Palo Cortado - Comunidad de Madrid

I am not sure if this is a restaurant or a Sherry bar with small dishes as I visited the place just before midnight....? You can get a lot of Sherry by the glass some very rare and very expensive. This is not fine dining, but a rural place no comfortable chairs.... But if Sherry is your thing don't miss out!

We tried la Candela down the street but they were fully booked, and recommended Palo Cortado. It was quiet at first but more and more Spaniards arrived. The waiter was very helpful with our choices of sherry by the glass. I enjoyed my meat cuts from Cadiz, but the highlight was an oxtail concoction with potato and leek purée. My wife had a beautifully presented sea bass. I thought the different sherries were great, but if you don't like dry sherry try the 20 year old Cream Tradicion. Great value by the glass. We tried lots of wines, and so our bill ended up at 120 euros, which was good value for a terrific last night in Madrid.

Simply the best place to try the traditional wines of Andalucia an unbeatable, unbelievable selection of wines by glass and bottle, really friendly people and great, authentic Andalucian cooking.

We happened on this place on a recent Saturday night without a reservation. After a very big lunch we hadn't anticipated having much for dinner but found by 10:00 we were hungry and looking for something more than a quick bite. After wandering the neighborhood a bit we came upon Palo Cortado and are so happy we went in. The hostess could not have been nicer and made us feel welcome and at ease. I had no idea a focus of the restaurant was the food and wine of Andalucia (and obviously didn't understand the significance of the restaurant's name) until later when we had the opportunity for a longer conversation with the hostess. Seeing the wines on the menu board we opted to do wines by the glass, pairing them with each dish and starting with fino from Jerez. I started with simple cod fritters and my partner had an absolutely fabulous dish of white asparagus and finger lime (citrus caviar). For our main courses he had a rubbed pork and I had grilled octopus that had been sliced at intervals with smoked eel set between the cuts. Both dishes were phenomenal in that they were a perfect blend of simplicity of preparation and subtle, sophisticated edge. The pork was paired with an oloroso which sounded strange at first but worked great in that it was pungent enough to complement the sweet/sour bite of the seasoning without dominating or killing the flavor of the pork. For dessert I went with the simple mi-cuit chocolat because I wanted to pair it with the Pedro Ximenes. The next time we're in Madrid I will definitely make it a point of reserving. The restaurant is an easy walk from the centro--a few minutes from the Opera, Plaza Mayor or Plaza del Sol. Honestly it was a great surprise and relief to find such a good restaurant in what could be considered tourist central and with such friendly and helpful staff to boot.

David serve our table this evening, he introduced us to one of the most authentic wines from Andaluzia Spain, after the wine tasting he suggested two plates from the menu with the right wine, the result was one of the best dinners that I ever had. It was incredible, food was 10/10 and the service 11/10 1 bottle of wine, 2 appetizers, 2 main plates 70€ 100% recommended.