Restaurante Badila

The Martyr Around The Corner

Picasso used to live around here, and the street is named after Saint Peter the Martyr. That’s suiting because Badila’s dishes are works of art to die for. Like many in Madrid, it’s situated where history oozes out of every corner on every street. But Badila is a restaurant that brings together traditional and contemporary Spanish cuisine.

Cozy and full of light, the place is always packed, and for good reason. Here are just a few samples of the vast plethora of savory meals they offer:

On the day menu is a salad of lamb’s lettuce, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, walnuts, or a bowl of fish broth. For the second dish, take your pick between ox and vegetables stewed in a thick delectable wine sauce with a kiss of chocolate, or grilled sea bass with a simple side salad. Lemon cream or flavored curds are your choices for dessert. The house Ribera del Duero wine comes in an earthenware pitcher filled to the brim, or if opting for the fish, you can take your pick from one of their many white wines.

The night menu offers sizzling noodle soup or a hearty vegetable puree for your first course. For the second, you’ll find it hard to choose between their steak baked with melted blue cheese or their homey beefy meatballs dripping tomato sauce over a mound of potatoes.

Outside, the winding paths of Lavapies will be flowing with passersby, in the most multicultural neighborhood in the center of Madrid. Theaters and galleries and music venues sit alongside all the restaurants, and you’ll watch from the inside, sitting within the glow of the restaurant’s shade of pearl, where historical figures and famous artists have left their mark and their name.