treble

Are there any? I am afraid we will get tired of Spanish food....

ekscrunchy

I don't know of any French restaurants although they certainly exist in Madrid.

But hard to imagine anyone getting tired of the vast range of Spanish cuisines available in Madrid. There are restaurants the foods of many, if not all, regions of the country...each very distinct. Not to mention the seafood temples and all of the modern restaurants and gastrobars. Madrid is a fabulous restaurant city.

cathies

How many days do you have in Madrid?

danon

eks,
Good point. Many travelers seem to think the only Spanish food is paella ( or something with ham)
and the favorite drink is sangria.

mikelg

You can never get tired of Spanish cuisine, one of the most heterogeneous of the many I know. When someone asks me, in a very simplifying way, "what´s Spain´s main national food?" I always answer "none, there´re many nationalities within Spain". There´s no such thing as "Spanish food" and we don´t eat paella in many places, as eks rightly says above.

ribeirasacra

I wonder what "Spanish food" is to this poster?
With so many regions and so many regional dishes!
But getting back to answering the question.
http://madrid.salir.com/restaurantes-cocina_francesa

kimhe

Seven Spanish and five French restaurants in the World's 50 best restaurant list for 2014. Three Spanish and no French in top ten ;-) http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners#t1-50

The Basque country is the culinary heartland of Spain, and here are some Basque places in Madrid: http://www.10best.com/destinations/s...urants/basque/

Galician "seafood temples" in Madrid: http://www.gastromondiale.com/2012/0...and-opazo.html

Plenty of gastrobars in town: http://www.cntraveller.com/recommend...bars-in-madrid

Southam

Maribel's guides to dining in Spain are very appetizing:
http://maribelsguides.com/

danon

Yes, but some of the guide needs updating !

spaarne

<i>French restaurant in Madrid?
Posted by: treble on May 3, 14 at 10:11pm
Are there any? I am afraid we will get tired of Spanish food....</i>

LOL.

Christina

well, I got tired of it also in Madrid, this isn't a crazy concept that one could get tired of Spanish restaurants in Madrid. They are very heavy on meat, for one thing, and not many vegetables. Paella is not usually possible for one person, either, if you are solo. Too much fish in Spain is very heavily fried, and lots of food is oversalted. I nearly gagged from how salty something was I ordered at a very wellknown restaurant for lunch. I think it was something called a tortilla sandiwich? It was basically an omelette sandwich which I thought would be odd, but okay, I like omelettes and I could eat the bread. But it was so salty I could barely eat it. And the really good Spanish restaurants are pretty expensive, it seems to me.

When I got tired of it, I went to an Indian restaurant and it was very good. I never would have thought there would be a lot of Indian immigrants in Madrid, but I happened across one restaurant near my hotel and it was about the best meal I had there. But I really like Indian food. I was staying in-between the Opera and Sol metro stops, that was a good area to find different kinds of restaurants. In general, I think it isn't that difficult to find an Italian restaurant if you want a change, I saw several of those around. Here is a list of some good French restaurants
http://www.timeout.com/madrid/search/tag/1189/french


This is the INdian restaurant I went to http://www.restaurantehimalaya.com/index_netscape.htm

nytraveler

I'm afraid is perfectly easy to get tired of Spanish food - sp if you are not eating at super expensive places every night. I admit I'm not a fan of olive or olive oil and many places seemed to drench everything in oil (for my taste).

But you need to be careful where you go. We went to one chinese restaurant (yes, run by a chinese family - and the food was much more Spanish than chinese to me - perhaps they had altered to local taste). We did find one good Italian restaurant in Marbella - but it was definitely in the more expensive group.

ekscrunchy

NYTraveler: What do you call "Spanish food?" The cuisine is so varied, depending on region.

There are greasy spoons in Spain, just as there are in New York! And in every other city. But "drenched in olive oil?"

Perhaps you never eaten in some of the great modern restaurants in various price ranges that have sprouted in most Spanish cities?

Or maybe you last visited Spain many years ago (??)

I do remember many posts in which you state your dislike of Madrid..I think you said it reminded you of Chicago..Perhaps you never tried a good restaurant in that city.

And why would a Chinese restaurant alter to local taste if they want to please locals!? Most (thankfully not all, however) Chinese restaurants in New York are serving dishes that I've never seen in China!

ekscrunchy

I won't even touch Christina's post about most fish being fried, and most restaurants serving plates of bare meat. (Of course you might have to order vegetables; they often will not come with your order in Spain, just as they do not come with an order of protein in restaurants in Italy. And I usually have to order vegetables in New York; they do not arrive automatically on the plate)

Parts of Spain are known for lamb and beef, but I cannot think of a country in Europe that has more of a variety of shellfish and fish than Spain. Perhaps the last two posters visited Madrid many years ago. Its a shame that neither was able to enjoy the fabulous variety of Spanish food that Madrid has to offer.

joannyc

Check tripadvisor.com for French restaurants in Madrid. They have 120 French restaurants with reviews. I didn't look at the details, just selected French cuisine on the filters.

danon

eks,
I agree with you,.
Have a feeling many visitors to Madrid never venture east or north of Retiro .

On the other hand , we all have a different idea of what constitutes a satisfactory meal.

Robert2533

There is only one French restaurant that makes the Michelin list of restaurants in Madrid, La Esquina del Real, Calle Amnistía, 4 (http://laesquinadelreal.es). None make the Repsol list.

"Have a feeling many visitors to Madrid never venture east or north of Retiro " which is fine with me.