Usera began as a neighborhood that took as its name the surname of the military man who urbanized the land in the south of Madrid at the beginning of the 20th century. The heiress and owner of the land was his wife Carmen del Río.
The truth is that these lands were not very profitable as farmland, so her husband, Marcelo Usera, decided to parcel them out and start building. This is why some of the streets are named after her family or neighbors at the time. In the 1960s the Zone expanded, mainly thanks to the arrival of immigrants from other parts of Spain, which also occurred in other zones such as Tetuan o Vallecas. This created other neighborhoods such as Almendrales, Moscardó, Orcasitas, Zofío, Pradolongo, San Fermín and Orcasur, which since 1980 have been part of the Usera district.
Nowadays, when getting off at the Usera subway stop, it is easy to see a sign written in Chinese. Starting in the 2000s, the Asian population began to grow in the neighborhood – especially in and around Dolores Barranco street – and now accounts for a third of the district’s entire foreign population – there are a total of 10,651 people born in Asia living here, according to data from the Madrid City Council.
This has been a great attraction for the Zone, and festivals such as the Chinese New Year is institutionally provided and insists on the idea of Madrid’s Chinatown. Even with this particularity, it is happening like other neighborhoods in the south of the capital, such as Angel’s Gate in the last few years, rental prices are rising at a rate that is driving out people who could previously afford to live here.
Chinese restaurants in Usera
Mr. Doulao
In Mr. Doulao (and in many other places specializing in hot pot) the cauldron functions as a griddle, so to speak, and the food is finished cooking in the soup itself. (Soup, by the way, of which you also choose the flavor: spicy, mushroom, tomato). A soup you have to order from your phone. Table service is one-way: they bring you what you order, but whatever you order from your cell phone.
📍 Calle del Olvido, 46
🥢 Average price: 25 per person.
Hong Kong 70 in Chinatown
Hong Kong 70 started in Toledo street, then opened in Usera, but in 2022 they closed the original establishment and now they are only in Madrid’s Chinatown.
As expected, they focus on cuisine specific to the city that gives the restaurant its name and is one of Asia’s gastronomic strongholds. One of its specialties is duck in almost all its forms: roasted, fried or shredded in its dim sum. The latter are homemade and with fillings as appetizing as duck with foie flambé.
📍 Calle de Nicolás Sánchez, 11
🥢 Average price: 15 € per person.
Igo Pasta
Ramen, starters, rice dishes, vegetables, soups, all kinds of xiao longbaos and gyozas… Igo Pasta is that restaurant to go to when you want a complete dining experience. Its dishes are varied, hearty and recognized for being that take away always ready to make you happy.
However, Igo Pasta’s ramen, that wonderful dish capable of restoring and reviving a dead person, is the law: you will find it in a thousand ways, with meatballs, beef curry, vegetables, chicken… infinite possibilities and also extras to enjoy it to taste. Don’t ask for it: enjoy it in situ to take advantage of the heat of the stove.
📍 Calle de Dolores Barranco, 88.
🥢 Average price: 16 € per person.
Helaotai
If there is one thing that the residents of Usera highlight about Helaotai, it is the generosity of the portions: abundant quantities, perfect for sharing and, thus, tasting more and more dishes. The concept is simple: the best and authentic Chinese street food on a plate. Its noodles (especially inexpensive), as well as sautéed rice pasta and guotie (fried dumplings) stand out.
📍Callede Dolores Barranco, 13.
🥢 Average price: 10 € per person.
What to do in Usera
Room Number 34
What looks like a normal storefront on the corner of Avenida Cerro de los Ángeles number 34 is, in truth, a creative space that brings together everything from digital residencies to installations, performances, happenings… This small glazed space, open to the eyes of the neighborhood, welcomes various emerging artists from the city who find here a place of expression and creation.
Founded by the artist RGB @3819etc i’m Virgen Maria, Lorenzo Galgo, Carle Naide. .. and, at the moment, Masaaki Hasegawa with his installation Fake is the new real (until February 10, 2023).
That “room of one’s own” of which Virginia Woolf spoke takes on a new dimension in Usera: in Room Number 34 art is generated, opens up to the neighborhood and transcends the museum or the traditional art gallery.
cerro de los Ángeles Avenue, 34
Wenzhou Supermarkets
The Wenzhou Supermarket chain opened its first store in 1998 in Tetuán – where there is also a strong Chinese community – and grew in line with the Asian population in Madrid. In Usera they have two establishments specialized in selling Asian food from countries such as China, Japan or Korea.
📍 Establishments in Usera: calle de Dolores Barranco, 70 and calle Nicolás Sánchez, 17
The Reloj sundials and the Moscardó colony
In the 1980s, the designer Alberto Corazón and the mathematician Juan José Caurcel created 17 Reloj sundials on different facades in the Moscardó neighborhood of Usera. Recently, through an initiative promoted by the Neighbors Association of Moscardó Neighborhood with the support of the Municipal Board of Usera, these Reloj have been restored and recovered for the heritage of the neighborhood and all the neighbors of Madrid.
Some of these Reloj’s can be found on the facade of another of the neighborhood’s jewels: the Colonia Moscardó, the first public housing colony in Madrid. It was baptized in 1929 as Colonia Salud y Ahorro and is, without a doubt, one of the obligatory stops if you visit Usera. One of those places that are in Madrid, but do not look like Madrid.
📍 S everal locations in the Moscardó neighborhood of Usera
Manzanares Linear Park
You may not be familiar with the name, but what you’ve probably seen before is the mythical sculpture of La Dama del Manzanares, a work of the Valencian artist Manolo Valdés in the shape of a woman’s head and 13 meters high. It is located at the top of La Atalaya, a pyramid-shaped viewpoint designed by the famous Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill.
The Manzanares Linear Park is one of the green spaces it has different zones, such as the Plaza Verde (in the shape of a half moon), the Paseo de los Sentidos, the Pradera (a large lawn) or the Belvedere Park, with playgrounds, a playground, a playground for children and a playground for adults children’s. And, as its name indicates, the course of the Manzanares River crosses part of it.
📍 Camino de Perales, s/n
This article has been written by Alberto del Castillo, María F. Carballo, Isabel Nieto, Lucía Mos y Elena French.