Best Restaurants in Malasaña

Nacha serves Argentine food on Calle Conde Duque, in the Conde Duque pocket of Madrid's Centro district, near Plaza de España and the Templo de Debod. It opened in October 2024, opposite the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque. It's listed in the Michelin Guide, a listing rather than a star, and the format is sharing plates cooked in a traditional style, set in an intimate, rustic room with warm lighting and warm service. The kitchen's own Instagram has singled out a whole grilled molleja de corazón, heart sweetbread, and a smoked labneh among its plates. It runs to 00:30 on weeknights and later on Friday and Saturday, the only two days lunch is served, from 13:00 to 17:00. It's closed Sundays, and cards and contactless are accepted.

Okashi is a Japanese restaurant on Calle de San Vicente Ferrer in Malasaña, holding a Repsol Solete. Founded in 2008 as part of the Okashi Sanda group, it bills itself as the first certified fully gluten-free and lactose-free Japanese restaurant in the city, cooking traditional Japanese flavours beyond sushi, everything handmade, and has adapted much of the menu for vegans since 2021. The carta runs from takoyaki and gyoza to katsudon, katsu kare and ramen in shio or shoyu, with a matcha cheesecake brûlée among the desserts. It opens Wednesday to Sunday evenings, with lunch Friday to Sunday, and it's closed Monday and Tuesday. It's good for groups and families, and dog-friendly, with cocktails on the menu.

Luna Rossa is a family-run Neapolitan trattoria on Calle de San Bernardo in Malasaña, holding a Repsol Solete. The venue says it turned 30 in October 2024, so it opened in 1994. Anna Carla Zucchini took the business over from her father, the founder, and today runs it with her husband, pizzaiolo Cristian Ogea, alongside Valentín Ogea in the kitchen and Giuseppe Procentese on the floor. Its wood-fired stone oven, which the venue says was the first built in Madrid in the Neapolitan style, turns out pizza on dough proved more than 48 hours, alongside starters like parmigiana di melanzane and a Rubia Gallega beef carpaccio tonnato. It's open daily for lunch and dinner, around €20 to €30 a head.

Vega is a creative vegan restaurant on Calle de la Luna in Malasaña, holding a Repsol Solete. The kitchen cooks entirely vegan and organic, leaning on the comfort of home cooking turned creative, in a room that reads modern but cosy. The menu runs from spinach and 'parmesan' croquettes with cashew veganaise and a 'burrata' with tomato, green olive tapenade and pistachio pesto, through mains like a 'chicken' and vegetable skewer with satay sauce and a pumpkin-and-saffron risotto finished with a 'parmesan' tuile. It's open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch only, and closed Monday. It runs €26 to €50 a head, and the venue can be hard to book, so it's worth reserving ahead through its online booking widget.

1862 Dry Bar is a classic cocktail bar on Calle del Pez in Malasaña, run by Alberto Martínez and Mª Teresa Esbri. It's named for the building's construction in 1862, the same year Jerry Thomas published 'How to Mix Drinks,' the book credited as the world's first cocktail manual. The bar won the Academia Madrileña de Gastronomía's Premio a Bares y Tragos in 2023, framed as recognition of how far Madrid's whole cocktail scene had grown over the previous decade. The menu changes daily, pairing standards like the Manhattan, Negroni, Old Fashioned and Mint Julep with the bar's own creations, among them the Lavanda Carmesí. It opens from 16:00 most days, running to 02:00 or later, and closes for a summer break in August.

Amets is a Basque gastroteka on Calle del Limón, in the Universidad barrio near Malasaña, and the first solo project of chef Diego Sánchez, open since 2024. The name means 'dream' in Basque, and the kitchen serves reinvented Basque cooking paired with author wines, in a deliberately casual room. The menu changes daily with what's available, so dishes aren't guaranteed, but past offerings have included a gilda, an aged beef tartare with bone marrow emulsion, a courgette flower stuffed with pisto manchego and cured egg yolk, and a grilled txuleta in leek ash with confit leeks and a hazelnut-soy emulsion. It's closed Monday and Tuesday, serves dinner only Wednesday and Thursday, lunch and dinner Friday and Saturday, and lunch on Sunday. It runs €51 to €100 a head.

Casa 28 is a butcher shop and tasting bar on Calle del Espíritu Santo in Malasaña. The space traded as a neighbourhood butcher's for more than a century, run by the Fernández family across three generations, before it closed in 2014. Adrián Rojas and Roberto Quirant, both previously of Punto MX, reopened it as Casa 28 at the start of 2019, keeping the old marble and fittings and adding a wooden tasting bar. You eat at the counter on high stools, working through aged Iberian references and cuts with an Argentine accent, worked into steak tartare, cecina and slow-cooked dishes, with vermouth, beer and wine by the glass. It seats around thirty, per press coverage, and runs €26 to €50 a head. It's closed Monday; check its hours for the rest of the week directly.

Casa Tabacos is a tapas bar on Calle de la Palma, in the Conde Duque pocket of Malasaña, set inside a former tobacco shop. Traditional tapas come with vermut and craft beer alongside, and the room, cosy and rustic, is one of the reasons to go. The menu runs from stuffed egg, matrimonio toast and tortilla to confit baby artichokes with jamón ibérico, Soria-style torreznos with revolconas, and Madrid-style tripe. It's open Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday from 18:00 to 01:00, Friday from 13:00 to 02:00, and Saturday from 12:30 to 01:00; Monday isn't on the published schedule, so it's worth checking before you go. Bookings run through CoverManager, linked from its own site.

Antonia Pizza on Calle del Dos de Mayo is the Malasaña branch of a Madrid chain of pizza-by-the-slice counters, with others around Sol, Lavapiés, Chueca, Atocha, San Bernardo and Moncloa. The format is XXL slices to take away, quick and cheap, and it keeps late hours: 12:00 to 01:00 every day, and to 05:00 on Friday and Saturday nights. It's casual and walk-in, mostly takeaway, with a step-free entrance and cards and contactless accepted. It runs under €25 a person, among the cheapest options on this list.

Ojalá is Grupo La Musa's beach bar on Calle de San Andrés in Malasaña, with brunch served until late, cocktails at any hour and a basement floored with sand. It opens at 09:00 every day for breakfast and runs a menú del día at lunch, published on the group's site, with a terrace outside. It closes at midnight Monday to Wednesday and Sunday, 00:30 on Thursday, and 01:30 on Friday and Saturday.

Tilda Neotaberna Castiza is the restaurant of Hotel Akeah on Calle de San Bernardo in Malasaña, run by the SmartRental group. It takes the castizo tavern idea and gives it a contemporary spin, reworking traditional Madrid dishes like croquetas, huevos rotos, solomillo and torreznos, alongside Mediterranean plates, a burger and a dedicated VEGGIE TILDA vegetarian section. There's a year-round interior patio where food is served, plus a separate rooftop for drinks only, with views over the neighbourhood. It's open long hours daily, from morning until midnight and later on weekends, and runs €26 to €50 a head. Book through TheFork or by phone.