nearly 30 years fine-tuning a menu that combines classic
French recipes with those of his Basque homeland. Only
a culinary master with a refreshing unpretentiousness
can give humble dishes like pig’s trotters and
smoked fish equal prominence with lobster, oysters,
caviar, truffles and foie gras. Some may find the formality
of Zalacaín a touch overdone, with its various
dining areas, some of which are well suited to tête-à-tête,
subdued lighting and dark red decor. Jacket and tie
are de rigueur. |
Alvarez
de Baena 4
Telephone number: (91) 561 5935. Fax number: (91) 561
4732. |
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