Spain

Madrid

Patatas Bravas, often simply called 'bravas', are one of the most quintessential and beloved tapas dishes in Spain, found in virtually every bar and restaurant from Madrid to Barcelona. At its most basic, the dish consists of white potatoes that have been cut into irregular cubes of about 2 centimeters, then fried in oil and served warm with a spicy sauce. The name translates to 'brave potatoes' or 'fierce potatoes', a nod to the fiery kick of the sauce, which is a departure from the generally mild palate of traditional Spanish cuisine.

The preparation of the potatoes is key to the dish's texture. They are typically fried twice: first at a lower temperature to cook them through until soft and tender on the inside, and then again at a higher temperature to achieve a golden, crispy exterior. This double-frying technique ensures that each bite offers a satisfying crunch followed by a fluffy, pillowy center.

The sauce, or 'salsa brava', varies significantly by region and chef. In Madrid, it is traditionally made with a base of tomato and vinegar, seasoned with pimentón (paprika)—both sweet and hot—to give it its characteristic red color and smoky, spicy flavor. In Catalonia and Valencia, the sauce is often accompanied by or mixed with allioli (garlic mayonnaise), adding a creamy, garlicky dimension that balances the heat. Some purists argue that tomatoes have no place in a true salsa brava, insisting instead on a flour-thickened broth colored with paprika, while others embrace the tomato base.

Patatas Bravas are the ultimate social food, meant to be shared with friends alongside a caña (small draft beer) or a glass of vermouth. They are inexpensive, comforting, and deeply rooted in Spanish social culture, representing the joy of gathering, sharing, and enjoying life's simple pleasures.

Patatas bravas

Bar La Campana

Patatesi beğendim sosu da güzeldi haşlanmış patatese benziyor ama kızartma gibi bir çıtırlığı var lezzetli ama 6 euroluk bir ürün olmadığı ortada

A dough of flour, water and salt pressed through a star-shaped nozzle into hot oil, fried until the ridges are crisp and the inside is tender, cut into lengths and eaten with a mug of hot chocolate thick enough to dunk them in: churros are Spain's breakfast and late-night food, sold from churrerías that open before dawn and from carts at every fair. The origin is argued over; the usual candidates are Spanish shepherds frying dough over fires, a Portuguese adaptation of a Chinese fried dough stick, or the Arab world's ridged fritters, and none is documented. What is certain is that by the nineteenth century Madrid's churrerías were an institution, and that the Spanish churro is thin and ridged while the thicker, smooth or lightly ridged loop is a porra. In Mexico and much of Latin America churros are rolled in cinnamon sugar and often filled with dulce de leche or chocolate; in Spain they are plain, or sugared at most.

The dough is the simplest in the fried-pastry family: boiling water, sometimes with a little oil, poured over flour with salt and beaten into a stiff, smooth paste, with no egg and no raising agent in the Spanish version; the Latin American one often adds egg and butter, closer to choux. It is loaded into a churrera, a press with a star-shaped plate, and extruded directly into oil at 190 to 200°C, in straight sticks or a long spiral that is cut after frying. Two to three minutes turns them deep gold; the ridges are what make the surface crisp, because a smooth tube would steam inside its own crust. They are drained, salted or sugared while hot and served in minutes, in paper or on a plate with a cup of chocolate a la taza, which is made with cornflour or a high-cocoa chocolate so that it is thick enough to coat the churro and stay on it.

A good churro is crisp outside, with distinct sharp ridges, and soft and slightly chewy inside, with no raw dough at the centre and no hollow greasy tube. It should taste of fried wheat and salt, with the sugar as a dusting rather than a crust. Mark down churros that are limp or bend without breaking, which means the oil was too cool or they have sat too long; a dark, bitter surface from oil that was too hot or too old; a heavy, doughy centre; and a greasy residue on the paper. The chocolate should be hot, thick and bitter enough to balance, not a thin cocoa drink. Frozen churros finished in a fryer are smooth and uniform and taste of the freezer. A proper order is six or eight sticks and a cup, eaten standing or at a marble counter, and the paper should be almost dry when you finish.

Churros

Chocolatería San Ginés

Çuros ve çikolata ayrı olarak satılıyor ikisini beraber alınca 6 euro civarı bir fiyata geliyor tamamen overrated bir ürün çuros kızarmış tuzlu bişi gibi çikolata da erimiş normal çikolataydı bir olayı yok fazla abartıldığını düşünüyorum

A patty of ground beef cooked on a flat griddle or over a grill, served in a soft round bun with some combination of onion, pickle, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sauce: the burger has been built that way for over a century, and most of what goes wrong with it still happens at the griddle. It is an American dish with a German-sounding name: the Hamburg steak, a seasoned patty of chopped beef, was on menus in New York by the 1870s, and the bun arrived somewhere in the Midwest around the turn of the twentieth century. Several towns and fairs claim the first one and none can prove it. What is not in dispute is that White Castle in Wichita standardised the small griddled patty in 1921 and that the drive-in chains of the 1940s and 1950s made it the most widely eaten sandwich on earth. On BiteCritic the burger is rated as a dish, so a smashed diner patty and a thick pub burger are judged by the same questions: meat, cook, bun, balance.

The meat decides most of it. Chuck at roughly twenty percent fat, coarsely ground and handled as little as possible, gives a loose patty that stays juicy; lean mince packed hard turns into a dry puck. Seasoning is salt and pepper on the outside just before cooking, because salt worked through the mince tightens it like sausage. The two methods produce different burgers. On a hot flat-top the patty is smashed thin for the first thirty seconds so the whole face browns into a crust, cooked two to three minutes a side and flipped once; over a grill a thicker patty is left alone until it releases, then flipped once and taken off between 55 and 60°C at the centre for medium. Cheese goes on for the last minute under a lid or a splash of water so it melts. The bun is toasted cut-side down in the fat.

Pick the burger up before you judge it: it should hold together and not slide apart, and the bun should be soft enough to compress but not collapse. The crust on the patty is the first thing to look for; a grey, steamed surface means a cold or crowded pan. Inside, pink is right for a thick patty and irrelevant for a smashed one, which is cooked through by design. The bun should be warm and toasted, never cold or stale, and the ratio matters more than the size: a tall tower that needs a skewer is a presentation choice, not a better burger. Mark down dry meat, a patty that tastes mainly of seasoning mix, cold cheese sitting unmelted on top, soggy bread from untoasted buns or too much sauce, and lettuce doing the structural work. Fries are a side, not part of the score.

Burger

La Cerda de Chueca

“Princess Burger”

Pull pork burger with goat cheese, the bread was not good, it was cool and the cheese flavor was too much.

It came with sweet potato but it was to salty

Rank	Place	Top dish	Reviews	Score
1	Bar La Campana C. de Botoneras, 6, Centro, 28012 Madrid, Spain Top dish: Patatas bravas	Patatas bravas	1	7.041 review
2	Chocolatería San Ginés Pasadizo de San Ginés, 5, Centro, 28013 Madrid, Spain Top dish: Churros	Churros	1	5.211 review
3	La Cerda de Chueca C. de Barbieri, 15, centro, Centro, 28004 Madrid, Spain Top dish: Burger	Burger	1	4.171 review

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