Marta Fernández Guadaño

Updated Monday, March 11, 2024-01:16

Although it opened in 1983 on Montesquinza Street, that was only a milestone equivalent to the arrival of La Parra in Madrid.

But, in reality, the restaurant was just celebrating its fourth life at that moment, after counting three previous locations in Carvajal (Málaga), London and Seville.

T

his is a story that spans three decades and three generations

, while mixing hospitality, cinema, music and glamour.

Because there are restaurants with class and historical heritage and, then, there is La Parra.

Perhaps, we must first rewind to the 1940s to understand the origins of this project that continues to operate today with a menu with unbeatable hits such as its roast beef or the 'Chicken Marrakech'.

La Parra was born with the opening of a first restaurant in Carvajal, which was the project of

Teresa Pérez de Guzmán

and the English actor

Brian Walmsley

, to whom the La Parra website gives the adjective of 'bohemian' and explains that "he played a spy for MI5 (UK intelligence service)" at that time.

"Approximately, in the second half of the 40s. Our grandparents, Teresa and Brian, met during the Second World War, at a party at the British Consulate in Seville. They married and, once the war was over, they went to live to Carvajal, where they lived in a house facing the sea that had a climbing vine at the front door; hence, the origin of the name La Parra," recalls

Andrea Sánchez Walmsley

, who with her sister Tessa currently manages La Parra. in Madrid.

Cozy corner of the La Parra restaurant.

With the Rolling as clients in London

In the early 1950s, the couple moved to London "when Brian's (whose stage name was Brian Worth) acting career took off in England," recall his granddaughters, who clarify that "they didn't open the restaurant until the mid-1950s." sixties".

Thus,

La Parra's second headquarters became a reality in the British capital

, where it became a

celebrity

address .

In what were "the craziest years", his tables received the

London

jet

of the moment at late dinners every night;

That meant, according to what they say in the establishment, that

everyone from the Rolling Stones or The Who to Princess Anne or Christopher Lee became his clientele

.

La Parra's anecdote accumulates endless curiosities, such as that a still unknown

Sean Connery

worked as an extra in some films shot in Malaga, which made him a client of the first headquarters in Carvajal, only that "every day he left the account without pay".

So, when years later, the restaurant opened in London, "

Sir Connery's wife appeared with a huge check with which she paid for what was entrusted to Carvajal

," they remember from the establishment.

In the mid-seventies, they returned to Spain and, specifically, to Seville, where the

Walmsley Pérez de Guzmán

family opened the third headquarters of La Parra, which was managed for years by the Andalusian branch of the family.

"Brian and Tere returned in 1976, after he had several health problems, so

they decided to close the restaurant in London and retire to the south of Spain, specifically in Seville

, where together with their daughters Tina and Julie (they had other two children, Tessa and Jaime), opened La Parra de Sevilla in 1978," detail their granddaughters.

One of the emblematic dishes of La Parra.

But the second generation appeared.

Tessa Walmsley Pérez de Guzmán

, daughter of the founders of La Parra, married

Ginés Sánchez-Rubio

from Madrid , with whom, first, she started in Ibiza with the opening of

Amnesia, the island's iconic nightclub

—which started in a house peasant woman from the late 18th century.

"Our parents met and fell in love in Ibiza in the summer of 1976; they got married that Christmas and set up Amnesia as a nightclub in the summer of 1978," says her daughter Andrea.

Arrival to Madrid

The next thing was to open La Parra in 1983 in Madrid

, while the Seville restaurant remained open in parallel until its closure 13 years ago, "when our aunt Tina decided to retire from the business," says the third generation in charge of the Montesquinza street space. .

"

My sister Tessa has been involved in the restaurant with our parents for 20 years

. When they both died in the fall of 2019, that's when I joined too," Andrea clarifies.

Located in that stately area of ​​Chamberí that surrounds the Glorietas of Alonso Martínez and Rubén Darío,

La Parra is a kind of restaurant that maintains an elegant charm from the past

, whose Mozarabic-style tiles can remind us of an Andalusian tavern and, at the same time,

Many details of its decoration could make one think of a 19th century English

club

.

Antique furniture and lamps, background music—perhaps jazz—and a piano complete the equation.

"During the 41 years that La Parra has been open in Madrid, there have been many variations that have been subtle, but that have perfected our way of doing things and have made us stand out for our personal way of understanding restoration," defends Andrea. Sanchez Walmsley.

