A City that eats out... Late!

You must be forewarned that Madrileños like their supper late. By late, we mean dinners that often begin at 11 p.m. or even midnight. Then, after, the Madrileños go out and paint the town.
Food is such an important pleasure in this sensual city, it's really hard to go wrong. In fact, you could easily pass an entire visit living entirely off tapas, knocking around from café to bar and watching the little plates pile up on your table. And you can dine out on these while you enjoy fine Spanish wine almost any time. Gay restaurants in Madrid are of a high quality and get very busy.

While that option certainly has its charm, any number of good restaurants merit a detour should you find yourself in the mood for something a bit more substantial.

Gay Madrid Restaurants Review

Carmencita in the Chueca quarter is a restored tavern dating from 1850. Stylishly redecorated, it features excellent meat and fish dishes. If you've overdone the shopping a bit, it's good to know that the lunch menu is cheaper than that at dinner - for the same good food and the same vintage zinc bar.

Quesadillas, guacamole and killer margaritas are on tap at the nearby which boasts an Aztec calendar painted on the ceiling, and portraits of Frieda Kahlo and other Mexican artists on the walls. The friendly waiters recite the menu, the chairs don't match the tables, and, in short, the place is charming (if not "Spanish" enough to appeal to purists). If you've got a hankering for paella, you're in luck.

The gay-owned and gay-staffed Arroceria Gala (Moratin, 22; +34-91-429-2562; from 20 EUR) has a lovely atmosphere with a covered courtyard, which gives the impression of being outdoors, but is heated in winter. All shades of the Spanish rice specialty are served on an inexpensive fixed-price menu.

Or you could head over to the Puerta del Sol and the specialty restaurant Paelleria Vallenciana, which has the dual appeal of being very reasonably priced and catering to single diners (most paella restaurants have a two-person minimum). A word of warning: Paellerina Vallenciana is rightly popular, and you just may have to wait for a table.

Acarela is a lovely coffee shop at Gravina, 10, and Divina la Cocina is a great gay restaurant at Comenares, 13. We can also recommend La’an, a delightful café in which to enjoy an espresso right near A Different Life Book Store.

For a meal that nourishes the soul as well as the body, hit up Gula Gula (c. Gran Via, 1; +34-91-522-87-64; www.gulagula.net; 30 EUR); it has an outrageous salad bar/buffet, but only half as outrageous as the nightly drag shows and the hunky, punky waiters. The crowd can skew more straight than gay, but it's a guaranteed wild night regardless.

Pop in for lunch at Restaurante Miau (Plaza Santa Ana, 6; +34-91-429-22-72; 30 EUR, but with a lunch menu available from 10 EUR), a charmingly designed restaurant that serves some of the finest Madrileño cuisine. It's also great for tapas in the evening, or dinner in the dining room downstairs. After eating and a few of the local sangrias you'll be ready for your daily siesta and you know you'll need it for the night.

At Vinoteca Barbechera (Gravina 6) wine bottles line the walls, and the tapas will amaze you with unexpected taste combinations (salmon with honey, slices of rump roast in a fig sauce, hazelnut bisque).

Tepic Urban Mex Restaurant (Pelayo 4) sits in the gay street of Pelayo. Its modern and bright design is sparse and decorated in crisp pinks and whites. They have an extensive Mexican menu and also cater to vegetarians.

El Rincon de Pelayo (Pelayo 19) is not a tapas bar but an excellent restaurant with a small terrace out front. The menu del dèa is a great way to have a three course meal with wine or coffee for around 10 euros.

Con Mucho Amor (San Marcos 1) is a small boutique of a Moroccan restaurant serving a selection of hot and cold food to eat in or take away. Homemade hummus with whole chick peas and warm bread are four Euros, and a range of tagines -- couscous with natural herbs, flavoring, meats, and vegetables -- can be had for around five.

Gay Restaurant Sama Sama (San Bartolome 23) has a simple yet gorgeous decor, done in the rich earth tones of the high plains. This describes their cuisine as well. Don't miss their wild boar entree, served by some of the friendliest, cutest waiters in town.

