• Specializing in rice dishes, this house located in front of the Retiro is the first restaurant opened by José Luis García-Berlanga, son of the filmmaker Luis García-Berlanga

Seventy years ago,

a young Valencian director made his way into Spanish cinema who had moved to Madrid, where many of the friends who had shared the adventure of the Blue Division lived with him.

And soon there was a lot of good talk about

Luis García-Berlanga

.

But in 1950, many years after his death, in Valencia and in the neighboring Castilian region of La Manchuela, the legendary García-Berlanga was still Fidel, Luis's grandfather, founder of Venta de Contreras, that essential stage in the then winding road Madrid-Valencia: it is in the port of the same name in the mountain range that separates Cuenca from Valencia, next to the Hoces del Río Cabriel, and -for a few meters- on the Cuenca side of the border between provinces.

Luis would continue his career as, without a doubt, alongside his namesake Buñuel, the most brilliant of

our filmmakers

, while the family inn continued his life, offering rest and a few dishes from La Mancha and Levant.

Recently we discovered in Madrid a brand,

'Berlanga'

, which brought us closer to the two facets of the family.

Its owner, José Luis, eldest son of the director, unites everything:

producer, scriptwriter, cook and innkeeper

.

Ten months ago, tired of the weakening of Spanish cinema and the difficulty of carrying out projects,

he put on his apron

and set up a house specializing in rice that has become in a short time -its inauguration

almost preceded the closure due to the state of alarm

- in an excellent culinary embassy in Valencia.

Jose Luis Garcia-Berlanga

The windows over the Retiro

allow you to admire each grain of the rice that comes out of the open kitchen: seven of them can be ordered two hours before and five that must be the day before.

Minimum portion: two people, and we add ourselves: for two solid appetites.

In addition, the menu offers endless starters and a few fish and meat dishes.

An idea: share that paella for two between three

, and first feast on other dishes.

Only a somewhat dry potato omelette is out of tune in a parade of dishes, several of them

with a clear Levantine accent

and rare here, which all border on perfection: the Iberian ham croquettes and the

confit

and toasted

artichokes

are placed at the entrance to the

Madrid elite

, and the Valencian apotheosis comes with a wonderful version of

esgarrat

, that way of eating cold, desalted cod that is so local, with its procession of aubergines, onions and peppers.

The hardest thing, with the

dozen rice dishes

, is to decide.

Senyoret, rossejat, a banda ... It was our first time, and we had to go for the most genuine, the dean of rice dishes: a

Valencian paella with a very thin layer

that Berlanga makes with a round and tiny rice arrived directly from the Albufera, well loose, with the exact point of resistance to the tooth, great accompaniment of garrofó, tabella, pepper, chicken and rabbit ... Here they generally practice stirring all of it so that the socarrat mixes well.

It works scary.

What a great classic paella

.

Some good wines (a Rioja Grenache like La Montesa de Palacios Remondo is perfect), brioche torrija ... A lunch like the best in Malvarrosa.

More information about Berlanga

  • Menendez Pelayo, 41

    • 91 391 68 86

  • Opening hours: Closed on Sunday and Monday nights

    • Official Website:

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