{"id":586264,"date":"2026-10-21T10:23:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T08:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/?p=586264"},"modified":"2026-10-21T10:23:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T08:23:46","slug":"the-guts-guide-to-curling-stomachs-in-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/2026\/10\/21\/the-guts-guide-to-curling-stomachs-in-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"The GUTS guide to curling stomachs in Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

We want to move to Madrid<\/strong>. We spent three days there last year and\u00a0 are now ready to become Madrile\u00f1os<\/em>. Three days was all it took. Maybe we were primed for it, maybe we are easily charmed, but the city\u2019s siren song is still ringing in my ear. It\u2019s gorgeous, it\u2019s walkable, it\u2019s alive. There\u2019s more to it, but I don\u2019t need to sing the praises of the EU\u2019s second largest city, do I? It\u2019s populated with 4 million people for a reason. Almod\u00f3var never left for a reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, surprise, surprise, it\u2019s a great city to eat offal in. The casquer\u00eda is frequented by many. Callos a la Madrile\u00f1a<\/em>, the city\u2019s very own tripe stew, is delicious and ubiquitous. I saw it on the menu at almost every restaurant we went to. I wanted to try each one but I only managed twice,\u00a0 the pursuit of other dishes ran me afield. Orejas a la plancha<\/em>, grilled pig ears, were a big chewy, crunchy, and spicy favorite. And deep-fried entresijos and gallinejas<\/em> curled up on our plates wherever we could find them, while braided zarajos<\/em> left an imprint on my tongue I can still taste to this day. And the mollejas<\/em>? They melted. The single raci\u00f3n<\/em> we had contained the best sweetbreads I\u2019ve ever eaten, and I\u2019ve eaten my fair share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But food, who gives a fuck? That\u2019s not enough reason to move somewhere. The culture around it is a factor, but it\u2019s not a reason. We want to live in Madrid because it offers a life we can\u2019t find in Ljubljana<\/strong>. I\u2019m sure many Madrile\u00f1os can argue the point, there is still a housing crisis on, speculators are buying flats and not renting them, but things there seemed to function in a way plenty of other cities do not. Buses run late into the evening! There\u2019s a metro! People live their lives outside! That probably sounds like the bare minimum, but at the time it felt like revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ljubljana, where we live now, often feels like a tourist\u2019s day dream; the housing crisis here made all the more acute due to its relative size. What do you get when a city of 300,000 becomes a top destination for travellers across the world? A hollowed out city and sky-high rents. That\u2019s what my local friends tell me. I\u2019ve only seen the post-hype Ljubljana, not the before they wax so poetic about. The hype is what brought me here, and while it is a gorgeous, lovely place to live, it\u2019s hard not to notice a city in flux. Wages haven\u2019t kept up with acclaim. Tourists don\u2019t flinch when the price of coffee and beer is double what it was before The New York Times <\/em>\u201cdiscovered\u201d Slovenia. People spend more in their few days here than many locals earn in a month. That\u2019s fine. That\u2019s life. That\u2019s the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that I hate tourists personally, I just hate the way the city bends to their will, how they amble so slowly through it, and how they pollute my girlfriends bar with their bullshit. So why not move freely around the European Economic Zone? It\u2019s what these passports were intended for, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Madrid they shoot tourists with water guns, don\u2019t they? Andrea <\/strong>day-dreams about getting the chance. The Saturday we were in town, an anti-tourist protest marched through the city, pleading for some semblance of government regulation. We crossed their path on the Gran Via, sympathetic to their plea but feeling far beyond their reach of their ire. Us? They couldn\u2019t be protesting against us. Yes, as a matter of fact we were staying in an AirBnB (sorry) but the only fanny-pack I\u2019m wearing is designed by Rick Owens (sorry), hablo un poco de espa\u00f1ol<\/em> (lo siento<\/em>), and I\u2019m just way cooler than the rest of those dumb motherfuckers (sorry). The hypocrisy slides off my back and onto the ground at Plaza Mayor, right next to a selection of bootleg Real Madrid jerseys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If migration is a give-and-take