It is one of the main dishes -along with paella- of

the Sunday family meals

that several generations of Spaniards keep in their retinas.

Humble and cheap product, a quality chicken worked by expert hands can compete with any of the so-called noble meats and become a

delicatessen.

Not only has it not gone out of fashion, but in recent times, this bird has

shone more and more in Madrid's offer, thanks to the arrival of new stores and the consolidation of those that already exist

.

As in these ten establishments -dining rooms, grills, delivery...- where chicken, whatever its preparation (roasted, grilled, charcoal...), triumphs.

In Humo they are grilled.

SMOKE

Grilled and grilled Peruvian style.

That is the concept on which Jhosef Arias -a chef from Lima with a long history in Spain- has built this restaurant that, after two years open in Madrid,

has just opened its location in the heart of the Salamanca district

.

The

little leg

of Peruvian gastronomy that was missing, because it already has Psicomar, cevichería;

Callao24, Creole cuisine;

Hasaku, Nikkei and DNA Origin Peru, traditional cuisine.

"We were missing this type of fast food,

fast food

type , which we call

casual

," Arias details.

And how is the jewel in the crown of this Peruvian steakhouse?

"A chicken, weighing 1.6-1.7 kilos, which we put in brine for two hours with plenty of lime peel. Afterwards, we dry it in a cold room. Once dry,

we season it under the skin, giving it massages, and we let it marinate for a whole day in spices,

including soybeans," says the chef.

This "Peruvian curry", as Arias calls it, is not the result of improvisation, but rather an elaborate

mix

.

"In my country, each

cook works and perfects the recipe for a long time."

In these two years of Humo's life he has not stopped revising the recipe.

"That means that we are learning, adjusting and testing the golden point, the spice...

So until we get the perfect chicken."

The one that reminds Jhosef of what he ate as a child when at the end of the month, after his father got paid, the whole "family would walk a long way to a chicken shop where they could celebrate."

For the Lima, cooking is also key.

Here the chickens are slowly grilled and turned for between an hour and an hour and a quarter,

which allows "it to be sealed on the outside and juicy on the inside."

Although the grilled chicken is king (25.90 euros with salad, potatoes and cream and 11.90 euros alone), there are also anticuchos and offal.

In addition to the dining room,

Jhosef's big bet is delivery, with a series of combos created

ad hoc

to deliver at home

.

It also has take away.

Hermosilla, 73.

Cooked in the traditional style, at Casa Mingo.

mingo house

On this route you cannot miss this

historic tavern

and restaurant founded in 1888

-on the banks of the Manzanares River and next to the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida-, synonymous with roast chicken.

"We do it in the traditional way,

only with salt and its own juice, with which the bird is soaked

, a picantón of a kilo or so," explains Alfredo, manager of this house, the oldest cider house in Madrid, where

every weekend They sell around 1,000 copies a week

(12.15 euros to eat at the table and 8.10 euros to eat at the bar or to take away).

Florida promenade, 34.

In Gallino they use free-range chickens.

hen

And from a classic to one of the last to arrive.

Benjamín Calles, an old acquaintance of Madrid restaurants, is behind

this place specializing in charcoal-fired free-range chickens

-with a tasting, delivery and take-away area- in the

Mercado de la Paz .

Here everything revolves around this animal, but not just any, but a

small yellow one (about 1.2 kilos), the result of an arduous search to find the "perfect" chicken.

In this themed establishment -opened a year ago- they macerate and

/or roast them with charcoal at low tempura

to obtain a tender, juicy meat with an intense smoky flavor.

Accompanied by sauce and potatoes or salad, they serve it whole (17.50 euros) and half (11.50 euros), although they also serve ham and wings.

Don't miss out on their homemade chip-cut potatoes

, made on the spot and thicker than usual.

Ayala, 28B.

Joaquín Felipe makes them at low temperature and under vacuum in Montarelpollo.

mountthechicken

With this brand born for delivery and take away,

the Madrid chef Joaquín Felipe

(hardened in the kitchens of renowned dining rooms, a master in product treatment and today in charge of the Atocha 107 restaurant) decided in 2020 to mess it up and bet on chicken ,

a "family product"

.

"The project was in the drawer for a long time and, due to situations in which work and life overwhelm you, it had never gone ahead...

Until the pandemic took it out of there,"

recalls the chef.

It was go out and become a

boom

and, although after the normalization of the restoration it fell, it maintains a good level of demand.

"This last month, with the holidays, we have sold about 50-60 chickens a week. It is very good, that we are not a chicken shop, ha ha ha."

Joaquín macerates them for six hours with a special and secret sauce

(with nuances of spices, oil and vinegar) and cooks them under vacuum and at low temperature, one of the keys to giving the meat the

perfect point, juiciness and intense flavor.

Other?

The first genre.

"I am convinced that, in these times, quality products are valued more every day. Ours is a

well-fed free-range chicken, from a farm in Los Monegros

(Aragón) and weighing 1.4 kilos", details. Orders are made through Glovo (25 euros).

However, "there are also customers who call us at the restaurant (Calle Atocha, 107) and order it to be picked up there."

Corral and Peruvian at El Taller de El Lago.

The Lake Workshop

With the Triciclo and The Hat seal

, in this spectacular space next to the lake in the revitalized -gastronomically speaking- Casa de Campos

bet on smoke, coal and fire through which first-class products pass

.

For example, angus ribs, loin, brisket tacos and, of course, free-range chickens.

About 1,300 grams, they are roasted Peruvian-style and

macerated with a mixture of spices that enhances their flavor

(huacatay, rosemary, ají panca, beer, cumin, soy, garlic...).

They serve it with chili mayonnaise and potato wedges (16 euros).

