10 Nov How to find the perfect restaurant to meet in Madrid
Choosing the right location for an important business meeting is essential in business. The right location is one where all parties feel comfortable for the meeting to achieve its objectives. When a meeting room is not available, a good restaurant may be the best alternative.
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Poor choices can lead to stress and discomfort. For example, if someone is left hungry, this can lead to poor decision-making. Or imagine a customer is selling you something, but you can't hear anything they say because there is noise in the restaurant. Or the menu is terrible, leaving you hungry and in a bad mood. You might prefer to go somewhere quieter to enjoy a coffee, peace and quiet.
A business lunch is not a conventional meal. It is an extended meeting and supposedly much more pleasant than a formal office gathering. It is a way of pleasing or even seducing a client. It is therefore important to familiarise yourself with their tastes and preferences.
"Restaurants in Madrid for a business meeting
1. La Bien Aparecida
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This restaurant, which has the best views of the Monument to the Discovery of America, has two gastronomic lines. On the one hand, classic and simple recipes (croquettes, salad, hake, meats, rice, etc.), and on the other, signature cuisine that serves as a vehicle for the chef, José Manuel de Dios, to show off, although the classic line is at a high level.
The more traditional line is the one that makes up the majority of the menu, while the gastronomic option is offered through a tasting menu for 70 euros. In this case, the price may increase depending on the product available and what you want to pay. It is recommended to try their surprising shoulder of lamb and their famous steak tartar homemade. Visitor satisfaction is one of the main objectives of this place and its fascinating service greatly favours this task.
The interior design by Tarruella-Trenchs in the dining room and the appetising air-conditioned terrace on Calle Jorge Juan make this a sober, elegant, warm and noble place. The place is fresh and contemporary at the same time, with a fun decorative and culinary nod to the patron saint of Cantabria, whose name it bears and whose region can be felt in the cookers and in the crown, reinvented with cutlery, which is one of the most photographed elements of the place. The sophisticated and lively atmosphere never disappoints and perfectly complements a business lunch or an intimate dinner.
The restaurant has earned its place. Everything works perfectly. It's a safe place to meet with a client, colleagues, to close an important deal...
- Web: restaurantelabienaparecida.com
- Address: Calle de Jorge Juan, 8
- Telephone: 911 59 39 39
2. Kabuki Wellington
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Ricardo Sanz, chef at Kabuki, was the pioneer of Japanese fusion cuisine in which oriental flavours are mixed with Spanish products. In fact, the trend that he inaugurated, almost 20 years ago, is known as "japocastiza".
Ricardo was introduced to Japanese cuisine by Masao Kikuchi, who offered him the chance to work with him at the legendary Tokyo Taro. After four years of apprenticeship, he created, together with other partners, the first Kabuki restaurant, where he was head chef and where he developed what is known as "Kabuki Cuisine".
The menu begins with a quote from Matsuo Basho: "We must not follow in the footsteps of the classics, we must seek what they sought". This is the leitmotiv that drives them to offer a more classical Japanese side and a twist on certain dishes, which they Spanishise. The restaurant has a tasting menu for €110.
The dining room is elegant and minimalist, the service is correct and the wine list is extensive. Apart from a lounge upstairs, the rest of the restaurant is located around the sushi bar, which is the epicentre of the restaurant. Diners appreciate the good service offered by the staff.
Resting and eating at this place is always a pleasure. The good décor and charming atmosphere help guests to feel relaxed. In short, it is a restaurant of impeccable quality where you can enjoy a very good cuisine and, depending on the diner's taste, try more classic or more innovative dishes.
- Web: grupokabuki.com/en/restaurants/kabuki-wellington
- Address: Calle de Velázquez, 6
- Telephone: 915 77 78 77
3. Hortensio
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At the helm of the kitchen is Mario Valles, a Colombian chef who applies everything he learned in France and at El Celler de Can Roca in Girona to his cuisine .
Hortensio's menu is extremely sybaritic and refined. Its dishes respect the formality of French haute cuisine with elegant dishes and very elaborate proposals, where the product is the protagonist. As such, it is reminiscent of the great gastronomic temples of the neighbouring country.
The chef innovates in a very subtle way and sometimes incorporates ingredients from his own place of origin, with starters such as oysters, foie gras with muscatel and lulo confit or caviar accompanied by freshly made blinis.
Its Madrid beginnings took place in a small and discreet establishment in Chamberí. When we saw its door closed during this interminable pandemic, we feared yet another sad case of the disappearance of one of Madrid's best restaurants. However, the good news soon came. Hortensio was not closing, it was just crossing the Castellana to occupy analready historic premises: the large dining room of the Hotel Fénix.
