Sundays are to take it easy, because the next day will be long before the following weekend. So, better to end the week with a good taste in your mouth and to do so, what better than going to look for the best paellas in Madrid? Being Madrid, also, the region where the biggest paella in history was cooked, you don’t need to get on an AVE to go to Valencia to eat a good rice.
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1. The rice dishes of Segis
In Los Arroces de Segis its main protagonist is to die for, but they also have two particularities. First: the total price per head of the paella includes a tasting of pre-selected starters. Second: the paella is cooked over a wood fire in a glassed-in kitchen completely visible to the diners.
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: Infanta Mercedes street, 109 (Valdeacederas) and Rosario Pino street, 18 (Tetuán).
2. Mar Mía
In the (perpetual) debate about the authentic Valencian paella it seems that rabbit is quite consensual, in Mar Mía they serve it like this, or only with vegetables, or in mellow format and with red gambeta.
This restaurant is defined by two gastronomic concepts: the embers and the Mediterranean cuisine, and if they are usually successful in themselves, together they would not be less successful. This self-defined urban beach bar carries the signature of chef Rafa Zafra (Estimar) in most of the dishes and adds Luis Rodriguez (Casa Elias) for rice dishes.
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: Plaza de Isabel II, 7 (center)
3. La Barraca
La Barraca is a very traditional restaurant and many say that their paella is one of the “best in the capital” and they say it without fear of being wrong. They serve an authentic Valencian paella, which, accompanied by their sangria, goes in without you even realizing it.
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: Calle de la Reina, 29 (center)
4. Samm
With more than 40 years of history, Samm’s baked rice is the same or better than the first day. It’s not one of the cheapest on the list, but you have to go (if only to be able to try their socarrat).
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: calle de Carlos Caamaño, 3 (Chamartín)
5. Casa Benigna
It is a traditional and very peculiar restaurant, because of its crockery and even its way of serving paella, which reflects the restless spirit of its founder, Noberto, who became the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Alicante. At Casa Benigna they present it in a patella, a container that manages to improve its texture and flavor.
💶 Price: €€€€€
Location: Calle Benigno Soto, 9 (Prosperidad)
6. Larrocería
Never has a name been so well placed. Larrocería gives exactly what it promises: rice, yes, and of a quality comparable to that of very few restaurants in Madrid (and almost in the Valencian Community). Intense flavor, daring mixtures, the right thickness or with classic combinations. In Larrocería they know what they do, when to risk and when to conserve. The biggest shame: they open when the market opens, but they serve at home.
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: Mercado De Guzmán El Bueno (calle de Andrés Mellado, 43)
7 .Bar La Gloria
Since 2013, Bar La Gloria cooks every Sunday a Valencian paella that has earned them to be included in the lists of the best Valencian paellas around the world. Their pampering for the ingredients, purchased in proximity stores, make their paellas an irresistible dish.
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: calle del Noviciado, 2 (Noviciado)
8. Berlanga Restaurant
José Luis García Berlanga, son of the filmmaker, is the chef of this restaurant overlooking the Retiro. The spaces between table and table are narrow inside (they also have a terrace), but there is enough space for the small side table where they serve their paellas, which are minimum for two people and is the star dish of their long menu.
💶 €€€€€
Location: Avenida de Menéndez Pelayo, 41 (Ibiza)
9. Paellitas Tradition
Paellitas Tradición, recently opened in the Nuevos Ministerios area, offers a solution to a historical problem: the impossibility of dividing a paella the way a pizza is divided. Their paellas are made with the eye of a nutritionist, as they are individual portions of 80 grams of rice and their place takes you to that Mediterranean atmosphere so typical of the Levantine coast. Affordable and delivery-oriented, if you can only try one, our recommendation is clear: the black rice.
💶Price : €€€€€
Location: Calle de San Germán, 11 (Tetuán) and Calle de Sta. Engracia, 43 (Chamberí).