Gallinejas y entresijos is Madrid's working-quarter offal cheap eat: lamb intestine and lamb-belly fat, deep-fried until crisp, served with patatas and salt, an old-Madrid taberna order.
Gallinejas (fried lamb intestine) and entresijos (fried lamb-belly fat) emerged in the 19th-century working-class taberna scene of Lavapies and Embajadores, where the cheapest cuts of lamb were turned into a hot cheap eat for the working day. The dish was canonized at the 1947 El Rey de Gallinejas on Calle Embajadores, still the city's reference for the cuisine. The trick is in the cleaning and parboiling: the intestine must be soaked in vinegar, scrubbed and parboiled multiple times before frying. The dish became less common in the 1980s as cheap meat cuts dropped in price, but the few remaining counters (El Rey de Gallinejas, Casa Toni) still serve it as Madrid's most authentic working-quarter offal experience.
3 editor picks for Gallinejas y entresijos in Madrid, ranked by editorial score. All Madrid signature dishes · Gallinejas y entresijos across every city.
Casa Amadeo Los Caracoles ★ 4.4
lavapies · Plaza de Cascorro 18, 28005 Madrid
Casa Amadeo Los Caracoles on Plaza Cascorro in Madrid's Lavapies has cooked the caracoles (snails in spicy chorizo broth) for a Sunday rastro crowd since 1942. Three generations still run it.
El Rey de Gallinejas ★ 4.2
lavapies · Calle del Embajadores 84, 28012 Madrid
El Rey de Gallinejas in Madrid's Embajadores quarter is the working-quarter taberna for gallinejas (fried lamb intestine) and entresijos (fried lamb-belly fat), the offal canon that defined the Madrileno cheap eat since 1947.
Casa Toni ★ 4.2
centro · Calle de la Cruz 14, 28012 Madrid
Casa Toni near Sol in Madrid's Centro is the old-Madrid taberna for the offal canon: callos, oreja, mollejas and zarajos served from the formica counter to a midday vermut crowd since the 1960s.