After a four-month refurbishment, the restaurant has been given a more relaxed, classic and contemporary feel thanks to the interior design by Juan Pablo Domínguez. On this occasion, Hortensio has been welcomed by a more traditional building and a larger room that has set new guidelines. "In Hortensio, earth tones now predominate, the intensity of the light in the room has been made more intimate and we have opened the large windows, which were not so important before", explains the chef.
The restaurant has a more stately and spacious setting, which is essential to comply with anti-COVID measures. Its managers have not been satisfied with the move, but have worked with talent and dedication to ensure that their new menu reflects another leap forward in the ranking of the best restaurants in the capital. Without the slightest hint of a flaw, Hortensio is already one of the greats.
- Web: hortensio.es
- Address: Calle de Hermosilla, 2
- Telephone: 910 02 35 54
4. Ten with Ten
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Ten con Ten has already become an institution in Madrid. Spaniards and foreigners who travel to Madrid, for business or pleasure, and ask for a place to dine at night, will probably be sent to this restaurant.
In the evenings, customers are in their forties and older and have a good purchasing power. Many of them are foreigners, mainly Mexicans and Venezuelans, although there are people of all nationalities. The bar at the entrance is always crowded, which gives the deceptive impression that it is small. The restaurant area is huge and has a very pleasant winter terrace that fills up almost every day on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition to the main dining room, the restaurant has several rooms where the atmosphere is quieter .
If you want to go at the weekend, it is advisable to book a table up to a month in advance. At lunchtime, it is easier to get a seat as there are fewer people. The average price for a meal is 55 euros.
- Web: restaurantetenconten.com
- Address: Calle de Ayala, 6
- Telephone: 915 75 92 54
"Restaurants in Madrid to create a network of contacts
1. Pelotari
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The name of this restaurant, opened in 1990, is a tribute to the Frontón Recoletos, which had long since been demolished.
Pelotari is still as it was on the first day and is the very image of those discreetly luxurious Basque restaurants: red and black on the outside; blue, white and with boiseries on the inside. Undoubtedly, for the customers of the new generations, it is a way of getting to know what those restaurants that were so successful in Madrid were like.
At their grill you can order dishes from the Mediterranean and Spanish cuisines. Its chefs prepare a tasty steak, an appealing brandade and a homemade laing. Customers are advised to order the amazing cheesecake, the generous ice cream or the well-crafted apple pie.
The wine list is very extensive. Every visitor can find something to suit his or her taste. You can also have an excellent café cortado, an extraordinary hot chocolate or a sensational lemonade. Diners say that the staff is helpful and their service is always superb.
It has a spectacular décor and its charming ambience helps guests feel relaxed. It is ideal for a business lunch or to go with someone with classic tastes. In conclusion, the place is cosy, the service is correct and the ambience is 100% for business meals.
- Web: pelotariasador.com
- Address: Calle de Recoletos, 3
- Telephone: 915 78 24 97
2. Ramses
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This is the trendy terrace, which never closes on any day, where everyone is looking to get back to normality in Madrid. Its emblematic premises, opposite the Puerta de Alcalá, has been decorated by Philippe Starck and has different spaces to suit every occasion. The gastronomic restaurant on the first floor has received the advice of Arzak Instructions and has been developed by Sergi Sanz.
Its particular decoration full of vegetation and the large awnings that provide shade allow the space to be completely filled with light during the day, and with a special and intimate magic during the night. This feature gives the terrace the character of a multi-space. The place is air-conditioned all year round, day and night, and you can choose between high tables with stools or low tables with more comfortable chairs, always in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.
Added to all this is a quality cuisine that is the extension of the indoor restaurant, Kitchen, which opened in September 2020. Its grills, fed with holm oak charcoal and working with the techniques of the best rotisseries in northern Spain, produce dishes in which seasonal vegetables are the protagonists.
In addition to all this, there is an extensive cocktail menu, as Kitchen has one of the best bars in Madrid, with an offer that ranges from the most classic cocktails to the most innovative and surprising ones. The average price on the terrace is 40 euros.
- Web: ramseslife.com
- Address: Plaza de la Independencia, 4
- Telephone: 914 35 16 66
3. Alma Club
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Club Alma is located at Calle Príncipe de Vergara, 9 and is an elegant mansion built in 1910. It is usually attended by businesswomen interested in culture, live music and good food. The kitchen is run by chef Iván Sáez from Martín Berasategui's cooking school (winner of the BIB Gourmand award from the Michelin Guide, 2016).
