The people of Madrid usually say that the capital arrives the best fish of the spanish coasts. We also make the best fabada in Spain, we bake the best pizza and even the best cheesecake in Burgos.
In Madrid you will not find your ex, but it is impossible not to run into a terrace. We are the Disneyland of hospitality: a theme park where the topic is how to manage to pay the bill, avoid the lines and leave the attraction without thinking that you have been ripped off.
The reality is that almost all the typical dishes of Madrid are better cooked (and served cheaper) beyond our borders. The churros are a thousand times better in Andalusia, the bravas are nailed in Valencia and the calamari sandwich gets even better by putting some Cantabrian squid rings between two pieces of bread.
But here we continue, boasting of “the best tortilla skewers”: at 4.5 euros what they put you in any bar on the Cantabrian coast at half price.
Everything is in Madrid
Madrid is the black hole of Spanish gastronomy. With the exception of dishes such as stew or tripe, almost all of its specialties originate from Andalusia, Galicia or the Basque Country, regions affected by a rural exodus that brought their customs to the capital, also in regards to cooking.
Today, the most interesting of Madrid gastronomy remains in the hands of immigrants: Latinos, Chinese or Romanians who have some of the most interesting restaurants in the city, usually in the suburbs, where hardly anyone pays attention. But also Asturians, Sorianos or Andalusians, of the second or third generation, who they are the ones who win the contests gastronomy for Madrid.
It is beyond the M-30 where we also find the best examples of what we could consider the authentic Madrid gastronomy: Dishes like grilled ear or snails that are increasingly difficult to find in all the new “rogue” bars that have less tavern spirit than a song by Taburete. But his same audience.
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Meanwhile, within that socioeconomic border that supposes the M-30, barely a handful of authentic Madrid bars and restaurants survive, exponents of a gastronomy in extinction through gentrification. Or, in the case of Madrid, of the pure pijismo.
In Madrid you eat very well if you can afford it, but there wouldn’t be so many Madrileños taking over restaurant reservations from all the neighboring communities if we weren’t crazy about getting out of this hole to eat better at half the price.
Why does Madrid have the best fish in Spain? Because we are so arrogant enough to believe that Galicians, Alicante or Cadiz are going to keep the bad and give us the good.
In DAP | These are the three best torrijas in Madrid
In DAP | (You gotta) fight for your right (to tapa): the appetizer is an acquired right
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Why Madrid has the best fish in Spain
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Direct to the Palate
by Miguel Ayuso Rejas.