Tag Archive for: Madrid

The 10 Best Bars and Restaurants in Chueca

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Madrid is a city full of colours, and we all know, from the metro station to the barrio decoration, which is the rainbow district in Madrid: Chueca.

We wish that this article will be a guide in honour of the World Pride Madrid 2017 that we are more than proud to have in town this year.

Chueca has turned into one of the most lively barrio in Madrid, for sure we have reviewed more bars and restaurant in Chueca than in all the other districts. Calle Pelayo for the restaurants and Calle Reina for the bars are as good as Calle Ponzano or Calle Cava Baja.

If you are in Chueca for the Orgullo and don’t know the city, don’t worry, you can find all you need between Calle Hortaleza and Gran Via.

1)Best Paella: Socarrat

The first thing everyone asks in in Spain is “Where is the best paella?” well, guess what, it’s in Chueca, the restaurant is called Socarrat and it’s real Valencian traditional receipt, the Paella de la Abuela, Paella Valenciana, Paella Vegetariana and much more.

It’s open just for lunch, it’s a tiny take away spot with some tables. Try also the craft beer made in Valencia named as the local. It’s open just for lunch, because paella was born for that specific meal.

Socarrat – Calle San Marcos, 2, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 663 43 91 10

2) Best international restaurant: diurno

If you know madridiana you will remember the diurno article and posts on social media, we are in love with this place and it’s our first suggestion when friends are in town and want to have a tasty lunch or dinner in a beautiful space. The lunch menu is perfect and you can either try spanish food or international quality dishes. It’s a well known location, a meeting point in barrio also for breakfast and the traditional afterwork.

DIURNO [Madrid] – Calle de San Marcos, 37, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 915 22 00 09

3) Best japanese restaurant: Sr. Ito

And here we are in Calle Pelayo, it’s such a nice street that it is good to have a pleasant excuse like dining in Sr. Ito for walking almost until Alonso Martinez. This is not the typical japanese restaurant, if you are a all you can eat sushi consumer, this is not your place. Sr. Ito in Chueca is the place for beauty lovers and slow life living. The decoration is incredible, we talk a lot about this place in dedicated article where you can see all the dishes, especially the cake, impressive.

Sr. Ito – Calle Pelayo, 60, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 910 81 66 15

4) Best Galician Restaurant: Morgana

Opened less than two month ago and it’s already a hit. The place is tiny but there is no place like Morgana to try galician food with a twist. The owners are Miguel, the chef in the kitchen and Augusto, at the bar making great tailor made cocktails. The ambient is nice, both the higher tables at the beginning and the lighted room with paintings and sculptures. If you are wondering where to have a real smashy tortilla, with the original liquid inside, this is your place.

Morgana – Calle de Augusto Figueroa, 33, 28004 Madrid

5) Best Italian Restaurant: Fratelli d’Italia

We are huge consumers of Fratelli d’Italia pizza in barrio Lavapiés, where there is not a restaurant like in Chueca Calle Hortaleza but a takeaway pizza spot that is a paradise for Italians missing a good pizza at a proper price. In Chueca Fratelli d’Italia it’s a pizzeria and a restaurant, but more than that it’s a Sardinian restaurant, where you can try really good pasta and fresh fish.

Fratelli d’Italia – Calle de Hortaleza, 28, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 915 15 41 06

6) Best bocata: La casa tomada

If Calle Valverde is the west limit of Chueca instead of Calle Valverde, La casa tomada can definitely be included in this barrio. The best bocata in Madrid has Venezuelan blood and it’s address is Calle San Lorenzo 9. José Antonio the owner and chef of Casa Tomada is a perfectionist, his bocatas XXL are works of art. Even if they are so huge you can’t visit La casa tomada without starting your meal with a chili cheese fries, you better go with friends.

La casa tomada – Calle San Lorenzo, 9, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 915 13 84 48

7) Best asian restaurant: Tuk Tuk

Tuk Tuk in Calle Barquillo is one of the numerous Tuk Tuk restaurants opened in Madrid with the visionary idea of sharing the best asian street food from Bangkok, India, Philippines, and Vietnam.

We have been to Barquillo and Alcalà which is the newer, and widely discussed about how much we are in love with the sexy baos and the delicious pad thai or hokkien.

8) Best east european restaurant: Khachapuri

Khachapuri is a discovery, it’s a typical Georgian restaurant in the middle of Chueca. It’s a mono product restaurant serving that Georgian pizza with eggs in a middle and a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of melty cheese, and it’s mandatory that you enjoy the khachapuri with the hands piece after piece. For this multi sensorial tasting experience and nice modern atmosphere of the restaurant, it’s a worth visiting restaurant. Read more in this article.

Khachapuri – Calle de Víctor Hugo, 5, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 916 68 38 65

9) Best cerveceria: Källa

Recently opened in Calle Barbieri, in the heart of Chueca, Källa is not just a cerveceria, it is also a beer factory, with a nordic name and simple style, even if the owners are two venezuelan entrepreneurs. This hybrid space of a bar and a factory offers three variety of crafted beer branded Källa Origen (IPA), Ritual (ALE) and Esencia (Lager), with an additional offer of beers from Madrid and other locations.

Källa – Calle de Barbieri, 20, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 915 21 01 32

10) Best cocktail bar: Angelita

Angelita Madrid has one of the best cocktails in Madrid because of its craftsmanship. This The accuracy that Borja and Jose Luis put in the preparation of each cocktail, they way you see it served looks more like a work of art rather than a cocktail.