The marble dining room opens onto the street through imposing windows. Members can enjoy a menu at 25 euros, which changes daily and which they receive promptly by email.
As a club, it also has a calendar of events that includes exclusive presentations, workshops, masterclasses, conferences, talks and live music sessions every week. afterwork with live music every week.
- Web: almasensai.com
- Address: Calle del Príncipe de Vergara, 9
- Telephone: 918 19 51 70
4. Ultramarinos Quintín
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It is located in Barrio Salamanca, on the corner of Jorge Juan and Lagasca. The decoration is very pleasant with wood and stone walls that give it a rustic air in a very cosy atmosphere.
Its curious concept, a restaurant inside a grocery shop, leaves no one indifferent. The shop works and you can buy cold meats, cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables, oils and other products to cook at home. There is a bar where you can have a quick bite to eat, although if you want to stay longer, there is nothing better than sitting at one of the tables in the dining rooms located on the street level or on the upper floor.
Their cuisine tends towards the traditional with a few modern touches. The raw materials are carefully selected for the preparation of their dishes. The menu includes salads, pasta and pizza, stews, fish and meat dishes. Highlights include quinoa, vegetable and lamb cous-cous, fried rice with pheasant, artichoke and duck rolls, wok sirloin steak, chestnut and red cabbage stew and artichoke and leek lasagne. The average price on the menu ranges between 26 and 35 euros.
Quintín also becomes a nightclub in the evening. Therefore, it is normal that, from 8 pm onwards, you will find customers having a drink at the entrance.
- Web: ultramarinosquintin.es
- Address: Calle de Jorge Juan, 17
- Telephone: 917 86 46 24
"Restaurants in Madrid for team meetings and team building
1. El Cielo de Alcalá: the terrace of the Hotel H10
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Most of us Madrilenians like rooftops, and if they have a pool, all the better. That's why El Cielo de Alcalá, the terrace of the H10 hotel in Puerta de Alcalá, is a magnificent space to consider. In addition to the phenomenal views, the sun loungers and the swimming pool on this terrace, you can enjoy a snack from the menu designed by the French Basque chef Arezki Marouf.
Highlights include the Galician-style octopus on potatoes revolconas, the crumbled duck confit with red fruits or the infallible stew croquettes. It also has a wonderful cocktail menu.
- Web: h10hotels.com/en/hoteles-madrid/h10-puerta-de-alcala/restaurants
- Address: Calle de Alcalá, 66
- Telephone: 914 35 10 60
2. Warehouse Madrid: from farm to table
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Warehouse Madrid proposes a concept farm-to-tableThe Hacienda Zorita Organic Farm, a unique contemporary farming project created in a protected natural area in the heart of the Duero Valley, is the perfect place to enjoy the wines and products of the Hacienda Zorita Organic Farm.
So that you can visualise yourself in this place, we tell you that its terrace is located in a garden of the palace of the Marqués de la Concordia, among trees, plants and even a vineyard with all the grape varieties of Hacienda Zorita. The average price of the menu is approximately 30-35 €.
- Web: the-haciendas.com/zoritas-kitchen/madrid.php
- Address: Calle de María de Molina, 25 (corner of Calle de Lagasca, 148)
- Telephone: 607 50 76 33
3. Platea Madrid
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One of the most fun and original restaurants in Madrid is Platea, a magical place where something is always happening. It is a refuge where you can relax and enjoy yourself and a meeting point where every detail makes sense. Platea combines entertainment and gastronomy in all its splendour.
The space consists of almost 6,000 square metres with access from Goya, Hermosilla and Marqués de Zurgena streets, distributed over two floors, three stalls and a sweet area. With this offer, it aims to become the main exponent of gastronomic leisure in Madrid and one of the most outstanding references at national and international level.
- Web: plateamadrid.com
- Address: Calle de Goya, 5 / 7
- Telephone: 915 77 00 25
"Restaurants in Madrid for one-to-onemeetings
1. La Carbonera Castelló
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La Carbonera opens its doors for lovers of decoration and gastronomy, in the central street of Castelló. It is an urban grill where you will find high quality products in an atmosphere that accompanies, welcomes and pampers the diner from start to finish. Here the raw materials are respected and customer service is unquestionable.
It is a space inspired by French bistros, coloured in earth tones and decorated with wooden furniture that invites, with its dim lighting and aroma of embers, to feel at home. This sensation is reinforced by the staff and, above all, by the good taste it leaves on the palate.
