Tasting menus generally meet a fundamental requirement when it comes to choosing a restaurant: you don’t have to think too much. It is enough to sit down and begin to participate in a parade of caps and all kinds of creations that you have not chosen. And is that when you go to a restaurant to try a tasting menu you just choose the place (and the drink, of course).
But the great virtue of the tasting menu as a concept is not so much the absence of decision as the fact that it is a process that has been meticulously thought out by a scholar of the subject. The chef in question chooses not only which dishes make up the menu, but also the order in which they are brought to the table and sometimes the pairing of each of the steps. And the sample of the latter is this list with the best tasting menus in Madrid or at least some that are really worth it.
1. Tripea
Tripea is a market restaurant and not because of its type of cuisine, but because it is literally in a market, the Vallehermoso market to be precise. Tripea’s bet has not gone unnoticed by experts. A menu that varies but is based on Peruvian and Asian cuisine (quail stewed in saffron and saffron massaman curry, pure robuchon with five Chinese spices, wok pak choy ) with the authorial nuances of the chef, Roberto Martínez Foronda.
💸 Menu: 60 €
📍 Vallehermoso Market (36 Vallehermoso St., Arapiles)
2. Gioia
Gioia is the result of chef Davide Bonato’s roots and work experience. This Italian restaurant with one Sun from the Repsol Guide works like a workshop: everything is handmade. But there is also room for innovation, in a balance with more traditional flavors, which is the basis of all its dishes, where the essential ingredients of yesteryear are reborn with new shapes, colors and textures.
💸 Two menu options: 75€ y 90€
📍 Calle de San Bartolomé, 23 (Chueca)
3. Koi House
At Casa Koi Migrante is the creation of Maqui, an Argentinean living in Madrid who wanted to merge cultures through this culinary and artistic project. Its tasting menu is focused on Peruvian gastronomy, but with Asian touches. Some of the dishes that we can find in the four passes are: white fish tiradito with nikkei sauce and chalaquita or citrus salmon ceviche with tapioca pearls.
📍 Calle de Trafalgar, 12 (Trafalgar)
4. Yugo the Bunker
Yugo the Bunker replicates the experience of eating in a Japanese bunker and brings together some of the best cuts of fish that can be found in Spain: the sea bass belly nigiri or the Ora king salmon usuzukuri are likely to generate a full-fledged stendhalazo in the diner. They have two tasting menus: Roots, which features the classic elements of Japanese cuisine, and Naked, a more minimalist and honest version.
💸 Two options: Classics: 145 and Evolution: 175 €
📍 Calle de San Blas, 4 (Las Letras)
5. Bichopalo
Bichopalo’s cuisine can only be defined by its quality: the authorial nuance is absolute and the choice of dishes does not suggest a gastronomy of a specific origin or typology. A tasting menu that is the only thing offered, fixed dishes (oysters or eggs with shitake soil) and a lot of desire to fight.
💸 Menu: 48€
📍 Calle de Cristóbal Bordiú, 39 (Chamberí)
6. Brutalist
Brutalista claims to have the spirit of a neighborhood tavern and market. These experts in pickling -especially the rabbit- have attracted the attention of chefs and experts despite their short career. Its cuisine has touches of typical game dishes, such as quail, with some Asian cuisine, such as Oliviere temaki, and a classic that never fails, such as gazpacho. In addition, their prices are quite tight, with three different price ranges.
💸 Three options: one for 28 €, one for 38 € and one for 50 €
📍 Calle Juan Álvarez Mendizábal, 34 (Argüelles)
7. Asia Gallery
The new gastronomic temple of Roger Chen is located in the salamanca neighborhood. In its menu, as well as in the Palace Edition menu, it recreates some of the most acclaimed dishes of the famous ‘Palace Chinese’, inaugurated in 2004 and considered a paradigm of Cantonese cuisine in Madrid.
In its casual and cosmopolitan version, the new Asia Gallery offers a culinary journey with nods to imperial cuisine without neglecting the contemporary twists of today’s China. The menu, compressed into several courses, consists of three starters, several main courses and three main courses. A revival of its original dishes where the tenderloin with oyster sauce, prawns with honey and, of course, the legendary Peking Duck shine.
two options: one for 48 € and one for 60 € per person.
📍 Calle de Lagasca, 82 (Salamanca district)
8. La Bien Aparecida
The apple of the eye of the Cañadío group is unveiled with the highly personal proposal of José Manuel de Dios as pater nobis of its kitchens. La Bien Aparecida, the third space of Paco Quirós in Madrid, oozes sophistication, Cantabrian cuisine and a barrage of good reviews .
Its tasting menu is prepared daily (lunch until 3.30 p.m. and dinner until 10.30 p.m.) with dishes from the menu where seasonal products are the most important. The diner will be lucky if, among the various passes, he gets one of their fish or the baked eggplant with pesto.
💸 Tasting: 78 € (+ 42 € with wine pairing)
📍 Calle de Jorge Juan, 8 (neighborhood of Salamanca)
9. Zalacaín
This refuge for aristocrats, literati and artists, whose name refers to the novel ‘Zalacaín, the Adventurer’ by Pío Baroja, maintains its reputation thanks to an impeccable overall staging in the dining room, kitchen and wine cellar.
