CASA MANOLO by Mónica Aranda
My favourite place is “Casa Manolo” restaurant. Casa Manolo has been specializing in fresh sea food from the Mediterranean Sea since 1969. It is located in the centre of Madrid, next to Metro Sol station. It is an old and established restaurant. Casa Manolo has attentive staff and a relaxed atmosphere. It hasn´t got a glitzy design neither plush.
In Casa Manolo food is exquisite, serving seasonally selected fresh fish, premium oyster and Certified Angus steaks. Casa Manolo has become known as one of the best places in Madrid for dinning. Their dishes have become favourite among both locals and tourists. The smoked salmon salad is served with guacamole and it is worth it! I would certainly recommend an excellent gazpacho. It is extremely good! Other delights are the chorizo, morcilla, two kinds of cheese (Manchego and Ibérico) and harm. The fishcake is absolutely perfect!
I was pleasantly surprised by the Casa Manolo's wine list, it is particularly excellent!
Casa Manolo proves very clearly my long held belief that restaurants should display their prices straightforward, so that customers can easily understand what they are going to be paying for when the bill arrives instead of receiving a nasty surprise.
Finally, I would recommend it to you for two reasons: its well prized menu and the fact that it is a cosy place.
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THE MAGNIFICENT FIVE
Do you think it’s impossible to go out to have dinner in a chic restaurant in those days of the month when everyone is not as wealthy as twenty days before? If you think there’s no one pretty good place in Madrid fitting a limited budget, you should write down these five names: La Finca de Susana, La Gloria de Montera, Bazaar, Public and Ginger.
The five sites are branches of a chain of restaurants also spread out over other cities such as Barcelona. The business concept is always the same: low-priced restaurants looking like expensive ones, placed in the center of the city. The business is so successful that you can’t book a table. You have to go there and wait, at weekends for ages if you don’t go early. But don’t worry; you can be having a beer while waiting in another place because they will call you on your mobile when your table is ready.
Exotic Asian waiters take you to elegant tables through large rooms decorated with a mixture of modern and retro elements and furniture. In all of them the menus are slightly different but with a similar concept. You will always have enough choices. The goat cheese salad with apple compote is really good and the pea cream with sobrasada is interesting too. In the main course section of the menu you will find as attractive dishes as a hamburger with foie and Point Neuf potatoes, or the classic duck confit. You will enjoy the dessert if you choose the traditional torrijas with vanilla ice cream.
Although the descriptions on the menu suggest delicate new wave cooking, the author dishes promised on it tend to be a little deceitful. The list of wines is short but not disappointing because they are as cheap as the rest of the menu. Nevertheless, the worst thing is, definitely, an unusual fast service by stroppy waiters. If you can avoid it, don’t go at busy hours and you’ll
have a better impression.
The special feature of these restaurants is that they offer modern cooking at reasonable prices, especially in the lunch menu. I would certainly recommend these sites just to have a good experience for a cheap lunch or dinner in the center of Madrid. It’s great when you meet friends and don’t have a reservation but remember, they’re not suitable restaurants for gourmets.
SASHIMI LIVE
Fish as a spectacle
Are you enthusiastic of Japanese culture? Have you recently visited Japan and you are now missing its food? I propose you to know Ginza Restaurant, in 3th Cortes Square, next to the Spanish Parliament, an authentic sushi tavern with a running tape in order to choose the courses depending on your personal preferences, and prices according to a colour code.
This place maintains the Japanese urban atmosphere of the “izakaya”, informal taverns where the cold courses are prepared in front of your eyes. For this reason, the seats which are in front bar area, are the better place to have a first-hard experience of the fish performance made by a qualified professional. Only watching you can start to taste what you are going to have after.
The visual presentation of the dishes reminds of the “ikebana” art, Japanese floral technique.
The “sushi” defiles on the running tape in all of its versions. The base is always the same: boiled rise, seasoned with rice vinegar and the pungent “wasabi”, more raw fish and, sometimes, vegetables.
The “sashimi”, raw fish, is also prepared directly in your presence: squid, octopus, tuna, turbot, salmon, sea-urchin, sea-bream,...
Concerning home-made recipes, Ginza proposes you tempuras, soups and tagliarini, cooked all them into the hot kitchen.
The service at Ginza corresponds with the discret minimalist atmosphere. First of all, you are welcome in an oriental way having a little hot towel for your well-being in order to flavour what defiles for your choise.
Japanese food pursues the sensorial purity, things must have their original taste. For that, ingredients have a good quality and an elite is allowed to pay for it. But, don’t worry at Ginza, you have a menu for 25 euros which lets you initiate in Japanese food.
What are you waiting for?
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