La Chalana has something that very few restaurants in Madrid can afford: spider crab, fat prawns with picantona, octopus in salad, blue cheese with apple jam, bottle of cider… and all for 19 euros. For two people: that is, 9,5€ per person. It sounds like a misprint, but no: it is the so-called Chigre Menu, a menu that changes every two weeks and is only served at the bar. An absurd amount of product for a price that elsewhere would not even cover your tip.
And now the Chigre Menu option has been joined by a promotion that already borders the border between cheap and free: stewed omelette with Asturian tripe for only one euro. The price of a bad coffee. This is no exaggeration: it is literal. This promotion, on the other hand, can only be enjoyed at the Barceló Market.
A seafood restaurant with logistical muscle
The seafood restaurant, which has locations in Santo Domingo de Silos, Barceló and Clara del Rey, has been making a name for itself for years among those in search of good seafood at tasca prices. And yes: the trick is not a bargain product. It is pure logistical muscle: La Chalana supplies itself, has its own nurseries and a size that guarantees that there is always a rotation of goods and customers. As if in the subsoil of Madrid there were a small Asturian port.
La Chalana and the Koldo case
But La Chalana is not only known for its prices. Last year it made headlines again, this time for something less gastronomic: the so-called Koldo case. According to the judicial investigation, Koldo García, former advisor to former Minister José Luis Ábalos, used the restaurant as a center of operations for his meetings regarding illegal commissions on contracts for masks during the pandemic. Even Ábalos himself was seen there in a meeting that, according to him, was “casual”.
Other seafood options in Madrid
The fact that Madrid eats the best fish in Spain sounds like a recurring joke, but it has its share of truth. In the capital there are temples of seafood that play in the first division: Desde 1911, with Michelin star and Sol Repsol, or El Pescador and O’Pazo, from the group Pescaderías Coruñesas, where the product is of another level. If you want to discover more addresses where you can enjoy a marine tribute without leaving the M-30, we have prepared a list of our favorite seafood restaurants.