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Madrid - where to eat paella near my hotel?

Madrid - where to eat paella near my hotel?

Old Jul 16th, 2012, 06:11 AM
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Madrid - where to eat paella near my hotel?

I will be in Madrid this September staying at the AC Hotel Recoletos, Calle de Recoletos, 18. My son and I are hoping to find a nearby restaurant in which we can dine on paella. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 06:17 AM
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Ask the hotel---they answer this all the time.
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 06:49 AM
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My Spanish friend in Madrid told me that paella is not good in Madrid, but if we must have one, these were the ones recommended by a food critic:

La Barraca (Reina, 29): This one is closer to your hotel. The reviews are mixed. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...ca-Madrid.html

Samm (Carlos Caamaño, 3): This one is further north, southeast of Chamartin. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...mm-Madrid.html
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 07:27 AM
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My advice is to heed greg´s words.

Paella is a dish that is traditionally connected with Valencia. That is not to say that you cannot find good paella elsewhere. But the emphasis has to be on the word "·good".

Ask most visitors to Spain about the food they associate with the country and the odds are that they will reply "tapas" and/or "paella".

And therein lies the problem. Many (most?) restaurants that serve paella serve the dish to tourists who know next to nothing about what paella should taste like. So they get a dish made with inferior ingredients - cheapest possible rice, colouring instead of saffron, frozen everything.

Their paella may have even been made earlier and simply reheated in the microwave. No self-respecting chef would ever do that. Paella must be freshly made, to order.

But what do most tourists get? Yes, you guessed it. And do they know any better? Yes, you guessed that too. And do some of them walk out of the restaurant a little disappointed? Yes, a lot probably do.

Will they have paid the same price as someone who has just had the real thing? Probably.

So go somewhere that has a strong reputation if you want something good. And be prepared to travel a little by bus or Metro to find it. It may not be near your hotel.
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 07:36 AM
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I would not seek out paella in Madrid. There is such fantastic seafood available in that city that you should concentrate on that and leave the paella for a visit to the cities known for rice dishes.
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 07:41 AM
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ps. Here is my food report from my last year's visit to the city. I doubt if you can do much better than the seafood restaurant that we visited on the first night. But do not expect to find paella on the menu there, or in most of the other seafood meccas in the city:



http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...k-in-spain.cfm
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 08:10 AM
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Generally speaking, I agree about the paella in Madrid. The closest restaurant to the AC Recoletos for a 'decent' paella is La Barraca on Calle de la Reina 29.
http://www.labarraca.es/control.php?...%%a_art_iaa=10

However, there are also some interesting restaurants near the AC Recoletos:
Tapas restaurant: La Cesta de Recoletos on Calle Recoletos 10.
http://www.lacesta.eu/paracomer.php

Traditional Basque cuisine: Pelotari on Calle Recoletos 3.
http://www.pelotari-asador.com/en/me...ntrantes-118/1

Steaks: MEATing on Calle Villalar 4.
http://www.restaurantemeating.com/index.php?action=4

Café Gijón on Paseo de Recoletos 21. Iconic café founded in 1888 which played host to Ernest Hemingway, Ava Gardner and Truman Capote among others.
http://www.cafegijon.com/
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 08:13 AM
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Don't eat paella in Madrid. Specially don't do it on tourist areas. They will serve you any dish based on rice and tell you it's paella...
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 08:30 AM
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Ahh, the Café Gijón. The Café Gijón is also an award which aims to promote creative writing.

And who won it in 2010?

None other than Montejaque´s very own Antonio Montes. http://www.abc.es/20100922/cultura-l...009221156.html

How do I know that? Because I too live in Montejaque (population 1024) and I have had a drink with the man. A lovely, modest man who nevertheless writes a very good novel.
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 09:09 AM
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You may just see paella on a menu of the day as you walk down the street. You may be lucky, to, in that it turns out very well that day. It's not even easy to tell people where to get a good paella in Valencia.. It's a bit of a finicky dish to make and turns out differently every time.

of course there are some places that seem to hit it closer on the head more often than others!
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 10:10 AM
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And, if that is not complicated enough, there are several kinds of paella, not just one.

It can consist of any of the following ingredients: chicken, shellfish, chorizo, monkfish, squid, clams, serrano ham, peas, roasted peppers....

Then there are all the "arroz" dishes that are also made with saffron-flavoured rice but are never called "paella" by the chef/grandmother/father, even if you and I might.

I have even eaten snail paella up in the mountains of Catalonia.

So, you can´t just walk into a restaurant and order "paella"
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 10:24 AM
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And many Spaniards make it at home, and if at all possible, in a huge pan outdoors.

As noted before I do not use saffron when making it at home, (in the US). There are too many competing flavors and you often lose the subtle, elegant, and distinct taste of saffron.
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 10:54 AM
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Not near your hotel... but if you find yourself near the Teatro Real close to dinner time, El Escarpin on Hileros served us a very nice paella. They had a comfortably low-key vibe there that we liked. (However, this was 9 years ago. Caveat emptor.)
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 11:00 AM
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We had very good Paella in Madrid at a small restaurant, Museo de Vino located on a narrow street(Calle Cruz) near Plaza Mayor. It was full of lots of fresh seafood , most of it still in the shell except for calamari, etc, and the rice was perfectly seasoned and still yellow rather than overcooked/reheated brown and soggy.So I disagree that good Paella cannot be found in Madrid-we had bad experiences with it in Sevilla and Barcelona. I would avoid any of the places where they have pictures of the dish posted outside of the restaurant.
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Old Jul 16th, 2012, 02:21 PM
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Thanks everyone for your comments and recommendations. I know Madrid is not the best place for paella but I can still hope!
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