In their new venture, they have incorporated a menu that revisits many of their star dishes and new recipes with three appetizers, seven courses and a dessert. On this trip you can find a foie-gras cut with orange crocanti tuile, a salad of braised scallops with cockles or a sirloin steak tartare.
💸 Gastronomic Tour: 145 € (without wine pairing)
📍 Calle Álvarez de Baena, 4 (Gregorio Marañon)
10. Coco
Installed in the chamberí neighborhood the Sandoval brothers maintain the gastronomic excitement in the dining room, cellar and kitchen of their two-starred restaurant. This season, the brotherly balance carries over to the new Guarda menu, a six-act journey that orbits around sustainability, local and seasonal produce and, of course, innovation. Its commitment to local produce brings diners closer to the family garden in Jaral de la Mira.
💸 Tasting menu from 340 €
📍 Calle del Marqués del Riscal, 11 (Almagro)
11. Saddle
It has always been said that quality is preferable to quantity, but there are times when it is a happy coincidence that both occur at the same time. That’s exactly what’s happening at Saddle, the Michelin-starred restaurant that presents a tasting menu of 10 food passes (eight savory and two sweet) featuring the best of the season. Some dishes, such as smoked eel, chard stalks and Iberian velouté al palo cortado(pictured), can only be tried as part of this menu.
💸 Stations menu: 120 €
📍 Calle de Amador de los Ríos, 6 (Almagro)
12. Beytna
The richness and variety of Jordanian cuisine are difficult to summarize, but it is a challenge that Beytna has certainly met with success. Its gastronomic selection is based on the most characteristic recipes and flavors of Arabian cuisine and on traditional ways of cooking. Tabbouleh, hummus or sojouk are some of the dishes included in the menu. Not to mention its sweets, such as the traditional baklawa.
📍 Calle del Moscatelar, 18 (Arturo Soria)
13. Paco Roncero Restaurant
two options: one for 120 € and one for 210 €
📍 Alcalá Street, 15 (downtown)
14. La Tasquita de Enfrente
💸 Two options: one for 110 € and one for 150 €
📍 Calle de la Ballesta, 6 (Malasaña)
15.Kuoco 360
💸 Tasting menu: 78 €
📍 Calle de San Bartolomé, 14 (Chueca)
16.Chiron
Of course we could not miss the restaurant that holds the Honor of being the cheapest Michelin star restaurant in Madrid. Contrary to common sense (a Michelin star rarely goes below three figures), Chirón is an exception to the high prices of starred restaurants. The executive menu does not reach 35€ and includes welcome snacks, oils, appetizer, starter, fish, meat, dessert and final dessert. In addition to wine. The rice in the photo has an additional cost of 10€.
💸 There are four options: 34 €; 45 €; 90 € y 110 €.
📍 Calle Alarcón, 27 (Valdemoro)
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Brothers Mario and Sergio have achieved in a short time what many achieve in years: waiting lists to try their menu. No wonder. Its seating capacity reaches a whopping 20 diners distributed in a total of six tables. For that reason, they have instituted a regal reservation process: they open online every first of the month and sell out in a few hours.
Their mysterious tasting menu (because they don’t like, they say, spoilers) varies every two months and has a more than affordable starting price. This rotation of dishes allows them to be committed to seasonal produce and to be more creative in their service. An unpretentious concept that appeals to simplicity and the local. As Mario says: “This is like a rock band garage: we compose without rules and with common sense”.
💸 Two options: 75 (medium) and 100 (long)
📍 Granite Street, 20 (Arganzuela)
18. Surtopia
For more than 15 years, José Calleja’s friendliness and proximity have been living in fabulous harmony with the superb gastronomic offer of his native Andalusia. Each season it reformulates its culinary inventions and revalidates its place in Madrid’s gastronomic firmament.
Surtopía’s tasting menu synthesizes all the fantasy of its immense menu in 9 selected passes of seasonal products and with two optional extras: complete pairing and/or artisanal cheeses from Cádiz for the final point of this ode to the Andalusian pantry.
💸 Surtopía Tasting: 75€, with wine pairing: 35€, with cheeses from Cádiz: 8€
📍 Núñez de Balboa, 106 (Lista)
19. Penthouse
Ático is led by two Michelin-starred chef Ramón Freixa, and also received a Sol from the Repsol Guide in 2022. In this restaurant of The Principal Madrid hotel, in the immediate vicinity of Gran Vía the award-winning chef has created a menu and a menu of “casual and pret-a-porter food”. Which can be translated as the perfect opportunity to sample interesting cuisine at an affordable price.
The main pass on this menu is three dishes that may resonate in your culinary memory, but there’s always a plot twist from the chef. The mellow rice has octopus and pork ribs, the hake in pil pil sauce has razor clams and the suckling pig confit is accompanied by a roast of peppers and eggplant.
💸 Menu without wine pairing: 72€
📍 Calle del Marqués de Valdeiglesias, 1 (Downtown)
Madrid’s tasting menus are proof that signature cuisine is no longer prohibitive and no longer follows clear rules.