Mama Inez (Hortaleza 22) is busy all day with locals and tourists. They serve beers and snacks as well as teas and coffees. Salads have huge portions of veggies and start at six euros. This is more of a coffeeshop with food available.

El Estragón (Plaza de la Paja 10) is a vegetarian restaurant that aims to impress even non-vegetarians. Believe us...even the meat lovers amongst us were suprised.

Other recommendations are the excellent Botin at Cuchilleros, 17, near the Plaza Mayor, was a favorite of Hemingway’s as it is of many present-day tourists. We also enjoyed the Cafeteria-Restaurante Europa, at Calle del Carmen, 4, fairly close to the Puerta del Sol (Madrid’s answer to Times Square).

The Straight Slice of Life

At some point you will find yourself in one of the tourist zones, just looking for a quick bite to eat. You don't really care whether the restaurant is gay or straight... you are just looking for some a good quality, authentic meal.

Over the past years, central Madrid, particularly the area around Plaza Santa Ana and Plaza Mayor, has become a major tourist trap where prices have sky-rocketed and quality has generally dropped. Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets are particularly notorious for high prices and low quality. If you want to spend a sunny afternoon in Mayor don't purchase any foods there, just drinks, and usually just beer since mixed drinks are watered down or cheaply made.

A much better option is the La Latina neighborhood just south of Plaza Mayor, especially along the Cava Baja street. If you want to find a restaurant on your own you should try wandering through the area bounded by the Alonso Martinez, San Bernardo, Noviciado and Chueca metro stops. There are a number of tasty, reasonably priced restaurants in this area along with a lively nightlife. One can also eat well and relatively inexpensively at a number of Madrid's local bars, especially in the city center. At bars one generally orders various sized plates, a ración meaning a full dish, a media ración a half dish or a smaller version which would be a tapa, a pinxto or a pincho

Jamon and Meat Produce

Visiting Madrid or Spain in general without trying Jamon Iberico (ham) would be considered a crime by most Spaniards. Spaniards treat their ham very seriously and types and qualities of ham vary in a similar way to wine. Try it with some tomato and garlic bread... delicious!

Seafood

It is ironic that Madrid, located right in the center of Spain is known in the country as the "Best port in Spain" having higher quality seafood than most coastal regions. This can be explained by Spaniard's obsession with seafood and the historical need to supply the capital's wealthy with a constant stream of fresh produce. You will be hard pressed to find better quality seafood in any city in Europe than in Madrid. This quality comes at a price, and most Spaniards will rarely embark on the luxury of a mariscada (Spanish for "seafood fest"). Experiencing Madrid's seafood may be, for the visitor, an experience which will be worth the cost.

Paella

Many of the restaurants and cervecerías in the Sol and Plaza Mayor area have "generic" poster board advertisements on the sidewalks with pictures advertising various paella dishes (you will recognize them when you see them). These paellas are usually not the best quality to be found and should generally be avoided. If you are looking for good, authentic Spanish paella it is usually better to find a more expensive, "sit-down" type of restaurant that offers a variety of paella dishes and try your first paella dish there. Look for restaurants that specialize in the cuisine of Valencia. It's not a complete guarantee that the paella will be good but the odds are that it will be better than what you find in some of these "pre-packaged" paellas that many of the smaller restaurants sell.

Tapas

Tapeo has existed as a pleasant and healthy custom in Spain since the 13th century, when the Castillian King Alphonse X ("the Wise") forced bartenders to serve something to eat when customers ordered wine in order to prevent the harmful effects of alcohol on an empty stomach. His intention was to protect the people who could not afford to order food when they had wine in a bar.

Any area in Madrid has these bars offering tapas, but there are some neighborhoods whose bars and taverns are known for their tapas with a Madrid flavor.

Tourists and Madrileños usually choose the Cava Baja and Latina as their favourite destinations to eat tapas. Besides tapas, specialties of each bar and larger side-dishes to share may be ordered.

Around the Santa Ana Square, the Paseo del Prado, Fuencarral Street, the multicultural neighborhood of Lavapiés, or the elegant neighborhood of Salamanca, you can find many people in the bars at around 11 a.m. ("la hora del aperitivo" or "the snack hour").