Top 5 Madrid budget restaurants

Sometimes, as a budget traveller you can get sick of always squishing yourself into crowded, noisy, places with “culturally distinct” ideas about hygiene just to save a few bucks on food. So, for the beleaguered budgeter, here are 5 places to go in Madrid, Spain that offer cheap food, without the cheap ambiance of a chrome-and-flourescently-lit bar full of old men. If you’re really broke, they may still be out of your range, but if you’re really broke you’re just going to be going to the supermarket and having picnics anyways.

1. La Finca de Susana

c/Arlaban, 4
+34 913 693 557

A Madrid classic. La Finca de Susana has got good, basic food (the duck I had was particularly tasty), with an emphasis on lighter healthier cuisine (rare in deep-fried-obsessed Spain where nary a vegetable is to be seen in many restaurants). Main dishes go for €6-12. It’s clean and quiet (relatively so, remember, this is still Spain), but almost always packed. The drawback is that they do not do reservations, so if you don’t want to wait in a huge line, get there right when it opens at 8pm for dinner.

2. La Musa

c/ Manuela Malasaña, 18
Costanilla de San Andres, 19
+34 914 487 558

With a bright and trendy atmosphere, La Musa serves up not-your-average-tapas for less-than-average prices. For €4 to €7 per tapa you can enjoy meat-filled potato dumplings with 3 sauces (called a “bomba”), fried green tomatoes with goat cheese, and a boar dish that comes with the most luscious sauce known to mankind (if they ever stop serving it I will have to find a new reason to live). For a couple more euros they also serve sushi, great salads, and grilled meats, including a juicy skewer of venison with tomatoes. (These could cost up to €10 or €12 for plates to share). It is usually crowded but you can at least leave your name on a list and come back later, no standing in lines.

3. Bazaar

c/Libertad, 21
+34 915 233 905

From the same owners as La Finca De Susana, Bazaar is located in the very trendy Chueca neighborhood, full of great bars to have drinks at after you enjoy your dinner. Its sparkling white dining room manages to avoid the sterile, cold feeling white can often induce, and it’s upper floor is set above street level with huge windows to provide lots of light in the daytime and people-watching at night. Main courses run from €5 to €12 , again with an emphasis on the fresh and light side of cuisine. Although the chocolatísimo desert is on the heavy (and heavenly) side.

4. La Farfalla (Il Piccolino della Farfalla)

c/Huertas 6
+34 913 694 391

This little restaurant is located at the end of Huertas, a quiet and cute pedestrian street in the heart of Madrid near the tourist center and full of (often overpriced) bars and restaurants. The specialty is pizza, but done well, and at €7 a pop, they’re a deal. Delicious grilled meats are about €10, also cheap for Madrid, and the €17 parillada (selection from the grill) is a lot of meat for your money. For a light (and mercifully vegetarian) starter – gobble up some onion tart. The decor of La Farfalla isn’t as glossy as the above places, but its quiet, clean, cozy and bright, kind of like a grandmother’s dining room.

5. Al-Jaima Cocina del Desierto

C/ Barbieri 1
+34 915 231 142

Tucked away between Gran Via and Chueca, this little restaurant specializing in North African cuisine is full of dark, romantic corners, and if you’re into lounging, you can sit at low tables on piles of cushions in a slightly elevated dining area by the entrance. It’s not the sparkling, posh ambiance of some of the above places, but it’s a sight better than your average tapas bar. Most main dishes, again go for €5 to €7, and the falafel and humus are particularly worth a try. Then move on to one of the delicious tajines or couscous dishes.

Picture of Spanish tapas originally posted by blogefl

Topic:  Top five Monday | 1 Comment
Tags:  budget, Madrid, restaurants

About the author

Karina came to Madrid from Berkeley, California to teach English for a year...that was four years ago! After finishing her degree in Political Theory (which prepared her perfectly for a career in...ummm....reading?) she had decided to improve her Spanish and see a bit of the world. Teaching English didn't pan out so she worked in a bar, then translated for sketchy businessmen, worked in a bookstore, and presented an online television news program before she decided to strike out on her own and try some freelancing (which she had the bad judgment to decide to do in the month of July, which meant she did very little writing and quite a lot of poolside lounging). She's lived all over this great city - the silver lining to the otherwise bleak storm cloud of having had 9 apartments in less than 4 years - and is now settled smack in the center. She's mainly interested in politics-specifically immigration policy and her country's recent foreign policy decisions. Other current activities and interests include: reading gut wrenchingly depressing novels, cooking for large groups of hungry people, occasionally writing on her blog, interning for CNN's Madrid bureau, learning a bit about video production, and improving her French.