- Web: lacarboneramadrid.com
- Address: Calle de Bernardo López García, 11
- Telephone: 911 10 06 69
2. die
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Troquel is the latest to arrive on the successful Jorge Juan street. It opened its doors at the end of 2017 with a focus on Mediterranean fusion cuisine, where top-quality ingredients are its strong point. Its carefully chosen menu, suitable for different tastes, includes a selection of fish and seafood, garden produce and meats.
It is a fun space, where the décor is well cared for and wooden tables and chairs with a Scandinavian feel alternate with industrial touches. The place is divided into three areas. The first area has a large natural limestone bar where you can enjoy tapas and an interesting cocktail bar. The dining room, in neutral tones and very well-lit, is the perfect place for lunches and dinners, which are a little quieter. And, finally, a third space consisting of two terraces, one inside and the other outside.
Among its gastronomic proposals we highlight the quality of its meats. They also have a careful selection of wines and craft beers, as well as a signature cocktail bar. Troquel's location makes it the perfect restaurant to have lunch and enjoy an interesting afterwork. The average price is 40 euros.
- Address: Calle de Jorge Juan, 50
- Telephone: 910 58 61 96
"Where you go, do as you please
In Japan, a business dinner consists of a series of alcohol-fuelled meals and nightclub visits, designed to put the guest in debt to the hosts. In France, there used to be three meals to reach a business deal. Today they have become more pragmatic and have reduced them to one, with a possible celebratory lunch once the deal is done. In Italy, a meal is an icebreaker where business is often the last topic of conversation.
In most parts of the US, business meals are not usually held. The exception is New York, where both breakfast and lunch are more important than dinner. Some executives in New York have as many as two back-to-back breakfasts a day with different clients. In Los Angeles, this first meal of the day is considered more of a stalking manoeuvre before serious negotiations. In other places, such as Las Vegas, almost no top-tier restaurants are open for lunch, so rather lavish business dinners are held in the evening or in private dining rooms.
In the Madriles we eat while we talk about less important things, leaving the more serious matters for coffee or liquor.
"Types of meetings that can take place in a restaurant
In general, regardless of the type of meeting, it is essential to choose a venue that is not too large, noisy or modern. Hotel dining rooms are often the best choice because they are used to catering specifically to business guests. Tables should be well separated to ensure, or at least appear to ensure, privacy.
But to be successful, you need to go into more detail. Here are four types of meetings, classified according to the objectives to be achieved in each one, and the types of restaurants that best suit each option.
1. Close an important deal
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When we want to close a sale, we should look for a restaurant that has a certain status and a quiet atmosphere.
It is a mistake to choose a noisy restaurant, with tables too close together, as the noise will not allow us to hear what is being said. We need an intimate setting that facilitates honesty on the part of the potential client and transparency on our side when negotiating terms. In addition, if the venue does not respect the separation between tables, our interlocutor may fear that others are listening, which will prevent the conversation from having the warmth that the situation demands.
Look for a restaurant with good food and impeccable service for a long time, so that we have plenty of time to close the deal. The first part should be spent on relationship building and the second part on closing the deal by asking directly for the business. The last part should be reserved for working out the details or, if the magic is not happening and we see the deal slipping away, clarifying why.
2. Networking
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Networking is essential for referrals and is a perfect lunchtime activity. To do it successfully, you need to choose the right venue. When you are having a meal with your network and you do not know the financial situation of your new members, it is advisable to choose some restaurants within a reasonable distance and with affordable prices, to let them make the decision. If a new member has dietary restrictions that you do not know about, it is best to leave the ball in their court and let them choose the venue.
3. Hold a team building
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If you want to build a strong team, it is recommended that you take them out for a meal at least once a month. It's a way to help the team improve relationships and get to know each other better, while enjoying food and drink at no cost to them. Budget constraints mean that this is not the easiest task, but it needs to be done.
The best environments are those that facilitate fraternisation among team members. So we may need to invest a little time in finding something motivating, such as a themed bar or a unique venue, to get out of the comfort zone or invite participation in something new.
4. Meet one on one
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Meeting a partner for a meal can be great fun or a dreaded moment of giving and receiving feedback in boring chats. In all cases, you should always have a goal during the face-to-face.
This is a good opportunity to get to know the partner better, so ask them to choose the restaurant, as long as it is within budget and within walking distance. If they choose something out of budget, it is preferable to offer them other options that are feasible and explain why.