In a short walk it is easy to find a few Mexican restaurants in Madrid. There is no denying, this, like many other cities, has succumbed to the charm of corn tortillas. It has become a necessity to eat a cochinita pibil taco, even if this is only one of the many that Mexican gastronomy has given us.
This extensive offer of Mexican restaurants has a great benefit, there is something for all tastes and prices. While some are faithful to the rich pre-Columbian cuisine, which has conquered the world with its acidic and spicy flavors, others are committed to fusion with local dishes or even with other cultures, such as Asian, in a display of innovation and experimentation.
Tobalá Taco Bar
Tobalá is to Madrid what the Rincón de Ademuz is to Castilla La Mancha. An exclave. A territory of a few square meters that is Mexico.
The name of this restaurant refers to an agave (the plant from which tequila is made) and its selection of tacos deserves to put the owner in a penthouse in Chamberí. The tongue taco or the suadero are out of this world.
It is also an opportunity to try dishes that are not very common in impost Mexican restaurants: sopes, chimichangas, chalupas poblanas, panuchos or pozole.
Calle de Gaztambide, 35 (Chamberí).
💶 €€€€€.
2. Barracuda MX
Barracuda MX is chef Roberto Ruiz’s second chance. With his last restaurant, Punto MX, he achieved the first Michelin star for a Mexican restaurant in Europe, although it had to close after the pandemic. In this project we are transported to the Mexican Pacific coast through raw fish, citrus sauces and fried food.
Calle Valenzuela, 7 (Salamanca neighborhood).
💶 €€€€€.
3. Mawey Taco Bar
Fernando Carrasco and Julián Barros, both chefs with extensive experience (in several great Michelin-starred restaurants), are at the helm of this kitchen. You can’t miss their governor tacos, with blue corn tortilla, grilled Oaxaca cheese, ancho chile sauce, sautéed shrimp, pickled onion and quicos powder; or their cochinita pibil taco with roasted pork leg, marinated with achiote and orange juice. They are masters in bringing pre-Columbian cuisine to local gastronomy.
Calle de Olid, 6 (Trafalgar); Calle de San Bernardo, 5 (Santo Domingo) and Calle Manuel de falla, 3 (Majadahonda).
💶 €€€€€.
4. DF Bar
The idea is simple: eat like you would on the streets of DF. Doña Guille, the chef, prepares the dishes she learned to cook in her homeland, Mexico. We all know the tacos, but her specialty is her tortas, a kind of muffin filled with a wide variety of fillings: plantain, nopal, tinga…. Ah, their nachos are also out of this world.
Calle del León, 31 (Las Letras)
💶 €€€€€.
5. Mami Tacos
Birria is a traditional stew typical of the state of Jalisco that has arrived in Madrid thanks to Mami Tacos. The stew: beef shank in a pot, low temperature, Mexican chiles, spices, clean, crumble, put on a tortilla and accompany it with the broth of the stew. That, and any dish you can imagine from this stew.
Calle de San Andrés, 31 (Malasaña)
💶 €€€€€.
6. Tepic Madrid
With a minimalist decoration and presentation, they define themselves as follows: “far from stereotypes and clichés, but with the spirit of offering authentic traditional Mexican cuisine”. And for those who are always looking for an outdoor dining, this is also in the select list of Mexican restaurants in Madrid with terrace. Their strong points? Its guacamole or its octopus tostada.
Calle de Ayala, 14 (Salamanca neighborhood).
💶 €€€€€.
7. Takos Al Pastor
There is always a queue to eat one of these tacos for a reason: price and quality are not always at odds. Years go by and the level of their famous tacos remains the same, although the price has gone up a bit: a little more than one euro. Yes, just over one euro for some of the best tacos in Madrid. You should not leave without trying the cochinita pibil and, of course, their specialty, the tacos al pastor with the classic adobe of achiote.
Calle de la Salud, 13 (downtown)
💶 €€€€€.
8. Quetzal-Coatl
Quetzal-Coatl ‘s dishes seek to fuse traditional Mexican recipes with Spanish and French haute cuisine techniques, making pre-Hispanic ingredients their flagship.
Mole poblano with chef Rogelio Castro’s grandmother’s recipe, veal ingot with mole or guacamole with basil oil are some of their star dishes among which you can find stews to prepare your own taco.
In addition, at their Coatl bar they offer mezcal and tequila tastings, as well as margaritas and spicy micheladas. You can check their menu and reserve a table on their website.
C. Joaquín María López, 46 (Chamberí)
💶 €€€€€.
9. Hijo del Maíz
From the factory to the restaurant. If you are familiar with Hijo del Maíz, you may be familiar with Maíz Maya, the Mexican products factory that sells its corn tortillas to chefs such as (for example) Dabiz Muñoz, as Mar León explained in this report in El Español.
With this experience, they have opened two restaurants. The second, in addition to pozoles, esquites, enchiladas or different types of tacos, has a variety of mezcals and tequilas worthy of appearing on the menu of one of the great cocktail bars in Madrid.
📍 Calle de Mauricio Ravel, 4 and Avenida de Brasil, 28 (Chamartín).
💶 €€€€€.
10. Bakan
Bakan is one of those restaurants that Mexicans themselves recommend. It opened at the end of 2021 near Puerta de Alcalá, after succeeding in Miami. Tradition is at the heart of this cuisine and the key to its success. Its big bets? The Chalaqueño corn with which they make tortillas, the firewood used to slow-cook the meat and the mezcal that, although less known than tequila, is gaining strength outside its borders.
Plaza de la Independencia, 5 (Salamanca neighborhood).
💶 €€€€€.
11. Iztac
Mexican chef Juan Antonio Matías is the creator of Iztac’s menu, which traverses cuisine from the northwest in Baja California to the southeast in Quintana Roo. A total of 32 Mexican states are represented in dishes such as moné de Lubina, sea bass loin wrapped in banana leaf and steamed with vegetables; or chichilo negro, original from Oxaca and made from mole with ashes of dried chiles and spices and pork belly cooked at low temperature.
Plaza de la República de Ecuador, 4 (Hispanoamérica).
💶 €€€€€.
12. Ticuí
Tucuí, Federico Rigoletti’s restaurant – named after a Mexican town in the state of Guerrero – is an evolution of his first restaurant, Puntarena. This Mexican restaurant in the heart of Madrid is a place where not only gastronomy is celebrated, but also the cocktails, architecture and craftsmanship of the North American country, with a modern look and where all these disciplines have the same weight.
Ticuí’s menu is not extensive, but it is complete and nourished by high quality raw material, with touches and presentations of Asian influence.
Calle de Cedaceros, 6 (downtown).
💶 €€€€€.
13. Jerónimo
Enrique Olvera, one of the best Mexican chefs in the world -his restaurant Pujol is ninth on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list- has his space in Madrid: Jerónimo is inside the Hotel Editon, in front of the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales.
The link between Mexico and Spain feeds this cuisine, which uses local produce to create a 100% Aztec menu. The squid Veracruz style or the meatballs enchipotladas are good examples of this premise. Of course, if you want to eat tacos, you won’t find them here.
Plaza de Celenque, 2 (downtown)
💶 €€€€€.
With this review of the gastronomy there are no more excuses for not entering one of these Mexican restaurants in Madrid. And although the typical dishes, such as cochinita or al pastor tacos and a good guacamole, are hard to beat, it is clear that there is much to discover about the Mexican traditions and culture that has contributed so much to the world through its food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=EsReVTYbKy0