Chinese restaurants in Madrid preferred by Chinese living in Madrid
We welcome the year of the rat , an animal thief characterized by being filled with assets and wealth . We wanted to give welcome chinese new year visiting the favorite restaurants of four Chinese women who came to Spain to conquer the world. These are the restaurants preferred by the Chinese who live in Madrid.
A CRAB LOVER WITH NIAN GAO
Rongrong Chen , director of the company Connectworld International Education S.A. ., is 31 years old and has already 7 years here in Spain . Her cover letter leaves us fascinated: “I came to Spain because I like the culture, the climate, the sun, the beach , and especially the Spanish gastronomy . In one year I have tried more than 500 restaurants in Madrid and I became famous for it. The photos I posted on Google Maps have almost 10 million views ”.
Rongrong is dedicated to International Education, and she is creating **the first trilingual (Spanish, Chinese and English) nursery** that she will most likely have completed by this year.
We celebrate the Chinese New Year in the best restaurants in Madrid
How the Chinese community of Madrid celebrates the Chinese New Year
As all of her family is in China, she celebrates the New Year with her friends and colleagues in Spain. “We stay together for dinner that night, we watch the special programming for the new year, we play mahjong and other games and we didn't finish until the next day,” she says.
She explains how her table should be: according to tradition, New Year's dinner always has a fish dish ( which means ‘to have so many good things left over’) , meat dishes and of course, you can not miss the wine or liquor.
Also, depending on whether they have more friends from southern or northern China, they decide to eat jiaozi (northern Chinese dish) or Nian Gao (typical dish of southern China) . And sometimes both.
Sharing moments between dishes of Chinese cuisine
Since her hometown is on the coast, ronrong loves seafood East China Sea : yellow fish, crabs, sea snails and galleys. “If I had to decide on a favorite dish, it would be a combination of sticky rice and seafood: Crab with Nian Gao , which is a perfect combination and it is also from the Chinese New Year season. It is so good that it almost brought tears to my eyes from the delicious taste,” reveals Chen.
Rongrong's Favorite Chinese Restaurants
It's not easy to find a restaurant authentic Chinese in Madrid for a palate as demanding as hers. Few restaurants satisfy him and some are private and only open to friends and families. But she opts for four alternatives:
1. Lafu House _(Lower Flower Street, 1) _. There is a bit of everything, you can find almost any type of Chinese food from Shanghai, Sichuan, Guangdong, etc. Atmosphere, menu, price and taste are correct. He recommends two dishes for Spaniards that he thinks they will like: fish in homemade broth ( ) , grandma style bacon ( ) .
**2 and 3. The Bund ** _(Arturo Baldasano, 22) _ and Asian Gallery _(Pza. Cortes, 7) _. Here, she comments, "the more traditional flavor has been modified and they have a selection of some Spanish dishes." For her, it is ideal for personal or business meetings. Recommended dishes from The Bund: peking duck ( ) , pekingese cake ( ) ; of Asia Gallery, recommends the dim sum selection ( ) Y steamed sea bass ( ) .
Try the steamed sea bass here
4.**Wok Restaurant Jardín Fusion** (Río Tormes, 5. Fuenlabrada). It is a newly opened Chinese restaurant and has a very typical of south china . The taste "is more original". It is located in an area where many Chinese live who are picky about original Chinese taste. Hence she recommends the cuttlefish with tofu ( ) , the black rice with seafood ( ) and the gyozas with shrimp filling ( ).
A COMMUNICATOR FOROFA OF SPICY
Hope Qiaonan Liu she came to Spain in 2001 to study a Master of Business Administration, becoming one of the first Chinese at that time she that she came to Spain to study at her own expense. She has a company (Haike Group, with 12 years of history), which is dedicated to translation, marketing, events and communication services between China and Spain. In addition, she has launched the magazine XISHANG , a fashion, luxury and lifestyle publication for Chinese residents and tourists in Spain, with more than 100,000 readers from Chinese social networks.
“For me, Chinese New Year means be with the countrymen . Almost every year, I play the role of presenter of all the fairs of the Chinese New Year celebrations both in Usera and in Plaza de España or Plaza Mayor. At these parties, we do typical meals at home or we get together with friends to eat in restaurants. At home, I make ravioli **(jiǎozi) **, which they usually eat at these parties”, explains Esperanza.
Dim sum from The Bund
For this communicator, spicy is the protagonist at your table including the sauce yuxiang with eggplant or bamboo. He also really likes the Huoguo ( hot-pot ), the pot with soup where you can put different vegetables, meat or seafood to eat at the same time.
The best Chinese restaurants in Madrid, according to Esperanza
Esperanza Qiaonan also agrees to recommend Lafu House since for her the food mixes perfectly between south and north china style . Among her recommendations is not missing the lotus root crisp and the orange veal: "These are very special dishes from this restaurant, in which they have mixed Chinese flavors with a touch of Spanish taste". In addition, the homemade dim sum they are delicious, as are the empanadas and Chinese ravioli with shrimp, meat, and vegetables.