then what exactly are we bringing to the Spanish table? Appreciation of their cuisine? Madrid\u2019s not lacking in that. I\u2019ve moved around the world plenty, not sure I\u2019ve brought anything with me but emotional baggage, but we\u2019ll do our best to speak with a lisp and pay our taxes. At least I know how to eat like a local. I know because I was told exactly where to go and shown by locals themselves. We had guides in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our experience in Madrid was colored by summer and lots and lots of animal entrails. And of course, Almod\u00f3var. It\u2019s impossible to walk through those streets and not think of his films. I had hoped we might see him, but even my local guides couldn\u2019t tell me where he hangs out. What would I say? What could even be said?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI-I-I r-ruh-eally luh\u2014love y-yo-our wuh-w-work<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really do, but I\u2019m sure he\u2019s heard it all before. My favorite Almod\u00f3var movie is the Pen\u00e9lope Cruz-starring Los Abrazos Rotos<\/em>, a film that hit me like a truck during one of the most heartsick periods of my life. I fell in love with the movie the only way a melancholic college student can: obsessively. I latched on to the tragic romance between Pen\u00e9lope Cruz<\/strong> and Llu\u00eds Homar<\/strong>, think I watched it ten times in a month in between sleeping as much as possible. That was thirteen years ago, I haven\u2019t seen it since, but I remember it fondly even through a lethargic haze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to be struck by Almod\u00f3var\u2019s camera and even easier to be infatuated with Pen\u00e9lope Cruz in this movie, her performance is stunning, the platinum blonde wig she wears is stunning. Easiest of all is to become enamored with a vibrant city on vacation. Los Abrazos Rotos<\/em> isn\u2019t explicitly about Madrid, but it is filmed there and belongs to Almod\u00f3var\u2019s Madrile\u00f1o<\/em> <\/em>consciousness. It\u2019s mostly interpersonal drama, conversation and lust shot inside rooms, with short jaunts through the city at either end. Human emotion punctuated by urban geography. Isn\u2019t that life for most people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For three days, ours was punctuated by Madrile\u00f1os<\/em>, callos<\/em>, and expanse in the way only a new cityscape can facilitate. I hope it will be again soon. Until then, here are the places where we ate, drank, and fantasized about being regulars at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Los Caracoles<\/a><\/strong>
C. de Toledo, 106, Centro, 28005 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our very first stop. I actually went twice. Once on a Thursday morning, empty, delicious, gorgeous. Once on a Sunday afternoon, packed, bumping, loud, gorgeous still. Go for their namesake snails, stay for the callos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Mirador de San Isidro<\/a><\/strong>
C. de Toledo, 171, Arganzuela, 28005 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unassuming corner bar that had everything I was looking for in a restaurant. The entresijos<\/em> and gallinejas<\/em>, small intestines and abdominal walls, are killer on their own or in a sandwich. If I did live in Madrid, this would be a regular hangout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casa Toni<\/a><\/strong>
C. de la Cruz, 14, Centro, 28012 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reported classic for a reason. Packed with tourists and locals alike, we ate through the entire casqueria<\/em> section of their menu. Best to sit downstairs at the bar. The pig ears here haven\u2019t left my mind since we had them three months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casa Iv\u00e1n aka Tabarna Delfin<\/a><\/strong>
C. de Eugenio Caxes, 12, Usera, 28026 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right on the edge of Chinatown, Casa Iv\u00e1n\u2019s owner Ming Heng Chen<\/strong> inherited the place along with its customers and callos<\/em> recipe. He doesn\u2019t eat tripe himself, but a condition of buying the restaurant was keeping the dish on the menu for their local customers. It\u2019s truly amazing but so is the fresh seafood they specialize in. A full write-up from Lydia Itoi (with gorgeous photos by her daughter Naomi) is coming up in our print issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casa Enriqueta<\/a><\/strong>
