On the hill of Príncipe Pío and separated by the Parque del Oeste is Argüelles, a neighborhood that belongs to the district of Moncloa-Aravaca, but that seems to be a part of Chamberí. Argüelles is an expansion of the center of Madrid that took place at the end of the 19th century.
It is bounded on one side by the Plaza de España and on the other by the Air Force Headquarters, architecturally reminiscent of El Escorial and many of the buildings in the northwest area of Madrid, where the neighborhood overlooks. The barracks sits on the site of the former model prison, which was the largest in Madrid during the 19th century.
The West Park occupies almost 100 hectares and in addition to improving the quality of life of those who enjoy it every day, it makes the neighborhood and especially the blocks of buildings that look directly onto the tree-lined promenade one of the most expensive in the capital.
Where to eat in Argüelles
Brutalist
Brutalista is one of those newcomers to the neighborhood that already has good eating and drinking parishioners. The method is simple, crude, crude: you choose between three types of tasting menu(from 28, 38 and 50 €); within each one, you will select, in turn, the starters, first and second courses of the day. And enjoy.
Its specialty: pickles and “everything with bones” (words of its chef and ideologist, Pablo López Ibarra, when we chatted with him about music, wine and partridges while we enjoyed the feast at the bar). From the last time we visited this temple of product cuisine and industrial concrete aesthetics, we would like to recommend the smoked sardine, the pickled rabbit and, without hesitation, the fried quail
34 Juan Álvarez Mendizábal Street.
El Lagar
El Lagar is a classic in the lists of bars with free tapas but it also has an important emotional factor: if you have studied in Madrid and you have not been to this bar, it is as if you had not studied in Madrid.
It is usually crowded with college students who coexist with the usual parishioners and even with those who have it as a reference between bars to watch soccer. More drinks, more tapas: tortilla, ensaladilla or salpicón. Fundamental visit at the end of the month.
39 Ferraz Street, Ferraz, 39
The pond
The best cachopo of Spain 2020. Sufficient motive, just merit and insufficient reason. You go to La Charca, but not only to try their cachopo. Correctness personified in a restaurant: everything is good, although it is true that the rice pudding, the cachopos (classic or more imaginative), and even the bean stew reach heights of excellence.
Juan Álvarez Mendizábal Street, 7
Chicago Style Pizza
You have probably tried neapolitan pizzas, with very thin dough and crispy edges; the Argentinian ones, with thicker dough, abundant cheese and lots of spices; or even the lahmacun, the Turkish version of pizza covered with minced meat and spicy vegetables. However, it’s quite likely that you haven’t given Chicagoan pizza a chance yet. Chicago-style pizza, come on. A dish as peculiar as it is delicious that you can try at Chicago Style Pizza.
This original restaurant on Ferraz Street (although it also has another location on Maudes Street) offers Chicago-style pizzas accompanied by starters and sweet desserts. The particularity of this recipe is that the dough serves as a base but also as walls for the pizza, just as it happens in a quiche or an English pie. In addition, the order of the ingredients varies: first goes the cheese, as it serves as glue for the rest of toppings and, lastly, the tomato, which works as a perfect sauce that covers everything. A clever alteration that creates a pizza that does not disappoint.
FerrazStreet, 9
Frida intimate
is it possible to get to know someone through their recipe book? Frida Intima is proof that it is, and that it is a unique way to do so. Here you can taste the dishes that were cooked at the home of the Mexican artist, in that refuge that was the Red House. The clemachile (shrimp marinated in lime with a touch of tomato juice and celery), the cochinita sopes or the suadero taco with marrow are some of them, to which a careful cocktail bar is added.
But there is more: Frida Íntima is also a free art gallery where you can find unpublished photographs donated by the artist’s family.
