Delicious Madrid Russian Salad tapa

Russian Salad Tapa

Russian salad tapa? Or tapa de ensaladilla Rusa?, that’s right, when you come to Madrid to enjoy some of the best Spanish tapas in Madrid, you will notice a lot of bars offering Russian salad tapa. In our Madrid tapas tours, we offer the Russian salad tapa during our spring and summer Madrid tapas tours. A lot of people, even Spaniards, do not know the origin of this delicious cold salad. Today we are going to do just that, explain the origin and recommend three Madrid tapas restaurants that prepare a delicious version of Russian salad tapa. Without any further due, let’s get on with it!

Popular knowledge states that the original recipe of the Russian Salad was elaborated in Moscu in 1860 by a French chef residing in there at that time, hence the name Russian salad, but it goes back fifteen years before that in the The Modern Cook-book by Italian chef Charles Elmé Francatelli. This recipe is titled Russian salad and has lobster, anchovies, tuna-fish, crab, olives, capers and mayonnaise, quite the fancy ingredients if you we compare it to today’s Russian salad.

In Spain, the typical Russian Salad is prepared with mayonnaise, potatoes, carrots, peas, tuna-fish, boiled egg and covered with baked red-pepper, there are other variations which may include shrimp or crab. The three top Restaurants in the heart of Madrid that Native Spanish Tapas highly recommends in going are the following:

Casa Nicassio: (C/Union 10, 28013 Madrid, España) Here they make the traditional one, which comes close to the type you would find in any ordinary household in Madrid, a must.

La Máquina/Puerta 57 (C/ Padre Damián) This restaurant is at the premise of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. They also serve the salad in a very traditional way, highly recommended if you are visiting the Real Madrid stadium tour.

Taberna Laredo (C/ Doctor Castelo, 30) If you want to try a more sophisticated Russian salad, we recommend this place, it has crabs and anchovies, it’s absolutely mouth-watering.