The guide · Lavapiés
Where to eat in Lavapiés
This is, literally, the list we message to people staying at the flat. It lives on a map you can save to your phone in one tap.
Where the name comes from
Lavapiés sits directly below the streets where El Rastro is set up every Sunday, which means that if you are staying anywhere near the flea market, this is your neighbourhood whether you planned it or not. It is the most mixed part of central Madrid — historically working class, now one of the densest concentrations of Indian, Senegalese, Chinese, Bangladeshi and Latin American food in the city, sitting alongside old Madrid taverns that never left.
What follows is not a best-of list. It is the nine places we go to ourselves.
The places
Since 2015
La Falda de Lavapiés
Its tortilla de Betanzos — the Spanish potato omelette, made here with grelos (turnip greens) and chorizo from Lalín in Galicia — won the Spanish Potato Omelette Championship in 2023. That tells you most of what you need to know. Exposed brick, stone columns, a brass bar. It is run by Claudia Rodríguez, Alejandro Oliveira and Xan Otero.
Calle del Carnero 9
Novo Mundo
A bakery and specialty coffee shop a minute from El Rastro. Their motto is bread, coffee and people, and they mean it: the coffee is always Latin American in origin, and the fruit, vegetables and charcuterie come from Mercado de la Cebada just up the road. They are the ones who popularised New York Rolls in Madrid — a filled croissant; theirs comes with Baileys cream and pistachio. They also sell whole beans to take home.
Calle Santa Isabel 40
La Burlona
They describe themselves as a bar-restaurant without labels, and the line on their website sums it up: the name and the origin do not matter, the flavour does. They run their own cocktail bar, El Trilero. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 1.30pm to 2.30am, so it works for lunch and for ending the night. They take bookings — and unlike almost everywhere else around here, you should make one.
Calle Argumosa 11
Tatema
Mexican cooking over coals. Tatemado means charring something over a flame, which is where the name comes from. It opened at the end of 2019, takes its look from the architecture of Luis Barragán, and keeps neighbourhood prices — nothing on the food menu goes above 13 euros, and no cocktail above 7.
On a corner by Cine Doré
Casa Pachuco
Mexican, with detours: marlin and octopus tostadas, but also Thai meatballs and Korean salad. It sits right next to the Filmoteca, Madrid's arthouse cinema, so it works well either side of a screening.
Calle del Olmo 20
Casa Victoria
From the same team as Pum Pum. A long room with a bar, an open kitchen and a dining space at the back. It works at any hour: specialty coffee in the morning, natural wine at night.
Lavapiés
Pum Pum Bakery
A bakery built on slow dough — croissants, pain au chocolat, morning pastries. It used to be a pizzeria, and the room still gives it away.
Calle de Lavapiés 32
Caravan Cafe
Brunch and specialty coffee. The two things people order most are the Turkish eggs — poached egg over spiced yoghurt with chilli oil — and the crispy chicken sandwich.
In the street-mural stretch
NAP Lavapiés
Proper Neapolitan pizza: thin, airy base, plenty of sauce, not much cheese. No embellishment.
Two that are on the map but not in the neighbourhood
Casa Orellana is at Calle Orellana 6, in Salesas, near Alonso Martínez. It is a modern casa de comidas reviving the classic Madrid tavern — croquetas, tortilla, callos a la madrileña (tripe stew, a Madrid staple), huevos rotos. Very good, but a half-hour walk from here: go on purpose, not on the way to something else.
Hot Now is also outside Lavapiés, over towards Chueca.
Why this list and not another one
We did not go looking for the highest-rated places on the internet. These are the ones we walk into, in the neighbourhood where we live and where we rent out a room. If you are coming to Madrid and want to be inside all of this, this is the room.