Lao Tou Restaurant Usera

Authentic Zhejiang style 浙菜 restaurant in Madrid

Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店: Zhejiang style 浙菜 cooking in the heart of Madrid’s Chinatown Usera

Seabass Stew in Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店

One of the most popular restaurants in Madrid’s Chinatown in the neighbourhood of Usera, Lao Tou, is an homage to the cuisine of Zhejiang 浙菜, known as Zhècài. Zhejiang is the birth place of the majority of the Chinese community living in Madrid (and Spain).

Salt and Pepper deep fried Prawns *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

Not only is Lao Tou popular with the Chinese residents in Madrid, it is also increasingly frequented by curious Madrileños and Chinese tourists visiting the capital.

Sauteed Chinese greens *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

What makes the restaurant special?

Firstly, the ambience: Lao Tou is boisterous, noisy and chaotic. The combination of Chinese and Spanish having a good time means that noise decibels go through the roof. Added to the animated conversations of the clientele is the clanging and banging made by the to-ing and fro-ing of the waiters as they bring a constant stream of dishes and drinks from the kitchen and bar. And to cap it all, there is the hiss of the wok and the sound of metal hitting metal as the chefs stir the food in the woks with their spatulas.

**Cold Fish Cake 鱼饼** *in slices (Pastel de Pescado)* *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

Then there is the food. Anyone following our blog will know that we love spicy food and our favourite Chinese cuisine comes from Sichuan and Hunan, called Chuāncài 川菜 and Xiāngcài 湘菜 respectively. Zhejiang Cuisine is very different. Rather than using a lot of spice, the aim of Zhejiang cooking is to concentrate on the natural flavours of the ingredients, using only a few spices to enhance the taste. Not much oil is used and the flavours are fresh.

**Razor fish 蛏子** (navajas) *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

Most of the Chinese community in Madrid come from Qingtian, a town close to the huge, commercial city of Wenzhou in the south of Zhejiang Province. As this area is near the border with Fujian Province, there is a lot of influence from Fujian Cuisine 闽菜, known as Mǐncài. 闽菜. Mǐncài uses a lot of seafood and fish and that is what makes Lao Tou such a great restaurant.

Fresh Spanish seafood, cooked in 浙菜; Zhècài /闽菜; Mǐncài style makes for a real treat. Great fish: seabass and turbot. Wonderful shellfish: clams, razor fish and cockles, to name just a few. For carnivores there is also a huge selection of offal, cold and hot, as well as chicken, duck and pork specialities.

The Dishes:

Here are some of the cold dishes we started with.

**Wa wa cai 娃娃菜** (Verdura adobada, *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店* )

Wa wa cai 娃娃菜 (Verdura adobada, Spanish translation): a cold dish of pickled cabbage hearts, slightly salty with a tinge of sweetness and a crunchy texture. I’d never had it before and neither had I heard of it, but it’s delicious!

As it’s not on the menu, you have to point to it in the glass cabinet between the bar and the kitchen.

Cold Fish Cake 鱼饼 in slices (Pastel de Pescado): tasty slices of cold fish with garlic and ginger, accompanied by a light soy sauce. It has a great texture too!

**Cold dried and roasted fish 黄鱼** (secado de pescado) *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

Cold dried and roasted fish 黄鱼 (secado de pescado): a really tasty fish that comes off the bone easily.

**Pickled Turnip 萝卜条** *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

Pickled Turnip 萝卜条 (nabo encurtido) : similar to the pickled cabbage hearts; crunchy and delicious.

**Jellyfish salad 海蛰头** (ensalada de medusa) *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

Jellyfish salad 海蛰头 (ensalada de medusa): a generous portion and excellent taste . However, the jellyfish could have been more tender and less chewy. This is usually one of our favourite Chinese cold starters, but this one was a little disappointing.

Cucumber salad 凉拌黄黄瓜 (ensalada de pepino)，*Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

The other classic cold dishes on the menu include cucumber salad, tofu with black eggs (one hundred, or one thousand year old eggs) and fried shrimps with fresh coriander, among others. For adventurous meat eaters there are duck’s feet 鸭爪, tongues 鸭舌 or a whole head 鸭头 and veal tripe 牛百叶.

