Just steps from Plaza Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel is the best place to get a taste of traditional Spanish flavors from all over the country.
Housing History
The Mercado de San Miguel, located in Madrid, first opened its doors in 1916 as a local food market. The building itself is one of the city’s finest examples of cast-iron architecture. Today, the historic building houses one of the world’s main gastronomic markets.
Upon entering the building, you will be greeted with smells of traditional Spanish dishes being prepared. From the finest Iberian ham and fresh seafood brough in daily from Galicia to the Mediterranean rice dishes and gourmet cheeses from Castile, Asturias and Basque Country – the Mercado de San Miguel perfectly highlights the Spanish cuisine.
The mercado has more than 20 stands that all strive to serve the most authentic, high-quality tapas for visitors to enjoy. However, even though they are gourmet tapas, they are reasonably priced so it will not hurt your wallet traveling from cart to cart to try each delicacy.
In order to give you an example of just how much you can try in one visit, I’ll take you through my tapas crawl of the Mercado de San Miguel.
Paella by Rodrigo de la Calle
When thinking about the foods that make up Spanish cuisine, paella definitely sticks out as a traditional dish. So, it was no surprise that Paella by Rodrigo de la Calle was the first stop on my tapas tour of the Mercado de San Miguel.
Boasting one Michelin star, Chef Rodrigo de la Calle is passionate about making paellas and other Mediterranean rice dishes using traditional recipes. His dishes are based on age-old recipes from the Spanish Levante and throughout the Mediterranean region, but he adds his own personal touch.
When you look at the stand, you see four large paella pans. The first is a vegetable paella, the second is a chicken paella, the third is a traditional Valencian paella with rice and shellfish and the last pan holds a black rice paella.
By no means am I claiming to be a paella expert, but I have tried quite a few paellas in Spain, and this has by far been my favorite. You can definitely tell that Chef Rodrigo de la Calle selects the finest natural ingredients from his restaurant's garden, which is cultivated using sustainable methods.
"Being from a small town outside of Barcelona, I have grown up eating paella," Alex Abelló, a visitor to Mercado de San Miguel, said. "Even considering I have actually had paella in Valencia, I would rank this paella in the top three paellas I have ever had. It is definitely a must try at this market."
Quesoba
Since getting to Spain, the biggest change in my diet has been a significant increase in cheese consumption. However, I have no problem with that since I know that I am getting to try some of the highest quality cheeses the world has to offer.
Therefore, the second stop on my tapas tour was Quesoba, an artisan cheese factory. Quesoba produces their cheeses using mountain pasture milk. This stand offers visitors a selection of the best country and artisan cheeses from Spain.
I opted for the sample tray of six cheeses prepared with crackers and preserves. This was probably my favorite thing I had at the market because the cheese itself was so fresh and expertly paired with the homemade preserves.
The stand also sells sample trays of just cheese and take away boxes of cheese wedges. The cheeses are rotated daily so that there is a diversity of cheeses for visitors to try.
Picolisto
Another one of the essential Spanish tapas to try are Spanish tortillas, also called Spanish omelettes. These tortillas are made with just eggs and potatoes, and Picolisto uses only premium eggs from free-range hens and top-quality sour potatoes.
They have patented technology which makes it easy for visitors to get an individual omellete on the spot, in less than 90 seconds. While you can have a traditional potato omelette, Picolisto also has a wide variety of sauces and toppings for you to try.
I chose to try the potato omelette topped with caramelized onions and the potato omelette topped with roasted red pepper and butifarra, a traditional Catalonian sausage. Compared with the other Spanish tortillas I have had this was definitely one of the best. I also loved how you were able to try different toppings that complimented the dish so well.
"My favorite stand in the market was definitely the one with the potato omelettes," Matisse Florencio, a visitor to the Mercado de San Miguel said. "Being from Uruguay we obviously have a lot of Spanish influence in our food. My grandma makes these potato omelettes all the time, so it reminded me of home."
Rocambolesc
At the end of my tapas tour I was craving something sweet. I headed over to Rocambolesc which features natural and artisanal ice creams. The ice creams are crafted by 3-star Michelin chef Jordi Roca who has been the head of the dessert department at Celler de Can Roca since 2000.
This stand also has a wide variety of other desserts such as baked goods, popsicles, chocolate, candy and more. One of their more unique sweets is a panet. A panet is brioche filled with ice cream and toppings. The ice cream is put between brioche which is inserted into a machine designed to toast the bread around the ice cream so it can even be enjoyed even in the colder months.
I opted for a traditional ice cream cone and chose the flavor Rosquilla. Rosquillas are a popular Spanish pastry dish traditionally eaten in May during Madrid’s San Isidro celebrations, which were going on while I was in Madrid. This was probably the smoothest and creamiest, yet light ice cream I have ever had.
This flavor was only in Madrid stores for the weekend of the festival, but you will not go wrong with any flavor ice cream, or really any sweet. You can add up to three toppings and a drizzle on top of your ice cream, meaning you can personalize it any way you like.
It truly was the perfect way to end my trip to the Mercado de San Miguel.
Other must tries
A tasting of Spanish cuisine would not be complete without trying Iberian ham. Luckly inside of the Mercado de San Miguel you can get some of the best at Carrasco Ibéricos.
The family business Carrasco Guijuelo has been working with high quality pork since 1895. Their Iberian ham comes from a careful selection of finest meats from their own breed of pasture raised Iberian pigs.
Seafood is also one of the main staples in a Spaniard’s diet, so you can’t skip a stop to Morris where they have a wide variety of fish and shellfish. Each day they receive the freshest catch from the Galician coast and bring it straight to the market where it is sold to visitors.
"For me the best part has been getting the fresh seafood," Alice O' Connor, a visitor to the Mercado de San Miguel said. "I'm from Ireland so you do get the fresh seafood from the coast, but you don't have the food market culture there. So, I like being here and being able to wonder and being able to try different vendors."
Finally, I would recommend giving La Hora del Vermut a try. You can choose from a wide range of vermouths from different regions, but you can also try their famous gordal olives. Olives are another staple Spanish tapa and these are stuffed with all different kinds of ingredients.
Whether you are really interested in learning more about Spanish cuisine or just need a quick snack while doing a walking tour of Madrid, the Mercado de San Miguel is the spot for you.
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