Pintor Rosales Street, 32
Bar Casa Paco
Leaving aside the modernities made in USA and focusing on the most traditional and traditional food, we find Bar Casa Paco. It is a tavern founded in 1954 that offers a wide variety of lightly curdled potato omelets, typical Madrilenian dishes such as tripe or patatas bravas and a complete homemade menu from Monday to Friday.
Casa Paco has been, for almost 70 years, an icon of the Argüelles neighborhood and a hallmark of its identity. It is worth a visit if you are in the area. From here we recommend their omelettes (15 different flavors) or their croquettes of Iberian, boletus, cabrales, sirloin or oxtail.
34 Príncipe de Vergara Street, 34
Bar Los Bocadillos
Open since 1947, Los Bocadillos is one of the great classics of the Argüelles neighborhood. The establishment, in addition to having an iconic name, has quite affordable prices so it is usually quite busy. As you might expect, the sandwiches at this bar are delicious, especially the one with squid and the veal nugget. They also offer abundant portions of meat or fish and their famous ‘cañís’ (smaller than a conventional cane) for only 1,30€.
The narrow place has an open kitchen and its clientele is very varied and traditional. In addition, they also have a small terrace, which is usually full, so we recommend you to go early.
Calle del Marqués de Urquijo, 1
Having a drink in Argüelles
The Fix
The Fix has some of the must-haves for a great breakfast: freshly baked pastries, specialty coffee (toasted by them), a spicy and intense chai latte and an avocado toast that is hard not to order every time. It also has a cave on the lower floor where you can work, read and spend a quiet moment with the aroma of coffee.
Street of Luisa Fernanda, 15.
Ad Hoc Cafeteria
Ad Hoc is a coffee shop, yes, but it is also a complete cultural space. You can simply go for a drink, if you are able to leave without one of the many books they sell, with a special section of independent publishers. In addition, there are writing and reading workshops, a book club, exhibitions and book presentations. The wood, the two heights, the plants, the books and the light from the large window help you want to make Ad Hoc that third space that is neither your home nor work, but where you want to live.
Buen Suceso Street, 14
Bowls
Cuenllas began as a grocery store in 1939, near the Paseo de Pintor Rosales and has survived time as the neighborhood of Argüelles itself, perpetuating its essence, but updating the offer. It is now a deli with a bar, where you can buy and drink something special. In 2021 they opened a small wine bar in one of the most pleasant streets for strolling in the neighborhood of Salesas orellana Street.
Ferraz Street, 5
What to see in Argüelles
Cerralbo Museum
It is not one of those big museums with an infinite number of rooms, but it has nothing to envy them either. The Cerralbo Museum is a late 19th century palace-house that belonged to the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, who gave it its name and who arranged the house as it is today so that the boomers, millennials and centenials can visit it today.
In it we can find more than 50,000 works of art including paintings, sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, furniture, coins and armor. All of them, a reliable Reflection of the taste, life and aesthetics of the Spanish upper class of the time. An eclectic journey through the different rooms of the house that will bring us closer to styles such as classicism, neo-baroque and rococo and is certainly worth a visit. In addition, the ticket only costs 3 euros!
17, Ventura Rodríguez Street
The palace of Liria
The palace of Liria is the private residence of the House of Alba, one of the families with the most noble titles in Europe, since the 18th century. It is a neoclassical building by Ventura Rodríguez, one of the most relevant and prolific architects in Madrid at the time. During the Civil War, like many other buildings in the capital, it suffered several fires and the entire interior was lost, although the great works of art it housed had already been placed in safekeeping among the British Embassy, the Prado Museum, the Bank of Spain and other institutions.
The Goya, Velázquez, Murillo, Zurbarán, Greco, Ribera, Rubens, among other great artists that hang on its walls as well as the decorative objects of great value can now be visited by purchasing a ticket from its website.
Calle de la Princesa, 20
Temple of Debod
The Temple of Debod, one of the most iconic monuments of Madrid and the Parque del Oeste, has been in the capital since 1968 and was a gift from Egypt to Spain for its collaboration in the rescue of the Abu Simbel temples. It is estimated that it was built between 185 BC and the first century AD. The ticket to the temple, dedicated to Amon of Debod and Isis, is free and self-guided and can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm. Due to its small size, it is not possible to reserve a ticket.
