Yes, calçots are also eaten in Madrid. This typical dish of Catalan cuisine has found its place in the capital and calçotadas are already a winter plan.
For those who still don’t understand it and think that it is another name for leek (although it belongs to the onion family), the calçot has its own particularities. This vegetable is typical of the Tarragona area and eating it involves a ritual: it is cooked on the grill, picked up with your hands and dipped in romesco sauce, while you try not to get burned or stained, you savor that 50/50 of the sweetness of the calçot and the creaminess of the sauce.
1. Lakasa
Lakasa’s menu changes with the seasons and adapts to what the market has to offer, which is why calçots have been on the menu since November. Cesar Martin is in charge of this restaurant that maintains a balance in which the product is excellent, but the average price is not prohibitive. This has made them recognized both in real life and on Instagram, where they have developed an informative side sharing elaborations. They even have their own podcast.
💶 Average price: 60 €.
📍Location:Plaza Descubridor Diego de Ordás, 1 (Río Rosas).
2. Candeli
Candeli is located in one of the culinary epicenters of Madrid: Ponzano street. In such an artery the competition is high, but this restaurant has made a niche for focusing on two things. One is the market cuisine (with special attention to meats) and the other is the grill.
This second element is what makes its calçots menu make all the sense within its menu, which also includes: pan amb tumaca, cod brandade, charcoal-grilled chops, butifarra and crema catalana.
Average price: 50 €.
📍Location:Calle de Ponzano, 47 (Chamberí)
3. Can Punyetes
Can Punyetes is a Barcelona classic that settled in Madrid in the late 80s, and it could be said that it is already a benchmark of Catalan gastronomy in the capital. Mediterranean cuisine is the central axis of this restaurant, which is also governed by the seasons, so the calçots are only on the menu from November to April.
Calçots with romesco sauce: 10,90 €.
📍Location:Calle de San Agustín, 9 (Las Letras) and Calle de los Señores de Luzón, 5 (Las Letras).
4. Calsot
At Calsot they serve calçots and their calçotada menu all year round, so they live up to their name. They also take advantage of the embers with a long list of vegetables and meats in their menu, among which the rabbit stands out, so typical of the Levantine cuisine. Another of the Catalan dishes included in the menu are the snails a la llauna, which after passing through the embers are finished off with a brandy flambé.
💶Calçotadafor two people: 29€.
📍Location: Avenida de la Paloma, 36 (Hoyo de Manzanares)
5. Casa Jorge
In Casa Jorge there is also calçotada menu when the season allows it. This restaurant in Prosperidad was set up in 2000 by some people from Madrid, who had previously worked in a now defunct Catalan restaurant -Endavant- and having the know-how and the suppliers, they decided to launch their own Madrid version of Mediterranean cuisine. 22 years later they now have a total of three restaurants, not counting this one: La Divina de Goya, La Divina de Castellana and Moaran.
💶 Menu calçotada: 47€ per person
📍Location:Calle de Cartagena, 104 (Prosperidad)
6. El Economato Tavern
Taberna El Economato has two locations: one in Salesas and the other in the neighborhood of Las Letras, but the calçotada menu is only available by order at the tavern on Echegaray street. They also serve the calçots in portions of 8, you can always accompany them with cold meats, cheeses and preserves.
Average price: 25€.
📍Location:Echegaray street, 16 (Las Letras)
7. Can Bonet
Opposite the Retiro Park is this coquettish restaurant with tapas and market dishes and Catalan tradition. For starters, the calçots with romesco sauce are a classic of the winter season, but its fideuá rossejat and milhoja for dessert are an excellent culinary highlight.
💶 Calçotada menu: 29,90€.
📍Location: Avenida de Menéndez Pelayo, 15 (Ibiza)
8. La Divina de Goya
La Divina de Goya belongs to the same group as Casa Jorge, and its cuisine also follows the bases of Catalan gastronomy. Its calçotada menu includes (besides the obvious) escalivada, grilled rabbit with alioli, chops, butifarra sausage and Catalan cream to finish on a high note. Also a bottle of cava. The truth is that you can’t ask for more.
💶 Calçotada menu: 47 €.
📍Location:Goya street, 111 (Goya)
9. Barra Alta
Barra Alta Madrid is the restaurant of the Catalan chef Dani Roca. This vegetable, which is the star of the winter gardens in Catalonia, is presented in two different off-menu preparations, which are available while they are in season. The first is a low-temperature version of calçots on romesco sauce, accompanied by meat juice and butifarra de perol sausage in the style of Catalan calçotadas. In the second version, Roca gives another twist to the technique normally used to cook this product, in this dish he prepares the calçots in tempura, obtaining a crunchy, yet delicate result; they also have a touch of chaat masala and, of course, are accompanied by romesco sauce.
Price of the dishes: calçots confit, 23€ and calçots in tempura, 17€.
📍Location:Calle Lagasca, 19 (Salamanca neighborhood)