My close friend Kameron “el ProfeSoul” Sterling has been an excellent resource to me in my mission to shed light on the endearing establishments hidden within our multi-cultural barrio of Lavapies. “It’s all about the fellas,” he said charismatically as he led me into Gibraltar, a charming Moroccan restaurant situated on C/ Casino by the Embajadores park. Entering this location was akin to leaving Europe and entering Morocco–the authenticity made visible by its lively crowd of Moroccan gentlemen who were sipping tea, bantering in French and casually shooting the shit.
Kameron was greeted warmly by the head server, who presented us with delicious mint tea. Kam is well acquainted with this establishment considering its essentially in his backyard. He recommended that I try the al harira, a thick, spicy soup containing chicken, tomatoes and ginger with other herbs.
This was followed up by our respective main courses: a Tajine of chicken with prunes, almonds, egg, and vegetables & a Tajine of Lamb, couscous and vegetables. Both of these Tajines were phenomenal, with their spectrum of fresh flavors dancing on our palates.
The staff of this establishment are extremely amicable and efficient. The head server, who was quite vocal to me about exactly how fond he is of Kam, was able to guess correctly based on my accent that I’m from New York. I felt very much accepted as an outsider.
Kam and I left this establishment incredibly full and pleased with ourselves—the check was 11€ each. I strongly recommend this establishment to any adventurous eaters who are searching for a colorful window into a completely different world.
Geraldine
We visited this restaurant based on this nice review. I don’t recommend this restaurant for tourists because it is located in a dangerous neighborhood (Lavapies). I wish I would have researched the neighborhood before going. The service at the restaurant was very good, however, the food was only “ok” Definitely not worth the trip out of the city center. We ordered the lamb Tajine and it was dried, so we decided not to order anything else.
In summary, far from city center, not recommended for tourists due to safety issues and food only ok.
Dan Catalan
Salutations Geraldine, I am sorry that you had a less than stellar experience at Gibraltar. It is not my intention to ever lead my readers astray. Can you please elaborate more on why you feel that Lavapies is unsafe? I want to better understand why Lavapies has this negative reputation with outsiders. I have lived in Lavapies, in three different apartments, over the course of three years and have only had positive experiences there. Thank you for your insight.
Geraldine
Thank you for your email. As mentioned in my comment, my point of view is from a tourist stand not a local. I came across Naked Madrid when researching (new) places to eat in our vacation (we live in California). We had the opportunity to taste Moroccan food in Granada and after reading your review we were looking forward to eat it again. We did not know much about Lavapies prior to going to this neighborhood. We decided to walk from El Prado and as soon as we started entering the neighborhood we immediate noticed a different vibe from the other neighborhoods. The streets were duty, buildings were worn down, we also noticed a lot of immigrants who kept staring at us. Nothing bad happened to us, but by the look and feeling of the neighborhood I can tell it is not a safe place for tourists particularly at night. I am completely fluent in Spanish so it was not a language barrier issue.
I researched the neighborhood online when we got back to our hotel just to see what people’s impression and opinions were. Most of the comments I found (even from locals) were negative and advised tourist not go. Most of the comments about the vibe of Lavapies matched what we felt when we were there.
Regardless of the neighborhood, we did not think the restaurant was worth the visit. I was surprised that being a “locals” place that the food was not better tasting since I would guess locals would demand better tasting food. As I mentioned in my comment the lamb I had was dried and tasted only ok. I know these types of dishes take a long time to cook and that in restaurants they are (often) reheated, however, as I mentioned I had the same dish in Granada and was very moist and great tasting. The lentil dish was very good and service was excellent.
I love food and I always do a lot of research before our trips to discover new dishes and cooking ideas. I have a food and travel blog and a Facebook page where I publish the dishes I cook at home (www.GeriFoodWine andTravel.com). Thank you for taking the time to follow up with my comment. Your article was well written and the photos were very appealing.