Best Galician Restaurants in Madrid

Repsol

O'Pazo has worked from Reina Mercedes in Nuevos Ministerios since 1969, and it was one of the few restaurants to win a star in Michelin's first-ever Red Guide for Spain. Evaristo García, owner of the Galician seafood house Pescaderías Coruñesas, took over in 1981 with the aim of making it a temple of fish and shellfish, and a 2008 renovation modernised the dining room. It now holds two Repsol Soles and has stayed in the family since García's children, Diego, Paloma and Marta, took over in 2017. The kitchen keeps things simple: Carril clams, langoustines from Marín, txangurro au gratin and a Galician lobster salpicón, all built on wild, daily-bought product from Spain's coasts.

“Un clásico de la restauración madrileña desde 1969”— Time Out Madrid

Michelin SelectedRepsol

Alabaster sits in Jerónimos, by the Prado and Retiro, as the Madrid outpost of Grupo Amicalia, the group behind Alborada in A Coruña. Chef Antonio Hernando has led the kitchen since it opened in 2014. It's recommended in the Michelin Guide and holds one Repsol Sol. Antonio Hernando runs the kitchen, and Óscar Marcos leads the dining room after training at the Hotel Escuela de Colmenar and then spending years at Zalacaín under Custodio López Zamarra, Benjamín Urdiaín and José Jiménez Blas. The carta runs from merluza de pincho with a lemon pil pil to huevos fritos especiales con carabinero, and the cellar holds more than 1,000 references, with roughly 600 actually on the printed list. On the wine side, staff skip the usual pairing language and talk about 'armonías,' harmonies, instead.

“desborda buen producto y a un precio ajustado a la calidad y la técnica de lo que sirven”— Madrid Secreto

O'Grelo has cooked Galician seafood on Calle Menorca, in the Ibiza barrio beside Retiro park, for more than thirty years, and the family's second generation runs it now. They still go daily to choose the shellfish, treating each piece, in their words, as a jewel from the sea. It's listed in the Michelin Guide and rated Recomendado by Guía Repsol. Starters run from pulpo a la gallega and empanada de bonito to tortilla de Betanzos and xoubas with pimientos de Padrón, and mains move through oysters, buey de mar, parrilladas de marisco, arroces with bogavante or carabineros, merluza a la gallega, bacalao al pilpil and rodaballo. Filloas close the meal, and the room keeps a classic, elegant feel.

José Espasandín started out washing dishes in Madrid restaurants before opening Los Montes de Galicia in 1997 as a neighbourhood restaurant, building the menu on his grandmother's recipes. He has since handed the kitchen to his son, Daniel Espasandín, who keeps the cooking in a traditional register: Galician seafood, octopus and oven-cooked meats, described on the restaurant's own site as alta gastronomía tradicional. The room, on Calle de Azcona in Salamanca, is large enough to handle both regular service and private events, and Macarfi puts the typical spend at around €65 per person before drinks.

“el restaurante gallego con más solera de Madrid”— Time Out Madrid

Taberna Gallega Garelos is a Galician tavern on Paseo de Eduardo Dato, in the Almagro part of Chamberí, one of four Garelos addresses in the area alongside Zurbano, a furancho on Calle del Españoleto and La Bodega de Garelos on Monte Esquinza. The carta is Galician classics: Betanzos tortilla, pulpo á feira, hake a la gallega and Galician beef, with a long cellar of Albariño, Godello and Rioja. Expect to spend €26 to €50 per person.

La Penela is the Madrid outpost of the Simón-Barallobre family group, which grew out of A Coruña into Madrid and Barcelona, and it's listed Recomendado in the Guía Repsol. The group buys fish and shellfish daily at the A Coruña lonja, grows its own potatoes and legumes back in Galicia, and bottles its own Albariño, the Albariño Barallobre from the Pazo de Ximonde in DO Rías Baixas. On Calle Velázquez in the Castellana part of Salamanca, the room is built for confident group lunches, with family members often serving the tables themselves.

