The landlocked city of Madrid is supposedly home to the country’s best quality fish and seafood. Why? Because Madrileños say so! Opinion aside, it’s true that fresh fish from all coasts of Spain are shipped to the capital on a daily basis and one restaurant in Sol has taken full advantage: Chirignuito de El Señor Martín, located on Calle Mayor.

Chiringuito means ‘beach bar’ in Spanish, hence the restaurant’s beach-chic feel and menu featuring a variety of fish and seafood platters. During summer, this chiringuito gets even breezier when it opens its glass doors onto Calle Mayor and becomes one with the sidewalk. During winter, the restaurant also expands its menu to include heartier seafood stews and rice dishes.

James and I had the pleasure of having lunch here on Wednesday. When you walk in, you see the fresh fish on display, which comes straight from El Señor Martín, a high-quality fish market inside Mercado de San Miguel (and where the restaurant gets the other half of its name).

You can see right into the kitchen, where you’ll find the tattoo-covered chef, Beltrán Alonso. He and the waiter kindly explained each menu item to us, as well as the innovative cooking techniques they use and the origin of their ingredients. So without further ado, here’s what we had…

To drink, we started off with two glasses of champagne, which came with a tapa of camarones, baby shrimp that are caught using sustainable fishing methods.

Our first sarter was ensaladilla rusa, a traditional homemade potato salad with baby shrimp and fish roe. This is on their permanent menu and it wouldn’t be a real Spanish fish restaurant without it!

Our second starter was very innovative: gambas con dos cocciones y ajo morado de las Pedroñeras, twice-cooked shrimp with black garlic. It’s important to note that the black garlic they use is the best in Spain (if not the world, according to our waiter). The flavor of the shrimp was completely distinct and absolutely delicious.

Our third starter was our favorite: calamares. This is one of the most typical dishes in Andalucía and here, it’s not only good quality (fresh from El Señor Martín market) but also prepared in extra virgin olive oil, like everything else on the menu. It was so fresh, light and satisfying. You have to get this when you go here no matter what.

For our main dish, we had arroz meloso con corvina salvaje (rice cooked in broth with wild sea bass), accompanied by two glasses of albariño (Galician white wine). I really loved this dish. The sea bass was cooked to perfection and the rice had a delicious flavor to it. I couldn’t have been happier. To top it all off, we had cheesecake!

If you’re in Sol and looking for some of the freshest fish in the city, as well as a mini-trip to the beach, this is your place!

Info

• Web & Facebook
• Address: Calle Mayor 31
• Metro: Sol

Around Christmastime I got an email from Terry and Charlotte who run Desperate Literature, an international bookstore that’s just a street up from Opera. Here’s what they wrote: “We came across a local health and organic food store that we fell in love with. The owner is great… and it’s a crying shame that locals and health-conscious expats don’t know about the place. It only has Facebook, but voila, now we’ve done our part and spread the good news,” inferring it was Naked Madrid’s turn to do the same!

Thank you, Terry and Charlotte, for sending me that email! I finally made it to La Nodriza today and I have to agree – how had I not known about it earlier? It’s just a few steps from plaza Opera and lovingly run by a woman named Lucía, who handpicks each item with careful consideration to customers’ requests and also speaks English. Originally from Spain, Lucía has lived all over the world, having spent years in England, Sweden (she speaks Swedish, too), Chile and even Kuwait and Oman. Long story short, she’s got a lot of stories. Eventually she decided to follow her passion and study nutrition, which led her to open La Nodriza two years ago, “her dream come true.”

Although La Nodriza is small, it offers an impressive selection of handmade and organic products, ranging from cosmetics and olive oil to fresh produce and yogurt. You can even get a weekly order of local fruits and vegetables. Chances are you’ll find that hard-to-find item here, or you can ask Lucía to order it for you! Not to mention, La Nodriza is also a great place to find a gift for someone back home (like locally produced olive oil or raw honey), or even for someone in town (like Burt’s Bees products).

What I bought

What caught my eye the most was her wide selection of raw honeys. She has two large containers of honey from local producers that you can purchase by the kilo: one is made with lavender (lavanda), and the other with heather (brezo). Lucía let us taste both of them, which were so pure and delicious. I bought a kilo of the heather honey (€10.50) because it was darker and richer, which is the kind I prefer, and I also got to pour it myself.

The next thing I bought was organic peanut butter by a brand called Monki. Although it wasn’t cheap (€7.20) and there was another less expensive option, Lucía assured me this one’s quality was well worth it. As I sit here with my Monki peanut butter on toast, all I can say is I second her opinion.

While browsing, Lucía gave us both a piece of dark chocolate with chilli peppers because, “it’s something different.” As we were leaving, she popped two bite-size red apples into our bag. “They’re small,” she said, “but totally fresh and pack in a lot of flavor.” And they do, indeed.

So, people of Madrid, if you’re looking for a place to get your supply of organic, fresh and local products in the heart of the city, you’ve found it. These products may be more expensive than what you’ll find at Mercadona, but they’re oh so worth it!

Info

• Facebook
• Hours: Open Tues-Sunday from 12pm-10pm
• Phone: +34 912 50 29 65
• Address: Calle Caños del Peral, 5

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