The Best Places to Eat Near Castilla Termal Brihuega, by the Record
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A one-Michelin-star restaurant inside a rambling 18th-century stone house in a medieval town, El Doncel is the kind of place that makes you wonder why you ever eat in cities. The brothers who run it, one in the kitchen and one on the floor, are quietly obsessed with local salt pans, working salt through their tasting menus in forms most kitchens never consider. The handmade crockery comes from a local artisan, which tracks.
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A restored 15th-century flour mill about six miles outside the medieval town of Sigüenza, this Michelin-starred restaurant leans hard into the mountains around it: wild mushrooms, game, and vegetables from the kitchen garden fill tasting menus that shift with the seasons. Stone walls, wood beams, and a glass-fronted terrace set the mood. The bread, made from organic spelt and heritage cereals, has a reputation of its own in Spain.
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Rank 3. Eximio by Fernando Martín
Contemporary Spanish
Steps from the Catedral Magistral in Cervantes's hometown, this contemporary Spanish restaurant takes its name from the cathedral's "magistral" rank, which is either charmingly nerdy or exactly right for a chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu and Martín Berasategui's kitchen. The menu runs from weekday lunch to seasonal tasting menus, and the Michelin Guide has awarded it a Bib Gourmand. The cooking updates Spanish tradition without abandoning it.
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A frying pan name for a kitchen that refuses to stay in one lane: this fusion restaurant in Tres Cantos pulls from Latin America, Spain, and Asia in a single sitting. The chef builds an à la carte around sharing plates and off-menu dishes that change the whole calculus of ordering. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a place where the cooking feels personal rather than performed.
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Rank 6. El Barril de La Moraleja
Seafood
A large display cabinet of line-caught whole fish, many sized for two, greets you at this seafood restaurant on the edge of the La Moraleja development north of Madrid. The room leans into a maritime aesthetic without going full nautical-kitsch, and there's a terrace worth claiming when the weather cooperates. The menu runs from raw and cold preparations through fried dishes and rice, with red meats for anyone who wandered in under duress.
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Rank 7. A'Kangas by Urrechu
Steakhouse
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Rank 8. La Terraza de Alba
Modern Spanish
Salt-crusted beef tenderloin carved tableside is the kind of showmanship that earns repeat visits, and La Terraza de Alba leans into it. This is a modern Spanish restaurant where traditional flavors get a careful update, and the menu is built for lingering: half portions on most dishes, a dedicated section for bluefin tuna, and rice dishes served for two. A private room off the side handles the corporate lunch crowd quietly, leaving the main room to everyone else.
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Rank 9. Jaizkibel
Basque
A Basque dining room tucked into a residential corner of Madrid, where bonito tuna gets its own section of the menu in season because the kitchen treats ingredients as the whole point. The à la carte runs deep: cod preparations, rice dishes, slow-cooked stews, and a tasting menu alongside. The hake neck, cooked simply and finished with garlic and parsley oil, is the kind of dish that makes you distrust anything fancier.