“La Penela, buque insignia, empezó en La Coruña, y tiene una de las mejores tortillas de Betanzos de España”— Madrid Secreto

Restaurante Casa Gallega has traded on Calle de Bordadores, in the pocket between Ópera, Plaza Mayor and Sol, since 1915, built on fish and shellfish in the Galician from-the-sea-to-the-table tradition. The kitchen runs lunch and dinner most days and is set up for groups, with its full carta published on the restaurant's own site rather than handed out on paper here. A century of trading under the same name, in the same central pocket of Madrid, makes it one of the longer-standing addresses on this list for Galician cooking near Sol.

“Casa Gallega lleva desde 1915 haciendo exactamente lo que promete su nombre”— Time Out Madrid

Carta Marina sits near the Santiago Bernabéu, in the Hispanoamérica area of northern Madrid, and leans Galician within a broader seafood menu: Galician scallops, oysters and percebes from Cedeira sit alongside wild hake and turbot, plus langostinos brought in from Sanlúcar. There's a terrace, a broad wine list and house desserts to close, with service running lunch and dinner most days. The kitchen's own photos show baked scallops, whole spider crab and a bowl of clams in a garlicky paprika broth, in keeping with a sea-forward, Galician-leaning carta rather than a single regional formula.

La Pulpería de Mila is part of Madrid's Grupo Oter, set on Calle Lagasca in the Recoletos barrio of Salamanca, close to the Retiro. The room is decorated in the style of a traditional pulpería, and the kitchen's signature is pulpo a la brasa, grilled octopus, built on Galician produce brought down from the north alongside other seafood and home-style plates. There's a summer terrace and private dining rooms for groups, and Macarfi puts the typical spend at around €40 per person before drinks. It doesn't carry a Michelin or Repsol distinction.

“una auténtica oda a las tierras celtas del país”— Time Out Madrid

Naveira do Mar is a small marisquería on Calle de Santa Juliana, in the old-neighbourhood pocket of Bellas Vistas in Tetuán, holding a Recomendado listing in the Guía Repsol. The room is warm and personal rather than polished, and the cooking stays traditional, letting the product do the work. Seafood is mostly priced by weight, so a full mariscada can run toward the higher end of the bill, worth knowing before you order. It's known for being hard to book, and it's closed on Mondays. Photographed dishes include grilled octopus with paprika and olive oil, oysters on ice, mussels, percebes and large grilled langoustines.

El Cucurucho del Mar sits on Calle del Postigo de San Martín in central Madrid and holds a Repsol Solete. It describes itself as the work of two generations of vigueses, from Vigo, cooking family recipes with a contemporary turn. The carta is anchored by zamburiñas, pulpo de Bueu with cachelos, and first-rate Galician meats, alongside pimientos de Padrón and a revuelto of Finisterre seaweed with sea urchin roe. The kitchen suggests an Albariño or a Ribeira Sacra alongside, and closes with filloas or tarta de Santiago.

Melo's has run on Calle de Ave María in Lavapiés since 1979, with a second location in Moncloa, doing Galician tapas and raciones in a casual, family-friendly room that works for groups. It's known for two things above all: croquetones de lacón and La Zapatilla, a one-kilo sandwich stuffed with lacón and melted cheese, alongside empanadas and pimientos de Padrón. The menu stays home-style rather than polished marisquería cooking, built around raciones for sharing rather than a full sit-down carta.

Volvoreta sits on the 30th floor of a tower on Paseo de la Castellana, with panoramic views over Madrid and the mountains behind the city. Executive chef Gorka Alonso runs a kitchen rooted in traditional Galician recipes, built on local, seasonal produce with inventive plating rather than a straight copy of the classics. Galicia shows up most clearly in the beef, sourced from Pazo de Recimil and reared to natural rhythms and animal-welfare standards. The name, volvoreta, is the Galician word for butterfly, and the height is as much a part of the draw as the cooking itself.

Marisquería Reyes sits in the Almenara area of Tetuán, near Plaza de Castilla in northern Madrid, and leans Galician within its seafood menu. The signature is pulpo a feira made with octopus brought in from La Guardia in Pontevedra, alongside merluza a la gallega, zamburiñas, and a house shellfish parrillada running to carabineros, cigalas, langostinos, navajas and gambas. It's set up for groups and families, open for breakfast and lunch daily, with dinner served only on Fridays and Saturdays.