An essential that our friend likes a lot is the ** Restaurante Chen **, _ (Aguaron, 58) _ and she gives us her reasons: “First, because the owner is a charm and the meals are delicious; her dishes mix styles from China, Japan and Vietnam . I recommend the Peking Peking Duck , the steamed sea bass with ginger and the eggplant with fish ”.
Stir Fry House Lafu
AN URBAN SHANGHAI
From Shanghai we have been fortunate to welcome in Madrid Jiaping Ma , a 35-year-old Chinese woman who she decided in 2007 start a new adventure in the capital of Spain . Her idea was to study a Master's degree in economics but she ended up getting hooked on Madrid... and she stayed here. She currently works as Chinese Business Development Manager for the prestigious firm Montblanc.
Jiaping celebrates this New Year in Madrid. "Usually, it is celebrated with the whole family as a tradition in China . But this year I am going to stay working and, at night, I will celebrate with my friends (Chinese or not) in a Chinese restaurant in Madrid . Sure!” Jiaping clarifies.
“For me, Chinese cuisine means more of a cultural custom than just a plate of food. My favorite dish (being a girl from Shanghai) usually includes a slightly sweet flavor. In addition, she assures that every day it is easier to find traditional chinese food in Madrid if we compare the picture five years ago.
Jianping's favorite Chinese restaurants in Madrid
Jianping agrees with Rongrong in ** The Bund ** _(Arturo Baldasano, 22) _: “It's a restaurant I always go to with my people. It is located by the Arturo Soria area , there are people who help you park the car, it is very authentic and every detail reminds me of Shanghai, with elegance and a taste very adapted to authentic Chinese and also for Spaniards. It is like a house with its little garden in the city and always like a corner inside my heart”.
In addition, Jianping recommends his dim sum to start and shao hung pig ( ) as a special dish on the menu.
THE MOM WHO REVOLUTIONIZED WITH HER DIM SUM
Mary Li Bao she has been in Spain for 30 years. Her father, a great cook, opened a restaurant in Madrid and that was the great legacy that she Li Bao has wanted to maintain today. At the age of 24, she launched herself to renew the concept of her family's traditional restaurant and she began her own journey. In 2010, she decides to go back to china , give her children part of the education of her country and impregnate herself with all that Shanghai had to offer.
Shanghai Duck Mama
“We enjoy the Chinese New Year all together and we cook traditional chinese cuisine . Essential is the Nian Gao (glutinous rice paste stuffed with bacon, dates, raisins...) . The fish must be cooked whole (which means that every year 'you will have plenty of riches') and, in all the dishes, it is presented a carrot star to ask for money in the new year”, Bao reveals to us.
Another dish that will not be missing from her table is the tofu and boneless knuckle cooked at low temperature with soy sauce and bamboo, “But this year I will cook suckling pig”, she clarifies with a laugh. In addition, in her house they are faithful to the traditions of the hongbao (a red envelope with money) which is the chinese bonus.
Li is a true fan of dim sum and she tells us how in Shanghai you can find hundreds of different fillings , something that here in Spain is still unknown to the general public. Upon returning to Spain, she decided to put into practice everything she knew and so she opened her first Shanghai Mom on Infanta Mercedes street, “A Mom who wants to feed her children”, according to her own account. “I have tried to apply in the restaurant the same thing that you can see in a hotel. We are more one Boutique hotel that one of luxury, and that is seen in the eight restaurants that we already have ”.
Shanghai Mama's salon
The best Chinese restaurants in Madrid according to Li Bao
If she had to choose restaurants to approach the China she knows, Li Bao mentions restaurants like ** Lao Tou ** (Nicolás Sánchez, 35, in Usera's Chinatown in Madrid), which triggers so many emotions for us lovers of emotions powerful.
She also mentions her wonderful China Crown _ (Casp, 48) _, the tribute to the kitchen of good taste that she opened in the Barcelona's Eixample and that she has taken the concept of imperial cuisine to another level.
But Li Bao stays at home . Shanghai Mama has become one of the most important chic Chinese cuisine restaurants in the capital and its founder recommends the best of her menu: her dim sum that has given him so much fame. She also hot and sour soup It is another of the dishes that leaves no one indifferent.
The passionate dim sum makes it noticeable in her restaurant
And if we want to go through the milky way of pleasure , we come to the call of the kubak , a dish whose origin may surprise more than one. Li tells us in the first person: “Kubak is a traditional Chinese dish. When we were little, all the rice leftovers were cooked by the mothers . They were fried or roasted with leftover fish or chopped vegetables and broth. That's where the kubak comes from. It's like Chin's 'old clothes' a". In Shanghai Mama they do it with toasted and not fried rice, with cuttlefish or prawns and a Pita Pinta egg. It is without a doubt a dish to always hit.
Kubak from Shanghai Mama