Maria Canales
Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-00:15
In the era of the container,
bowls
, salads and
healthy
sandwiches to take away and uninterrupted hours in companies, it seems that going out to
eat a menu of the day
like those of yesteryear at the bar is out of fashion.
However, although it is true that, today, you no longer see as many posters or blackboards on the street outside restaurants announcing the dishes of the day, you can still find places that support this very Spanish tradition during the week. offering its list of homemade starters, main courses and desserts at a good price.
Also the most sophisticated and haute cuisine dining rooms and even those with international cuisine sign up with their weekly offers.
On this occasion, we focus on places in the capital that serve traditional recipes in their daily menus for
no more than 18 euros.
Ponzano Restaurant
Ponzano beans dish.
Paco García and his wife Melania Berdún have been running this establishment in Ponzano, the capital's gastronomic street par excellence, for more than 35 years, serving their customers
homemade dishes with traditional recipes
.
Its varied menu of the day, served from Monday to Friday (up to about 40 days), is already a benchmark in the area.
Among the proposals, to choose between two starters and two seconds plus dessert and drink, house specialties such as offal, meats from different regions and spoon dishes are included.
The
Madrid stew
stands out , of which up to 90 come out on Wednesdays.
Reservations are recommended.
Price
: 18 euros.
Where: Ponzano, 12. Tel. 91 448 68 80.
Dani House
It is the most popular place in the La Paz Market, in the Salamanca neighborhood, and not only for its potato omelette skewer, one of the best in Madrid, but for its
extensive and cheap menu of the day, which is served on Mondays. to Saturday
.
It is especially on the weekend when there are more queues to access its small dining room, since it is not possible to reserve.
The menu, with traditional dishes cooked with fresh products from the Mercado de la Paz, consists of 12 starters (salads, vegetable soups, rice, pasta and legumes) and 12 seconds with different options of heavy, meat and chicken. choose with bread, drink, dessert (or coffee).
Every day they post the options on their Facebook page.
Price
: 14 euros (15 on Saturdays).
Where: La Paz Market (Ayala, 28; Tel. 915 75 59 25).
Orellana House
Casa Orellana Cheeks.
This classic from the Las Salesas neighborhood is a
tribute to traditional Andalusian cuisine
, from its tapas and muffins to its spoon dishes.
Their lunch menus, simple and in which seasonal produce is the protagonist, offer a selection in three courses from Monday to Friday, with a light first course from the usual cuisine, such as pumpkin cream or lentils, and a second to choose between some of the traditional ones that have elevated the restaurant, such as sea bass with baked potatoes or salmon with orange vegetables, among others.
The selection of desserts includes options such as rice pudding or fresh seasonal fruit.
According to its owners, approximately 570 daily menus are served per month.
Price
: 15 euros.
Where: Calle de Orellana, 6. Tel. 915 02 41 82
Day
Daytime Squid.
Spanish and cosmopolitan cuisine in this elegant restaurant
inspired by 1930s Berlin
that operates 24/7 as a restaurant, bar and cocktail bar.
At noon, from Monday to Friday, you have two menu options of the day:
the traditional one
, with starters, seconds and desserts to choose from, which include usual dishes, such as beans with chorizo, salmorejo cordobés, pasta, salads, ventresca tuna or scallops (plus drink, bread or coffee), and
chef Luis Miguel's Burger menu
, a hamburger served on brioche bread with fried legs, dessert drink.
Prices
: 15.50 and 14.50 euros, respectively.
Where: San Marcos, 37. Tel. 915 22 00 09.
Cafe Cibeles
A menu from Café Cibeles.
It is Grupo Azotea's latest venture on the
second floor of the emblematic Palacio de Cibeles
(which also includes Azotea Cibeles and the Cornamusa restaurant).
The elegant space designed by Alejandra Pombo's interior design studio, with three large floor-to-ceiling windows, and overlooking Alcalá Street, works with the
nonstop
concept , and can be had from breakfast to an aperitif, snack and Also, menu of the day from Monday to Friday.
This consists of the choice between four starters (beans with clams, pumpkin cream, sautéed vegetables and shrimp...), four main courses (meatballs, sea bass, hake...) and three desserts, as well as a drink and bread.
Price
: 14.35 euros.
Where: Plaza de Cibeles, 1. Tel. 915 301 761
VILLANUEVA'S HIDEOUT
The Wednesday stew at Escondite de Villanueva
With its
non-stop
concept , this dining room located in the heart of the Salamanca neighborhood serves everything from breakfast to business lunches and dinners.
To enjoy from Monday to Friday, the restaurant offers
its menu of the day
with first courses such as asparagus and tuna salad or stewed lentils and second courses to choose between its beef fajitas with guacamole and pico de gallo or its baked sole with round beans and pumpkin.
To finish, fruit like pineapple or your chocolate cookie.
Winter Wednesdays are
Madrid stew day,
a two-part menu that includes drinks and bread.
Price
: 15 euros.
Where: Villanueva, 26. Tel.: 914 31 33 49
The Chalana
Famous these days for reasons other than gastronomy and more political ones (it was a meeting place in the Koldo Case), this
seafood restaurant specializing in Asturian
and Cantabrian cuisine, meats, fish and shellfish, boasts of being affordable to everyone.