What to eat in La Parra

And, what is the gastronomic proposal of La Parra like?

"The taste of

Spanglish

in Madrid," defines its website, while the menu makes it clear that there is something—or a lot—of Spanish and, specifically, Andalusian tradition here, but, at the same time, there is also some international cuisine.

"

Product cuisine, traditional in style and with an Anglo-Andalusian background

" or a mix of "culinary cultures: traditional Spanish with the international touches of Grandpa Brian," she adds.

Andrea Sánchez Walmsley is in charge of rounding out the definition.

"There have been some 'matrix' dishes that have been on the menu of all the restaurants, a

recipe book inherited from our grandparents

, but that has grown with contributions from, for example, our father Ginés' family, dishes that our mother made. at home or others that we tried in other restaurants and on trips and that we liked for La Parra. But, obviously, they are

united by a criterion, by a type of honest

, product-based and not boring cuisine," he defines.

Roast beef with horseseradish sauce.

It gives us a clue about

the most emblematic dishes

.

'Steak tartare', salmorejo, baked suckling pig, roast beef with

horseradish

sauce and

some that "go back to La Parra in London

and, I think, even to Carvajal", such as the 'taramasalata'—version of the Greek recipe according to

Brian Walmsley

with ling roe emulsified with olive oil served on glass bread—, the 'Marrakesh chicken' —with rice, raisins and nuts— or the

apple crumble

.

"There are other dishes that I think will soon become emblematic, such as breaded monkfish or spicy prawn salad," he predicts.

All in all, the menu tries to maintain those

best sellers

and change recipes from time to time.

"

We change it twice a year, in autumn-winter and spring-summer

," say the owners of La Parra.

"The truth is that we can no longer change many dishes on the menu because our customers get angry if there isn't a dish they expected. What we also do is offer a series of seasonal dishes off the menu."

With an average

ticket

estimated at 50-70 euros per person, the menu adds options - that not even the chef most given to the so-called 'fusion cuisine' would be able to do better - such as artichokes

confit in oil with broad beans, green beans and Iberian dewlap

;

the 'La Parra Salad' (avocado, lettuce, mushroom, radishes, carrot, alfalfa and mustard vinaigrette);

the ham croquettes served, of course, with 'Brian sauce';

eggs with baked potato and crystal shrimp;

the squid stuffed with green curry and 'pappadum' or the socarrat with carabinero, escarole and aioli.

'Taramasalata' with ling roe emulsified with olive oil served on glass bread.

For dessert, from cream cheese puff pastry and red fruit coulis to a tea and mint granita with passion fruit foam.

Large cellar or 'Dry Martini' on the liquid side.

Famous clientele

From business lunches at noon to leisure meetings at night, there are many famous names who have been loyal diners at their tables for years: from

Nacho Cano

or

'Josi'

, to urban legends that tell that love was born right here.

Isabel Preysler

and

Miguel Boyer

.

Without a doubt, La Parra has been and continues to be a destination for representatives of social, political and cultural life.

"I would define

the profile of our clients as educated, sensitive, cosmopolitan and eclectic people

," they determine without wanting to give names.

"It sounds imposed, but

discretion has always defined us

," they emphasize.

The question is whether the formula with so much personality from this triple-generation family is the guarantee that La Parra resists fashions in Madrid's hyperactive hospitality industry and even gives the feeling of a trendy place.

Is one goal to preserve your parents' legacy?

"Without a doubt; it is to them that

we owe the privilege of working in a business as beautiful as this one

and that allows us to meet exceptional people from all over the world," say Andrea and Tessa Sánchez Walmsley, who are supported by a team of 15 people in La Parra, with a 54-seat dining room.

La Parra houses a 54-seat dining room.

By the way,

the owners of La Parra are enemies of shifts

, a custom that exists especially in openings in recent years in Madrid.

They see it as a formula to take care of and pamper customers so they can stay after dinner as long as they want.

"That is another of the aspects that define us and that is the way we understand restoration," they say.

'September 7', on the table

"The same little table that has seen us tie our hands underneath, makes sure that the usual corner remains reserved," Mecano sang, in fact, in

a corner of La Parra

in

El 7 de Septiembre

.

That little table number 9 in La Parra, where the song was created and which today remains intact—and can be reserved—was where Nacho Cano sat with

Coloma

, his partner for a time.

The Parra.

Monte Esquinza, 34. Madrid.

Telephone: 91 319 54 98.

http://www.restaurante-laparra.com/