Best Basque Restaurants in Madrid

MichelinRepsol

The gastronomic room is the fine-dining side of Corral de la Morería, the flamenco tablao that opened in 1956 and is now run by bailaora Blanca del Rey and her sons Juan Manuel and Armando del Rey. It operates as its own space within the building: four tables, no more than eight guests, built around a tasting counter. Chef David García, born in Bilbao and trained under Martín Berasategui, at elBulli, Mugaritz and Nerua before earning a Michelin star at Álbora, cooks a single tasting menu he calls Menú Compás, built on Basque-rooted broths, stocks and juices from ecologically grown produce. The cellar holds more than 1,000 Jerez wine references. It holds one Michelin star and three Repsol Soles, and serves dinner only, with sittings at 20:00, 20:30, 21:00 and 21:30.

Michelin SelectedRepsol

Haramboure sits in the old Esbardos space, run by chef Patxi Zumárraga, who trained at El Bulli, The Fat Duck and Nobu, and Patricia Haramboure, from Mar del Plata in Argentina, who runs the front of house and wine list; the two worked together previously at Fismuler. It opened in September 2023. Beyond the cocochas and a Zalla onion tatin, the carta runs to boletus aereus brushed with beef fat before grilling, scorpionfish served three ways with a consommé, ensaladilla and fine noodles, mochi with leeks and shrimp, butter rolls with caviar, and stuffed chard stalks with bonito belly tartare. Every morning, separate from dinner service, Zumárraga runs a €5 bocadillo de tortilla stand outside the door. Haramboure is listed as Selected in the Michelin Guide and holds one Repsol Sol; it's closed Sunday, Monday and public holidays.

“Restaurante donde el romanticismo se une a los clásicos vasco-franceses”— DondeGo

Jaizkibel is an asador marinero, in its own words, on Calle Albasanz in Simancas, well outside the tourist grid in San Blas-Canillejas. It leans on produce from around Hondarribia and on artisan, hook-line fishing rather than drift nets, with fish received daily from the Port of Ondarroa. The carta runs to artichokes stuffed with txangurro, fresh anchovies from Getaria, green peppers from Guernika, an Astigarraga blood sausage scramble, Basque rice with baby squid, prawns and clams, a classic Donosti fish soup, hake kokotxas grilled or in pil-pil sauce, and a cod tasting that runs through pil-pil, vizcaína and txangurro preparations. The room is rustic and warm rather than polished, with free parking available. Jaizkibel is listed in the Michelin Guide, a Guide listing rather than a star.

“especializado en la gastronomía vasca y la sidra de la kupela”— madrid.place

Michelin SelectedRepsol

El Gran Asador Lecanda opened in April 2023 on Calle Lagasca, on the same site where David Lecanda began his Madrid career back in 1998, and works Basque asador cooking, in the tradition of parrilla popular vasca, aiming for a taste of the Cantabrian coast. Beyond the grill, the carta runs to Santoña anchovies, cachopo croquettes, a Lecanda marmitako, and king crab txangurro sold by weight from the restaurant's own tanks, alongside jamón ibérico 100% de bellota and sliced Ibérico presa to start. The room is elegant, classic and dimly lit, open every day from 13:00 to midnight with no afternoon break. It's listed as Selected in the Michelin Guide and holds one Repsol Sol.

Sua trades as Sua by Triciclo, the fire-led sibling of the Triciclo group, on Calle de Moratín in the Cortes barrio, between the Congress and the museum row. Sua means fire in Basque, and the idea is cooking over embers, in a room built around a striking winter garden. Beyond the grilled beef, the carta runs to artisan beef cecina, a mojete manchego with rabbit brine and cured cheese, natural oysters, and a Rubia beef tartar with marrow and toasted meat juice dressing, alongside a smoked red tuna tartar with spicy pepper juice. The kitchen leans on carefully chosen local producers and seasonal produce, betting on sustainable gastronomy by its own account. Sua is listed in the Michelin Guide and opens every day except Tuesday.

Repsol

Arima means 'soul' in Euskera, and the menu carries real family history: owner Nagore Irazuegi's great-grandmother Joxefa left the Basque Country for Uruguay as a young woman, and the bar's Gilda Joxefa 2.0, piparra-pepper mayonnaise on puffed bread with olive paste, anchovy and olive-oil pearls, is named for her. It opened in 2016, and head chef Diego Hernán leads the kitchen. The bar runs a weekend vermouth service alongside Stilton croquettes, Orly prawns and fried hake with cured yolk and Espelette. The restaurant carta runs from ajo blanco with smoked sardine and tempura piparras with wagyu cecina to chipirones in their ink, tempura hake in the style of Eneko, callos with trotter and snout, and a roast old-cow striploin sold by the 500 grams, finishing with pastel vasco. Arima is owned by Irazuegi with Rodrigo 'Rodri' García; it holds one Repsol Sol.

“Lugar de culto para las vermutek”— DondeGo

Zerain was opened in 1997 by a mother and son, Adelaida and Koldo, who kept the building's red-brick walls and wrought-iron columns and dressed the room in wood and stone to evoke a classic Basque asador and cider house, with a piano and paintings by regulars on the walls. The cooking is traditional Basque, everything prepared to order: jamón ibérico Bernardo Hernández, Idiazabal D.O. cheese, battered cod bites Orly-style, txistorra de Arbizu, cod Donostia-style or charcoal-grilled, and an aged beef chuletón priced by weight, finishing with a pantxineta. It sits in the Barrio de las Letras, next to the Museo Lope de Vega, with large salons for groups and events and a terrace. It's still run by the founding family.

