Chic Destinations

Mealtime Memories from Madrid

The Authors of ‘Barrafina: A Spanish Cook Book’ share their insights into the restaurant and culinary scene of Madrid.

“I remember the little jamon bars in the centre of Madrid, where you can have a little glass of Fino or Amontillado sherry with a plate of jamon, watching the world go by…” Eddie Hart tells Chic Destinations, sitting outside Barrafina in Soho, which serves these Spanish classics too. Together with his brother Sam, Eddie owns Barrafina and Fino, both lauded as the best places to eat Spanish food in the UK. But it’s eating in Spain we’re talking about, and the conversation is full of his memories of his time in Madrid, which was to have a large influence on his life.  

The restaurant and culinary scene in Madrid has changed greatly since those days. Once upon a time in this city, serving food from another region of Spain was considered to be exotic. But now, visitors to Las Rozas Village wanting to eat out in Madrid have any number of international restaurants, not to mention many serving nueva cucina, the experimental cooking style that has swept into town from the Catalan coast and the Basque Country, dealing in hot jellies and flavoured foams. But Madrid still takes tradition seriously, particularly culinary tradition, and the city is dotted with venues still serving the classics.

Such stalwarts form most of Eddie’s memories of the city, where his landlord was a serious gastronome, and took it upon himself to tutor Eddie on the best things to eat in the city and the best ways to make them.

“I remember being taken for the first time to a churreria, by Fernando my landlord and watching him suck the thick chocolate through the lardy straw – which is a strand of Spanish doughnut (churros) – and watching it get stuck in his moustache, which was not a particularly attractive sight. But I remember how delicious I thought churros and hot chocolate were back then…” Eddie smiles as he returns to the present and Soho, but is soon back in Spain with Fernando.

“The first dish that I have very fond memories of cooking in Madrid is tortillas, and Fernando taught me, of course. He had a very specific method, which he wouldn’t let me stray from. Obviously there was one recipe for the classic and then on occasion different ingredients would be added to this. But really, his secret was caramelising the onions, which lends a real sweetness to the tortilla, and also cooking it so that it is still gooey in the middle.

“I think probably my highlight when I was in Madrid was when I got nine out of ten from him – he always used to score my tortillas. This was shortly before I left, and he said I’d finally reached a level where I could cook tortilla for his friends, but as my year in Madrid was nearly up, I was only let loose on his friends a few times!”

Fernando also schooled Eddie in the making of another Spanish classic, lentejas, a lentil stew enriched with morcilla (black pudding), chorizo, vegetables and lardo (pig fat). This dish is taken very seriously in Madrid, and even restaurants specialising in new wave cooking tend not to interpret it too far, so it’s easy to sample the traditional variety, as cooked by Eddie.

“I remember how this dish improved over time. So we used to make a big cauldron of lentejas to leave it with a plate on top on one side of the kitchen, to enjoy over the following days,” he says.

Plenty of places in Madrid will also serve croquetas, which are worth sampling from a kitchen that’s not your own, as these delicious mouthfuls are a messy affair to make. Fernando of course, thought that Eddie should get stuck in and learn how to make them himself. “It was a very messy job! We rolled them by hand, but the result was worth the mess and the time-consuming preparation process.”

They serve these at Barrafina, and the recipe is on the fiddly side. First create a perfect béchamel, add a filling of choice – it could be ham or prawns – then roll nuggets of the cooled and thickened mixture in beaten eggs, then breadcrumbs, and deep fry to perfection. Alternatively, take a stroll through Madrid’s bustling streets, find a convivial café, and enjoy them with a chilled beer.

‘Barrafina: A Spanish Cookbook’ by Sam Hart, Eddie Hart and Nieves Barragán Mohacho is published by Fig Tree

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