Mains:

**Clams 蛤蜊** (almejas) *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

The star dish of Lao Tou seems to be steamed fish head (I think it is hake). We haven’t tried it yet. Nearly everybody else in the restaurant was ordering it, but Margie isn’t so keen on fish head, so we went for other options.

The razor fish 蛏子 (navajas) and clams 蛤蜊 (almejas) were fresh and tender and delicately cooked in soy sauce with spring onions and ginger. Most importantly, there was no sand in the razor fish.

However, the cockles 蚶 (berberechos) cooked in Shaoxing wine (Huangjiu 黄酒) were the icing on the cake: fresh, succulent and imbibed with the flavor of the wine.

**Cockles 蚶** (berberechos) *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

We also had a huge, mildly spicy pot of fresh seabass鲈鱼 (lubina), which was beautifully presented. The slices of fish were very tender and almost boneless; it could have been a bit spicier for our liking, but – as I said – that’s not really what Zhejiang style’s about. The restaurant does a similar dish with congealed blood.

Don’t miss out on the salt and pepper deep fried prawns 椒盐虾: great texture and great taste!

Finally, there is a good selection of vegetables as well. I’d recommend the sautéed Mange Tout 荷兰豆 and if you are feeling adventurous, give the Chinese Yucca 山药 a chance, or the Jiao Bai (Sun) 茭白(笋), a type of crispy water bamboo.

**Jiao Bai (Sun) 茭白(笋)** *Lao Tou Restaurant 老头浙菜饭店*

They also do Okra Qiū kuí 秋葵 Chinese style, in a thick, sticky sauce。

All in all, Lao Tou comes highly recommended. At the weekend you may well have to wait at the bar before you get one of the coveted tables.

Three Little Pigs Dumpling Restaurant Madrid

Three little Pigs Dumpling Restaurant / Los tres Cerditos: Paseo de las delicias 73， Madrid

三只小猪饺子店

Mixed Prawn and Veggie Dumplings THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

Three Little Pigs Dumpling Restaurant Madrid makes some of the best Chinese dumplings in Madrid. Jiaozi or Chinese Dumplings (empanadillas in Spanish) have been popular in Madrid for a number of years, but finding the real McCoy, as you would in the old days in Beijing’s Hutongs, has been more of a struggle.

Making ian Bing 煎饼 / Chinese Pancake — *Jian Bing* 煎饼 */ Chinese Pancake THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID*

The opening of the Three Little Pigs Dumpling Restaurant 三只小猪饺子店 (Tres Cerditos in Spanish) has remedied the situation sensationally and especially for vegetarians.

Prawn Dumpling THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The tiny restaurant does three types of dumplings: meat, prawn and vegetable. The dumpling dough, using wheat flour, is color coded; bluish for seafood, green for vegetarian and orangey for meat. You can have them grilled ( a la plancha) or steamed / boiled (hervido).

Prawn and Vege dumplings — Prawn and vege dumplings THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The prawn dumplings are simply delicious, while meat eaters rave about the veal or pork dumplings. My only gripe is that the homemade chili sauce is not spicy enough for my spoilt taste buds. However, there is Thai Seracha sauce on hand.

Meat and Vege dumplings Tres cerditos — Meat and veggie dumplings THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The vegetarian dumplings have an original filling of carrots, onions, leeks and herbs (fresh coriander). Not only is the combination wonderfully eye pleasing, but it is also unbelievably tasty.

Vege Dumpling — Beautiful veggie dumpling THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

Next on the menu are Jian Bing 煎饼 or Chinese Pancakes. These Tianjin style filled pancakes with vegetables only, or with chicken / beef and vegetables are enormous, delicious, cheap and filling. They are also one of my favourite beakfasts when I am in Beijing.

Jian Bing 煎饼 / Chinese Pancake — Jian Bing 煎饼 Stuffed Egg Pancake THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The pancakes are made on a hot metal grill and you can watch the staff preparing them right in front of you. First the dough is spread onto the hot plate and then an egg is added.

Making jian Bing 煎饼 / Chinese Pancake — THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The process of making the pancakes looks simple but the number of different ingredients and various stages is quite mind-boggling. I imagine it is a case of practice makes perfect if you want to learn how to do it. However, I’d recommend leaving the task to the experts at the restaurant.

