There’s a trick to eating Spain’s decadent percebes, aka gooseneck barnacles. The operation with these rare delicacies is to twist off the tip while pinching the long, leathery peduncle. A firm upward tug reveals the crustacean’s edible core, to be devoured, juices and all, in one satisfying slurp. Brackish, subtle, earthy, and sweet, percebes are the edible embodiment of the wild Atlantic coast.
These are the sorts of lessons you learn at Madrid’s marisquerías, casual seafood joints where Albariño flows like water and heaped platters are plunked down on paper tablecloths. Fried hake, salt-encrusted sea bass, white shrimp from Huelva sputtering in hot, garlicky oil—this is coastal cooking at its fines, paradoxically, many miles from the sea.
But traditional marisquerías are the mere crest of the wave when it comes to the capital’s seafood experiences, which range from toothpick-only dinners at hole-in-the-wall conservas bars to fish-focused tasting menus at world-class gastro-temples. Here, nine essential stops for any seafood lover.
O’Grelo
For nearly four decades, O’Grelo has kept the Retiro district sated with pristine Galician shellfish—percebes, clams, mussels, oysters, spider crabs, velvet crabs, variegated scallops—all scooped from the vast saltwater estuaries called rías that stretch along the northwestern coast. A handful of more elaborate plates round out the minimalist marisquería offerings; don’t miss the monkfish carpaccio, delicate and diaphanous, or the Spanish tortilla, a recipe handed down by the owner’s great-grandmother. Calle Menorca, 39
Fide
If you’re still skeptical that great seafood can come from a can, let Fide be your North Star. The no-fuss bar in the heart of Chamberí is stacked floor to ceiling with colorful conservas (tinned fish) ranging from fat Galician cockles to oil-packed tuna belly to briny, tender razor clams. Ordering is simply a matter of pointing to a tin you want to try and holding out your wine glass for refills of crisp white wine from Ribeiro. Calle de Bretón de los Herreros, 17
Desde 1911
Reservations are elusive at Desde 1911, which opened in November. That’s because savvy Madrileños know what most visitors don’t: The Tetuán neighborhood restaurant, is owned by the high-end seafood wholesaler Pescaderías Coruñesas, which funnels its finest catch straight into the kitchen. Bypassing the middleman translates into fresher fish at fairer prices for diners. Tasting menus vary according to each day’s haul—a red mullet ceviche today, perhaps; Basque hake kokotxas (cheeks) in pil-pil sauce tomorrow—but the centerpiece is always a whole fish, roasted to crackly perfection in a wood-fired oven and filleted tableside. Calle Vivero, 3
Bar El Boquerón
A charming pocket-size bar in the Lavapiés district that’s wonderfully out of step with the times, El Boquerón’s chalkboard menu of seafood tapas is slung by a lone veteran griddle cook. After a glass of vermouth and somewhite anchovies and olives, put in an order for shrimp a la plancha, which will materialize in a matter of minutes, topped with an ample sprinkle of crunchy salt. Calle de Valencia, 14
Estimar
Ferran Adrià, the father of Spanish vanguardist cuisine, hailed Estimar as “the marisquería of the 21st century.” Whether he was referring to the sparkling open kitchen, foamed and blowtorched dishes or daily deliveries from the docks of Costa Brava is anyone’s guess—but undeniably Estimar is raising the bar. In the low-lit dining room, waiters parade out sizzle plates of whole roasted rockfish and kelp-lined platters of still-pulsating oysters. It’s distressingly easy to drop 200 euros a head here, but that’s a small price to pay for a most memorable seafood feast. Calle Marqués de Cubas, 18