On the other hand, its oldest room – Adijalamani’s chapel – can be visited virtually through this link.
Ferraz Street, 1
West Park
As we said, one of the most emblematic places of this park is the Temple of Debod, but in its extension of about 100 hectares has others such as the cable car, three bunkers of the Civil War, an artificial stream or its famous rose garden that houses more than 600 species of roses.
In addition, it is said that from here you can see one of the most beautiful sunsets in Madrid. In fact, as a curious fact, is not uncommon to hear applause at some point during sunset near the Temple of Debod. Things from Madrid.
What to do in Argüelles
Alberti Bookstore
“During the early hours of yesterday morning a Nazi commando set fire to the Rafael Alberti bookstore in Madrid. Despite the numerous threats and attacks to which the bookstore has been subjected, there was no police protection at the time. As long as this situation continues, insurance companies do not want to take over bookstores.” This entry, from a news item in El País from 1976, says it all.
They wanted to burn down the Alberti bookstore. They wanted, with night and malice aforethought, to set ablaze the revolutionary thing that can exist within the pages of a book. They did not succeed. Today it continues to be a cultural reference in the neighborhood, organizing workshops, presentations, events… all for literature and creation.
57 Tutor Street.
Grandma’s Garden
A few meters away from the street dedicated to Pintor Rosales, which also borders one of the most important the most beautiful parks in Madrid we found El Jardín de la Abuela (Grandmother’s Garden), a flower shop specializing in roses (and orchids). It is a family flower shop that has passed from parents to children and it shows in the treatment, the loyalty of the neighbors of the neighborhood and even in the prices, since it is far from the franchises of flower shops where you get a kidney for a bouquet or a monstera that will die in three days.
If you pass through the neighborhood, even if you don’t want a bouquet of roses or an orchid, you can stop by to see (and smell) the place, if only to buy a 2 euro cactus or a hanging poto, which survive the most extreme circumstances such as an unlit basement in the center of Madrid.
C. de Martín de los Heros, 89.
Eight and a Half
Fernando León de Aranoa, Isabel Peña or Carla Simón are some of the best screenwriters of Spanish cinema, and their works (their scripts as which) can be found in the bookshop Eight and a Half on Martín de los Heros Street. Best of all, it’s not that they organize book signings, or that they give you perfect advice if you’re looking for textbooks on film, but that they also serve beer and coffee. Woody Allen, Coixet and even Fellini decorate the wall with their dedications, giving a unique character to the singular bookstore.
It’s the ideal place to have a wine and chat about how much you love (or hate) Christopher Nolan or compete for who knows the most names of women nominated for Best Director Oscars after seeing a movie at the Golem. Whatever you are, you’ll probably get a bit of rage here and there, but the Eight and a Half is a safe space for film buffs.
C. de Martín de los Heros, 11.
Golem Cinemas
Martín de los Heros Street, which practically crosses the entire neighborhood of Arguelles, concentrates in a few meters the following streets the heart of Madrid’s cinema. The Ocho y Medio bookstore, specialized in movie scripts, is located in front of the Renoir movie theaters, and right in the middle of it, we have the madrid’s walk of fame. To the left of the Renoir, there is the Golem, one of the most special cinemas in Madrid.
have you ever wondered where you can see the short films awarded at the Goya Awards? Well, at the Golem. A David Lynch cycle? At the Golem. Iranian animation in V.O.S.E.? In the Golem. For all these reasons, is one of the madrid’s most indie cinemas where all A24 studio movies are screened.
C. de Martín de los Heros, 14.
This article has been written by Isabel Nieto, Javi Bisbal, Miguel Sanchez, Carmen Seco, Alberto del Castillo y Elena French.