Paseo de Maria Teresa, 5.

Casa Galván, a Barajas classic.

Galvan House

They started in Barajas in 1963 (by the hand of Pepita

, grandmother of the current person in charge, who made them to order) and since then they have not stopped selling their roast chickens, which are a reference in Madrid.

Over time they have expanded -they have three more stores in the capital- and

they are in neighborhoods such as Prosperidad, which together with Barajas are where they sell the most

(close to 1,000 units a week in the former and in the latter more than thousand).

"We roast chickens - fresh and of the day - weighing between 1.2 and 1.3 kilos and we use

the same recipe for the sauce that my grandmother created

,"

explains Rubén Galván,

who after studying Biology and working for a multinational for years decided to take over from his uncle Cecilio in charge of the business.

"Inside the chicken we put a small piece of red pepper, another lemon and a very small teaspoon of salt so

that it is made with its own juice

."

Its price?

"8.95 euros per chicken. But just as there is a child behind a ball, behind a chicken are some potatoes or croquettes or some peppers. So we also sell 'a chicken and two things' for 13.50 euros" ... And, as customers ask

, 'drowned in broth, or

chicken diver

',

as Ruben likes to say.

Apothecary, 1;

Ramos Carrión, 9 and two more addresses.

They make coal in Limbo.

Limbo

In this grill from Grupo La Musa (La Musa, HD Cafeteria, Run Run Run...), located in Bastardo Hostel, the queens are the embers and the

hit

of the house, is none other than

the charcoal-roasted tomato chicken.

It is paired with a special dressing

(made with chipotle paste; panca chili pepper, garlic powder, olive oil, La Vera paprika, beer, among other ingredients), where it remains for up to 48 hours.

When cooking it, the key is that

"the charcoal is on a hot coal and that you add oak wood to brown it"

, they explain from this Tribunal dining room opened in 2018. It is served with sauce in two formats: whole (16 euros) or half (8.50 euros), and it can be accompanied by fried potatoes, grilled tomatoes with parsley and olive oil. roasted garlic

San Mateo, 3 and also in Manuel de Falla, 5.

Piri Piri Frango's proposal, garnishes included.

Piri Piri Frango

Its name already gives clues as to what this business proposes:

Portuguese-style chicken

.

That is, charcoal chicken

(frango

) and piri piri, that spicy Portuguese sauce with African roots.

The restaurant was born in line with the pandemic.

"We were about to open, when the state of alarm was declared

and we had to adapt it to delivery," says the Venezuelan with Portuguese roots Luis Figueira, founder and co-owner of the brand.

They started in Lavapiés in June 2020;

in 2021 they opened in Chueca and last year, in Prosperidad.

In the three premises they work with birds that arrive every day from Galicia, not very large specimens

(between 900 grams and one kilo), with fibrous and compact meat, which marinate for 24 hours in a special sauce of family origin.

They are roasted for about 25 or 35 minutes, open by the breast

("we call it the churrasco cut," Luis explains) and directly on the grill (Josper oven) over charcoal, which gives it a rich smoky flavor.

"They are bathed in a sauce or a mojo. We use three versions: with lemon, with orange and

authentic piri piri with two intensities of heat"

.

But they don't serve the bird alone.

Thus, the diner can choose a rich side for his

frango

:

fried potatoes, which are cooked in two times, or baked;

flavored rice;

roasted sweet potato,

grelhadas

(different vegetables grilled over charcoal) or avocado also grilled.

And the prices?

14.75 euros, the whole chicken and 9.25, the medium, garnishes apart (Watch out! Prices change starting Monday).

Mesón de Paredes, 15 and two more addresses.

The Murciano, in Lavapiés.

El Murciano Chicken Rotisserie

National chicken (from León), 1,200-1,300 grams and

made with care, time and a family recipe with 40 years of history

.

This is the chicken they prepare in this place, an institution in the Lavapiés neighborhood.

Although they are open every day (from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday to Friday; holidays and weekends until 4 p.m.), "the madness comes on Sunday, at lunchtime,"

acknowledges José Alberto Sánchez Zapata,

from 2010 at the helm of this steakhouse.

His father founded it in 1981 "or 1982, he doesn't remember very well,

when he came from Murcia to do the Madriles, and my mother and I have worked there

," says José.

A week they sell between 850 and 1,000 units of this bird that they prepare "in the Mediterranean style, like when you go to the beach and eat them, with their salt, their garlic, their pepper, their thyme... We marinate the chickens like minimum 24 hours

with a special sauce that my father created

and we roast them on the swords slowly and at a not very strong pace".

They serve them whole (8.50 euros), half (4.50 euros) and quarters (3 euros) "because in the neighborhood there are many people who live alone."

To accompany, French fries, peppers, croquettes or chicken dumplings "which are our second jewel in the crown", he concludes...

Cajun chicken at Le Coq.

LE COQ

Fresh birds, embers with ecological charcoal and six different recipes.

These are the keys to the chickens of national origin that they dispatch in the ten stores (soon they will open another in Valdebebas) that this successful brand has in Madrid.

It is a family business that, in 2018, was launched by Elvira Durand

, lawyer and economist, with chicken as her leitmotif.

Before going through the oven, designed

ad hoc

, each piece undergoes a

36-hour manufacturing process with a double marinade

: the first 24 hours and the second, where the specific macerate for each recipe is added (

traditional, Peruvian , chimichurri, cajun, chipotle, and perigod

).

The chickens are served whole, with arroz chaufa or coleslaw and French fries, as well as yellow chili and tartar sauce (19.95 euros) and also half, with two individual garnishes (13.95 euros).

Prince of Vergara, 269;

nine more offices in Madrid and one in Ourense.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more