“la esencia del norte en un solo restaurante”— Madrid Secreto

Restaurante Dantxari has served Basque cooking in Argüelles since 1997, largely unmoved by trends. Founding chef Ángel Alonso opened it with Eduardo Navarrina and Jesús Medina, who is still involved; head chef Rayner Medina trained for years under Alonso and now runs the kitchen, keeping to the founder's line of simple, unfussy cooking alongside the more elaborate dishes. Beyond the txangurro lasagna and the Tolosa beans, the menu runs to bacalao croquetas, a fragrant fish and seafood soup, cod prepared in the style of Club Ranero, and a house solomillo. Dantxari holds a Recomendado listing in the Guía Repsol.

“vasco y navarro tradicional en su carta, concepto y decoración”— Madrid Secreto

Casa Julián de Tolosa on Calle Ibiza is the Ibiza-barrio branch of the Basque asador, on the residential side of the Retiro; a second, separate branch trades on Cava Baja, so it's worth checking which address you've booked. Iñaki Gorrotxategi opened it in 2019. It's an asador vasco in the traditional sense: jamón ibérico de bellota to start, a Holstein-Friesian beef carpaccio with rocket and foie shavings, ox chorizo, Cantabrian anchovies, and Icelandic battered cod cooked Casa Julián style, before the house specialty, a mature beef chuletón from cattle aged six or seven years and matured around 25 days. Roasted piquillo peppers follow the Julián Rivas recipe, and dessert runs to Tolosa's own tejas and cigarrillos. It's open daily, Sunday lunch only, and reservations are hard to come by.

“tener su propia técnica de hacer la chuleta vasca”— Madrid Secreto

Mesón Txistu has been open since 1972, run by Pedro Abrego, who also owns the sister restaurant Asador Donostiarra a few metres away; the two share a kitchen. The cooking is traditional Basque asador, built around grilled meats and fish: acorn-fed Iberian ham or loin, artisan Cantabrian anchovies, baby squid fried tempura or grilled, and a txistu casserole among the fish, with a txistu chuletón for two and an old-cow sirloin from the grill. Homemade desserts run to goxua and a sheep's milk curd. It's open daily from 13:00 to 16:30 and 20:00 to midnight, with a terrace, running roughly €50 to €90 per person.

“Toda una oda a la cocina vasca desde 1972”— OKDiario

Taberna del Alabardero Madrid is where the Lezama Group began: more than 45 years ago as a small tavern next to the Teatro Real, set up to employ a group of young people in Madrid, and it's grown into a group running several restaurants, a catering arm and hospitality schools, while the original taberna stays in the same spot. The house bills its cooking as traditional Basque alongside its castizo Madrid roots, and the pintxos menu runs to boquerón and anchovy gildas with piparra, a Galician-style octopus skewer, and an Arbizu chistorra skewer, while the sit-down carta runs to Santoña anchovies with tomato caviar and piparra, cod in pil-pil sauce, and a Biscay-style stewed veal tripe. It's open daily, noon to midnight, with a terrace, running roughly €51 to €100 per person.

“Este restaurante de vasco y su cocina fueron cogiendo fama”— Madrid Secreto

Asador Guetaria takes its name and method from the Basque grilling tradition, cooking over holm-oak coals and, in its own words, working at the fire's own pace. It has cooked Basque food on Calle Aviador Zorita since 1982. Cold starters run to salt-cured anchovies with bread and tomato and a San Sebastián-style spider crab, while hot plates include a cod omelette in cider-house style and the Guetaria-style 'lazy' omelette. The fish side runs to confit cod in pil-pil sauce and hake kokotxas in pil-pil, alongside white beans cooked Basque carbonara-style with baby squid and Iberian pork jowl, and the grill turns out an aged Rubia Gallega rib-eye. The cellar is one the house calls historic, and there are private dining rooms. It's open daily, Sunday lunchtime only, from roughly €40 to €70 per person.

“lleva más de 40 años ofreciendo alta cocina con pescado, marisco y filetes”— madrid.place

Asador Donostiarra was founded by Pedro Abrego Velasco, who also started the sister restaurant Mesón Txistu a few metres away; the two share a kitchen and, the venue says, the same experience. It opened in 1976. It's a traditional asador, a grill house in the San Sebastián mould its name points to, cooking at the higher end: garlic queen scallops and a grilled turbot for two among the seasonal suggestions, artichokes in green sauce with clams, cod prepared Bilbao-style, ajoarriero or pil-pil, hake kokotxas in pil-pil sauce, and an old-cow txuletón for two off the grill. Dessert runs to a pantxineta and homemade Holy Week torrijas. It closes for summer holidays in late July to mid-August, when the venue sends diners to Mesón Txistu, which stays open.

“en 1976 regaló a Madrid este templo gastronómico”— DondeGo

Órdago opened in July 1980, when Xabier Rodríguez and Elena Amesti started with a room of barely six tables, per the venue's own history page. The name is a Basque expression, roughly 'there it is', a challenge thrown down, and also the maximum bet in the card game mus. The second generation, led by Andoni Rodríguez Amesti, has run the kitchen since the late 1990s, keeping to real, unfussy cooking on high-quality, organic-where-possible produce: alubias de Tolosa, seasonal fish, chuleta de vaca vieja and leche frita among the old-house staples, alongside a warm sweetbread salad, hake kokotxas in pil-pil sauce and a baked spinach puff pastry on the current carta. It holds a Recomendado listing in the Guía Repsol, running roughly €51 to €100 per person.

“una familiar casa de clásica cocina vasca que se ha convertido en todo un referente gastronómico en la capital española”— madrid.place