Best lunch in Madrid

byDan Beers Moreno
5 May, 2019 at11:32 am
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Eating out in Madrid is fairly cheap and today we are going to show tricks on how to have a cheap and proper lunch in Madrid as local’s do. A lot of travelers who come to Madrid do not realize how cheap it is to have lunch in Madrid and tend to order food directly from the card, where there are always lunch menus available (called Menu’s del día) with a great variety of foods to choose from such as paellas, veggies, gazpacho, meats, fish, soup, the list can go on forever, plus these menus include a bottle of table wine, dessert, dessert could be a flan, fruit, pastry, if you order both the dessert and coffee, they charge you for the extra coffee. Most Menus for lunch in Madrid are around 10,00 € to 12:00 € per person. We are going to give some simple tips on how to have lunch in Madrid.

Local’s generally have lunch in Madrid at your average bar or restaurant from 13:00-16:00. Yes, we do have long lunches, it must be the weather. You can see a mix between office workers, bricklayers, taxi drivers etc… all having lunch at the same Menu del día restaurant.

It’s very easy to spot a Menu del día with a simple sign written on a piece of paper:

Or on a board left out on the street:

You basically have to choose between one plate from the first option (called primeros platos, or first plates), then you choose a second plate (segundo plato, or second plate) most bars and restaurants offer 4 options in the primeros platos and 4 options in the segundos platos, then you will be asked if you want wine or beer; it’s a given, we drink alcoholic beverages for lunch, whereas some cultures is not culturally accepted.

For example, I would choose paella for the first plate and hake fish with French fries for my second plate, accompanied with wine with a type of local Sprite called Casera, this is a common drink when people have lunch in Madrid, called Vino con Casera, we highly recommend it!