Calle del Gral. Ricardos, 19, Carabanchel, 28019 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lydia Itoi<\/strong> told me about this spot, but I went there with Andrea on a late Saturday evening. We had to wait because the place was so packed. We asked our server what to get and ordered botones and canutos without knowing entirely what they were. Some kind of button shaped piece of the intestine, grilled on the plancha, along with fried lamb tripe. Delicious. Fabulous. I need to go back immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiosco Horchata Miguel y Jos\u00e9 Aguaducho<\/a><\/strong>
C. de Narv\u00e1ez, 8, Salamanca, 28009 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the last real horchata stand in the city. It gets carted in every summer, and carted out every winter. Running since 1944, the family who opened it threaten to retire every year. I\u2019m so glad we got to go, it could have been our only chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bar Una Grande Libre “Casa Chen” <\/strong>\u00a0
C. Matilde Gayo, 7, Usera, 28026 Madrid, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a strange one. It\u2019s not a recommendation, just a note that this place exists. It is surely something to see, but also something to avoid. The theme of Casa Chen is Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and his memorabilia is everywhere. How serious you take this is up to you. I do not support Franco or fascism in any way, but our curiosity got the best of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times<\/em> wrote about the owner, Xianwei Chen<\/strong>, in 2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMr. Chen, as his name might suggest, is something of a surprise. The owner of a bar festooned with Spanish flags and frequented by xenophobes is, in fact, Chinese. And this is an irony not lost on his regulars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe used to joke to him,\u201d said Jes\u00fas L\u00f3pez<\/strong>, a 51-year-old truck driver. \u201cIf Franco was still alive, he would kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, well, uh, what the fuck? Chen even named his son after Franco, that\u2019s how much he admires the man. Walking in there gives you more than a funny feeling. We had a drink and watched the owner haggle with a jam\u00f3n dealer, weighing them out and arguing about price amidst all the Franco portraiture. It was surreal. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We want to move to Madrid. We spent three days there last year and\u00a0 are now ready to become Madrile\u00f1os. Three days was all it took. Maybe we were primed for it, maybe we are easily charmed, but the city\u2019s siren song is still ringing in my ear. It\u2019s gorgeous, it\u2019s walkable, it\u2019s alive. There\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":586296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"graphics-double-column","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"selected_color":"","palette":"{\"media_id\":586296,\"colors\":[[5,5,5],[201,201,201],[87,87,87],[124,124,124],[116,116,116]],\"selected\":\"rgb(5, 5, 5)\",\"gradients\":{\"a1\":[\"#f6feff\",\"#edfcff\",\"#97f0ff\",\"#4fd8eb\",\"#22bccf\",\"#00a0b0\",\"#008391\",\"#004f58\",\"#002b30\",\"#001f24\",\"#001417\"],\"a2\":[\"#f6feff\",\"#edfcff\",\"#cde7ec\",\"#b1cbd0\",\"#96b0b4\",\"#7c959a\",\"#637b80\",\"#334b4f\",\"#10292d\",\"#051f23\",\"#001417\"],\"a3\":[\"#fefbff\",\"#faf8ff\",\"#dae2ff\",\"#bac6ea\",\"#9faace\",\"#8490b2\",\"#6b7697\",\"#3b4664\",\"#192541\",\"#0e1b37\",\"#030f2c\"],\"n1\":[\"#fafdfd\",\"#f8fafa\",\"#e1e3e3\",\"#c4c7c7\",\"#a9acac\",\"#8e9192\",\"#747878\",\"#444748\",\"#232627\",\"#191c1d\",\"#0e1212\"],\"n2\":[\"#f6feff\",\"#f2fbfd\",\"#dbe4e6\",\"#bfc8ca\",\"#a3adaf\",\"#899294\",\"#6f797a\",\"#3f484a\",\"#1e2729\",\"#141d1f\",\"#091214\"],\"error\":[\"#fffbff\",\"#fff8f7\",\"#ffdad6\",\"#ffb4ab\",\"#ff897d\",\"#ff5449\",\"#de3730\",\"#93000a\",\"#540003\",\"#410002\",\"#2d0001\"]}}","authors":"[{\"role\":\"Words and illustration by\",\"related\":[{\"postType\":\"collaborator\",\"postTypeLabel\":\"Contributor\",\"title\":\"Jake Mike Boy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/collaboratore\/jake-mike-boy\/\",\"ID\":277344,\"value\":277344,\"label\":\"Jake Mike Boy\",\"thumbnail\":false}],\"title\":\"\",\"unique_id\":\"MTc5MjU2NzIwMDc1N196ZGxocnRuM290Y18wLjMzODkyNDczNTY3Nzc5ODc=\"}]","magazine_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2401],"tags":[],"location":[1621,1664,1674],"class_list":["post-586264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-an-offal-opinion","location-europe","location-spain","location-madrid-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":586289,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586264\/revisions\/586289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586264"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=586264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}