Taberna Maceira

Taberna Maceira sits at Calle de Jesús 7, in the Barrio de las Letras a short walk from Antón Martín. The Madrid tourism board, esMadrid, lists it as a Galician kitchen brought to the centre of the city, and it has been doing that since 1997. There are sibling rooms a few streets over on Calle Huertas, but the Jesús address is the original.

The hook is Galician wine, mostly Ribeiro, served the traditional way in white ceramic bowls called cuncas rather than glasses. It is a deliberate piece of regional theatre and it works, lining the wine up with a kitchen of pulpo a la gallega, brothy rice and blistered padrón peppers. Tripadvisor reviewers keep calling it the best Galician food in Madrid.

Prices run at tasca level, which is the second reason the room stays full. This is a working taberna, not a polished wine bar, and the bill reflects it. The octopus comes dusted with pimentón on a wooden board, the arroz caldoso arrives in a pot, and a cunca of Ribeiro costs little.

There are no reservations, so a queue at peak hours is part of the deal. The room is tight, wooden and loud, the kind of place where tables turn fast and the staff move quicker. For the wider picture, see our Madrid wine bars guide below.

Come for the Galician wine ritual and the octopus, at a price that still makes sense. Skip it if you need a booking, a quiet table or a long modern wine list; this is regional comfort cooking with the wine to match.

Arrive at the start of lunch or dinner service to beat the queue, since there are no reservations.

Weekend nights bring the longest waits, so an early weekday sitting is the calmer move.