Lateral

In Madrid, there is a really well-known chain called Lateral, and I, for one, am a huge fan.

Restaurants

The chain has lots of different restaurants across the city - you can find them and enjoy their menus at the following addresses:

• Calle Arturo Soria 126-128 C. C. Arturo Soria - 28043
• Paseo de La Castellana 42 - 28046
• Paseo de La Castellana 89 - 28046
• Calle Fuencarral 43 - 28004
• Plaza de Santa Ana 12 - 28012
• Calle Velázquez 57 - 28001

Presentation

These restaurants serve little dishes each with a small amount of food, which is what us Spaniards call "tapas". They are cheap dishes, which means that by ordering a few different ones, you won't be hungry at the end of your lunch or dinner, and they are all sold at a decent price. Nevertheless, they also sell dishes with larger quantities of food than others.

In this chain, they really care about the presentation of not only the food, but also the restaurant itself. The restaurants are really pretty and chic places, with both a modern and elegant vibe.

Menu

Within its menu, you can find starters, salads, meat, fish, and delicious desserts - all of which are of a really high quality. They serve a wide variety of food, from the typical 'croquetas', 'salmorejo', 'gazpacho', and 'tortilla de patatas', which are the classic Spanish dishes, to steak tartare, 'rabo de toro', and tataki... they even have niguiris and homemade meatballs. With regards to desserts, my recommendation is to try the 'espuma de yogurt', which is served with either mango or raspberry. It's truly delicious! The waiters themselves also offer suggestions of the most sold items on the menu. The most original thing is that, in each individual restaurant, they have a 'star dish'; this means that each restaurant prepares an extra dish that you cannot find in any of the others. This is somewhat intriguing and fun - it gives you a little challenge to go to each restaurant and try all of these special menu items!

In addition, if you are at dinner and the evening is quite a lengthy one, there are also some exquisite cocktails on the menu for the more exacting tastes.

Conclusion

In short, it's a restaurant that I recommend from the bottom of my heart and is one that I often go to. The menu doesn't disappoint - there is a lot of variety for reasonable prices, nothing too excessive.

Enjoy it!