Among its specialties are grilled fish and seafood, stews, soupy rice dishes and, of course, seafood, as well as Asturian beef, from grilled entrecôte or Cabrales to cachopo.
It has two different areas: the dining room and the bar and it is in the latter (reservations are not accepted) where you can enjoy the menu of the day:
Chigre Menu for two
(uninterrupted from 1 to 24 hours).
Includes a crab, Leon cured meat and goat cheese salad, grilled prawns, carabineros cake and a bottle of Pecado del Paraíso brut cider or two bottles of Trabanco cider).
The restaurant says that up to 600 daily menus are served daily in its four locations (two in Asturias and two in Madrid).
Price
: 19 euros for two people (9.50 euros each).
Where: Santo Domingo de Silos, 6. Tel.: 918 29 13 59
The fifth wine
The stew from El Quinto Vino.
Emblematic Andalusian-inspired
tavern and food house
in the Tetuán area, famous for its ham croquettes and its wide range of wines with denominations from all over Spain, but with great emphasis on Jerez.
Every day they present their daily menu options written on a blackboard, but to know what will be served throughout the month (Monday to Friday) you have to go to their website.
Every day they have two starters and two seconds to choose from homemade and traditional dishes that are never repeated throughout the month (except for the stew, on Wednesdays), from beans with chorizo, garlic fideuá, pumpkin cream, artichokes... even Galician-style knuckle, empanadas, rabbit with three mustards, quail, Greek-style chicken... It is completed with bread, a glass of wine, dessert or coffee.
Price
: 13.50 euros.
Where: Hernani, 48. Tel. 91553 66 00.
The Mucca
The chain already has eight restaurants in the capital where you can have breakfast, have an aperitif, snack, dinner and have a drink.
On weekdays, it offers an "organic, healthy and homemade" daily menu
alternative
at all its locations.
You can opt for the traditional menu, with traditional classic dishes, or for poke, pizza or burgers.
The sourdough bread is baked daily in their own bakery and you can also accompany it with homemade kombucha for a small extra cost.
Available Monday to Friday from 1 p.m.
Price
: 14 to 16 euros.
Where: Almagro, 3. Tel. 915 21 00 00
Art Caffe
Small cafe located on the lively and busy Fuencarral street that is open from breakfast to dinner.
In the small dining room for about 30 seats, you can eat their daily menu from Monday to Friday with homemade Mediterranean cuisine dishes.
The options, to choose between five first and five seconds, are announced on an old-fashioned blackboard at the entrance of the premises.
From chickpeas with prawns, broth, salad or rice, three delights, as a starter, to stuffed eggplants, Russian fillets, hake or chicken curry, as a main course.
Includes bread, drink, dessert or coffee.
Price
: 15.75 euros.
Where: Fuencarral, 93. Tel. 914 459 870.
Mu!
The pleasure of the flesh
Moo!
The pleasure of the flesh
Meat lovers have in this restaurant (with four locations in the capital) the most typical of
Argentine gastronomy
: a selection of cuts of Argentine meat prepared on the quebracho charcoal grill, which can be enjoyed à la carte or also in their
daily menus, also on weekends
and holidays.
To start, you can choose between chorizo, blood sausage or empanada, to continue with a strip or vacuum roast or entrail or chicken.
To accompany, fries or mixed salad and, for dessert, choose between ice cream, flan, rice pudding or coffee.
Includes drink.
Price
: 16.50 euros.
Where: Huertas, 1. Tl.
914 512 785.
DITALY
For fans of
Italian cuisine
, this Neapolitan pizzeria in the Chamberí neighborhood presents its
express lunch menu
that includes an appetizer of Italian cold cuts accompanied by traditional taralli (salted crackers), along with a main dish to choose from a wide variety of options. , ranging from pastas with different sauces, pizza carbonara, traditional meat lasagna and eggplant parmigiana.
The menu includes dessert or coffee and a glass of house wine, beer, water or soft drink.
Price
: 14.90 euros.
Where: Santa Engracia, 108. Tel.
623 41 63 96
The Happy Buddha 1974
Prawn dish from El Buda Feliz 1974.
Fans of
Chinese gastronomy
can also find an affordable daily menu in this legendary restaurant, one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Madrid, which offers authentic Chinese cuisine based on grandmother's recipes brought directly from China.
In its executive menu, from Tuesday to Friday, a choice of three starters (appetizers), three main courses (based on noodles or rice) and three third courses (meat, chicken or mushroom dishes) are offered, in addition to the dessert of the house and a drink.
Price
: 15 euros.
Where: Tudescos, 5;
Tel. 91 531 95 24.
Garden Pizza
Spaghetti Bolognese.
A starter, a main, plus a drink, coffee or dessert is also the daily menu offer from Monday to Friday at the famous pizzeria with five locations in Madrid.
Among the dishes to choose from, which change every week, are from chickpea, spinach and chistorra stew, baked eggplant or Tuscan mozzarella to spaghetti Bolognese, proscuitto pizza or chicken Cacciatora.
Price
: 11.90 euros.
Where: Cardinal Marcelo Spínola, 1. Tel: 915 48 54 63