Some ham croquettes that leave half portions and put it whole
Defining "normal" would mean getting into gardens that we can't even get out of, but let's agree that "normal" could be the reverse of all that adjectives that have been abused so much lately in gastronomic forums: "extraordinary", "sublime", "bestial", "brutal" (sic), "unspeakable"... Oh.
The success of La Tajada, which has already become a cult dining room thanks to "word of mouth" –that very effective way of communicating things–, is precisely that: that Between so much fanfare, so much design, so much trompe l'oeil and so much superlative requeté, it has arrived in Madrid full of normality.
Prawn rice
They are to blame for everything the brothers Jesús and Iván Sáez, the first in his work of directing the increasingly vertiginous rhythm of the room, and the second as the architect of the menu.
Talking about Iván to 'gastrophiles' at this point is redundant, but those who don't know him should know that the creator and owner of Desencaja, resounding temple of hunting and radical umami –located just around the corner from La Tajada– is one of the great chefs of today's Madrid. There it is to confirm the appearance of him among 15 other greats in the recent book Madrid Gastro, La Nueva Movida, by Alberto Fernández Bombín and the Madrid Academy of Gastronomy in an edition of Abalon Books. Highly recommended, by the way.
Okay, but what does La Tajada have to make the normal so extraordinary? This: some ham croquettes what look, stop half portions and put it whole; the so famous boneless chicken wings –famous among Iván's vintage fans– with a sauce that takes a lot of bread and dips and one of those that already dispatches up to 200 kilos a week; cod fritters , how simple and how good; the ear with brava sauce which is pure casticism; the revolconas with torreznos, Castilian recipe that in Madrid only competes with that of the great Ana Barrera...
And so we could continue, chopping and chopping, but always leaving room for the other best seller in the house: a rice with carabinero of minimal thickness, almost a socarrat, with a powerful flavor and prepared to scrape from the paella with the spoon, as it should be. For dessert, the cheesecake, with mascarpone and cream cheese, could easily compete in those cheesecake rankings that we love so much.
Wine list without too much glitz –we miss some more risky bets– at prices according to the average ticket: On the first visit (4 pax) we did not reach 30 euros and on the second (2 pax) we were close to 40. And here too lies its success: a normal price. Something extraordinary in this recent Madrid of spaghetti dishes in which you look for the little black eye convinced that you have been given eel for wheat.
Address: Calle Ramón de Santillan, 15 See map
Telephone: 91.232.22.04
Schedule: From Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 24:00; Saturdays from 09.30 to 24.00 hours
Additional schedule information: Between 30 and 40 euros