Hand-Made Noodles THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

Other dishes: Also on the menu are hand-made noodles. The noodles are cold and come with a scrumptious hoisin style Cantonese sauce and are accompanied with an assortment of vegetables.

Everything THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITO — All the dishes THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

Rice flour is used to make the delicate and mouth-watering wantons (meat only). All the wanton wrappers are hand-made in the restaurant.

Cooking at THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITO — Working in the Kitchen THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The kitchen is open for all to see and kept incredible clean. The owner is from Zhejiang 浙江省, but the dumpling makers are from the home of dumplings, Shandong 山东省 province and further north in Dandong 丹东 Liaoning province 辽宁省.

Cooking THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITO — The Kitchen THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

The menu below is in Spanish only. If you are visiting the Museo de Ferrocarril ( the Railway Museum in Madrid), then a visit to the Three Little Pigs Dumpling Restaurant is a must! Just walk long the attractive street Tomás Bretón to get there. There is another Tres Cerditos restaurant in the neighbourhood of Manuel Becerra.

The Barrio (Neighbourhood)

Delicias

Just off the Atocha station and the magnificent Reina Sofia musem, home to Dali’s Guernica, is the attractive, but little visited neighborhood of Delicias.

Delicias was the first neighborhood where we lived when we came to Madrid. Back then, 1993, it was a traditional working class neighborhood (or barrio castizo) and slightly seedy due to its closeness to Atocha station. Over the years, it has become a melting pot for immigrants from all over the world, but particularly from Latin America.

Menu THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

This change you can see everywhere on the streets, on the faces of the passers-by as well as in the restaurants. Delicas now caters to all tastes. If you want to eat Ethiopian, there is an Ethiopian restaurant: Habesha . Want to try Korean? There is a great Korean place: Go Hyang Mat. Fancy Cuban food? Head for the fantastic Havana Blues.

Making Chinese Pancake — Making Jian Bing 煎饼 ( Photo by Marcel) THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID

Chinese food had gone somewhat under the radar in this neighbourhood, but this has now changed with the opening of the Three Little Pigs restaurant.

Making Jian Bing Chinese Pancake — *Making Jian Bing 煎饼 ( Photo by Marcel) THREE LITTLE PIGS RESTAURANT / LOS TRES CERDITOS: PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS 73， MADRID*

Authentic Sichuan Food in Madrid

Sabor Sichuan 川百味 (Taste of Szechuan)

New Name: 川辣香都 The Sichuan Capital of Fragrance and Spice

Calle Gabino Jimeno 6: Usera, Madrid

Authentic Sichuan Food in Madrid: Do you like Spicy Food?

Authentic Sichuan Food in Madrid. Madrid is a fabulous city for eating out. For the adventurous, boundless opportunities for exciting dining exist all over the city. However, those who crave spicy food, and I mean really spicy food, are often disappointed by the dearth of options.

Authentic Sichuan Food in Madrid 川北凉粉 spicy mung bean noodles — 川北凉粉 spicy mung bean noodles *Sabor Sichuan 川百味*

Some Peruvian restaurants make brave attempts to keep up their spicy tradition, but most succumb to the whims of their autochthonous diners by watering down the kick. Kitchen 154, a mecca for spicy food in the market of Vallehermoso, does a pretty good job. Cruel, there own chili brand, is pretty fiery .

四川凉面，cold Sichuan noodles *Sabor Sichuan 川百味*

This after all is the country were the giant Tabasco Sauce company has almost given up the ghost. Sales in Spain are about its worst in Europe. Spanish tolerance of hot spice or chili is pretty low.

Thank heavens for ~~Sabor Sichuan (Taste of Szechuan)~~ 川辣香都 The Sichuan Capital of Fragrance and Spice . This small little restaurant in the barrio of Usera , south of the River Manzanares, and in the heart of Madrid’s China town is a godsend. It has recently changed owners and name, but the food is just as good as before.

If you have ever been to Sichuan or Chongqing and continue to crave that lip burning and tongue numbing Mala 麻辣 spice then Sabor Sichuan is Continue reading “Authentic Sichuan Food in Madrid”

Tag: best chinese restaurants in madrid