Not to mention the fact that the service should be a benchmark in town, when you seat you already have your fresh water and a little sweet tapa well presented in a tiny box or a box of popcorn.

Angelita – Calle Reina, 4, 28004 Madrid – Tel. 915 21 66 78

+ The latest openening Som Thai Club

In the already mentioned Calle San Marcos a new space has just opened, it’s called Som-Thai and it has a special gastro-barra: the Som Thai Club, offering tapas for less than 2€ that are perfect to pair with a cerveza muy fria. For all the oriental food lovers or for those you want to try it, this tapas are the greatest because they reflet the Thailandese culture.

Restaurante tailandés Som-Thai – Calle San Marcos, 26, 28804 Madrid – Tel. 910 410 429

 

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The city of the three cultures: Toledo

There are many gateways from the Spanish capital that you can handle in a day in a relaxed way, just one-hour drive or half an hour train journey would take you to awesome retreats.
The most common are: El Escorial, Segovia and Toledo. Every touristic stall in Madrid offers all these one-day trips for usually more than 50 euro with the bus tickets and some museum entries.
The truth is that you can organize a very pleasant route for half, or even less than half of that price. Between these three options, the first unmissable is Toledo.

Discover Toledo

Less that one hour by bus, around 10 euro for the round trip, and amazing escalators will load all the tourists right at the top of the hill where all the main attractions are.
The first thing that everyone needs to know about Toledo is that it is called “the city of three cultures” which is its most emblematic feature, intertwining three different worlds.
As most of our favorite sights, Toledo is a part of the UNESCO Heritage for its unique history and untouched patrimony.
The first thing to visit is the Museum Santa Cruz, very close to Plaza de Zocodover. It’s a cultural space born from the merge of the Hospital de Santa Cruz and the Convento de Santa Fe, offering different temporary exhibitions all year.

toledo travel madridiana

The front side of the Alcazar over the terrace

Then it’s time to move to Alcázar, the place where you can spend hours admiring all the historic pictures and military armaments. Four floors, I don’t know how many rooms and topics and things to see, but you should spend at least two hours in here. It is not just about the inside, the special location of this building gives the mind-blowing view from the top of the hill.
toledo travel madridiana

This position gave Alcázar an opportunity to become an important and strategic venue during Spanish Civil war.

Time to rest and eat something typical in one of the numerous tapas bars in the tiny streets that connect Alcázar with the second most important venue of the city: the Cathedral.
Before arriving at the Cathedral, it is interesting to step into these tiny streets where a lot of Arabic buildings can be found, easily recognizable by their architecture and decorations.
As all the city museums have military collections on display, the local souvenir shops also specialise in this merchandise, most popular tourist take-aways are souvenirs dedicated to the war history.
Knives and guns are everywhere, it is really impressive. By the way, the choice of marzipan is enormous, at it is considered the most typical food of the area.
 toledo travel madridiana

The Cathedral of Santa María de Toledo is huge and gothic, and the entrance ticket is 10 euros, but there is a dedicated free entrance (in the picture) if you want to pray, exactly on the opposite side from the main entrance.

Of course, there is a sort of a fence of this area, but you can at least see and have an idea of the style and the dimensions of the church from the inside.
It was built in 1226 during Catholic monarchy and is considered one of the greatest examples of Gothic architecture in Spain.
On the 15th of August, there is a strange tradition during the Virgen del Sagrario celebrations. The Cathedral is full of water from the Pozo (well) del Claustro because it is considered miraculous, and you can later buy this water all year long, at the entrance.
On Sundays at 9 am when the holy mass starts, it is also great to hear the incredible pipe organ.
The Jewish area is very close to the Cathedral, that’s why visiting at least one of the synagogues right after the Catholic marathon is a very good idea.
toledo travel madridiana

The view from the Alcazar (the Cathedral on the left)

Toledo is famous for its tolerance and who different cultures that have coexisted together for such a long time, even though the Jewish community was expelled from Spain in 1492 with the edict of expulsion.
If you are not a staunch devotee of any religion, visiting churches is still a good idea, you can focus totally on art instead of religion.
Inside Santo Tomé church, in fact, there is one of the most famous Spanish works of art by El Greco. 
toledo travel madridiana

El entierro del señor de Orgaz – El Greco (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Foundation)

Do you recognize it? It’s the representation of “el entierro del conde de orgaz” which means “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz” right at the entrance of the church. It’s oil on canvas dated 1588. It illustrates a popular local legend. Being an exceptionally large painting, it is clearly divided into two zones: the heavenly above and the terrestrial below, brought together in a single composition.

The entrance is not free, but for meager 2 euros you can see this masterpiece and the church of course.
It is strictly prohibited to take pictures inside Santo Tomé, a bodyguard is constantly observing the visitors ready to block every attempt to shoot.
Not enough of El Greco? Well, Toledo is the right place for El Greco lovers. You can finish the day visiting the museum dedicated to him.
Make sure to visit this city when in Spain because “You haven’t seen Spain until you saw Toledo”.
Curious about the other two one day trip mentioned at the beginning of the blog? A new article about them is coming soon.
If you don’t want to waste time of your Toledo visit you should reserve a FREE TOUR before heading to the city and walk around with the best guides.
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