Reina Sofia Restaurant: all you need to know to enjoy it

With all the activities and plans to do in Madrid, it's normal to want to recharge your batteries. After touring the many rooms of the Reina Sofía Museum you may feel the call of hunger, so you'll be happy to know that sharing the building with the great works of painters such as Miró and Picasso are two great restaurants: Arzábal and NuBel.

Both places have a privileged location, achieving a modern, artistic and pleasant atmosphere. As for the food, be prepared to enjoy flavours as exclusive as the paintings you've seen. Both Arzábal and NuBel are known for their market cuisine. Of course, eating so well doesn't come cheap, but I can't recommend them enough!

When you finish your visit to the Reina Sofía Museum, you're bound to be hungry; all that walking around and looking at paintings makes anyone tired. To avoid wasting time looking for a restaurant and continue enjoying the art, the best thing to do is to stay for lunch in one of the restaurants in the museum: the Arzábal or the NuBel. Both have plenty of alternatives, although the menu at the former is a little more traditional than the latter.

You won't be able to complain about the choice, because the Reina Sofía has two restaurants and, what's more, each one has a varied and delicious menu.

While the Arzábal is apparently more typical, the NuBel restaurant is all about innovation, from the way the table is laid out to the dishes served.

What to eat at the Arzábal restaurant

The Arzábal restaurant defines itself as dynamic, perhaps because its menu features traditional dishes but always with a different touch. Therefore, expect to find good croquettes served with sheep's milk, one of its star recipes. But if there's one thing you have to try, it's their cheeses; they have a trolley just for their more than 20 cheeses. The burrata is spectacular! If you're more of a meat lover, you'll be pleased to know that the meat at Arzábal is of the highest quality, especially the sirloin steak.

Who is in charge of the kitchen? Two great chefs: Álvaro Castellanos and Iván Morales, who have been at the helm of this gastronomic project for years, with other restaurants around the city of Madrid. Their goal for this establishment was to bring a traditional tavern but with a renewed menu to the most important cultural and contemporary art centre in the city.

In this restaurant they know that any meal has to be accompanied by a good drink, so their waiters are always willing to recommend a wine from the specific menu they have. Do you prefer beer? When you try their beer, you will. Finally, order their gin, after all, it's digestive, isn't it?

What to eat at NuBel

After contemplating the best paintings of the Reina Sofía you feel like eating something equally exclusive and artistic? Then you must try NuBel. A café-restaurant that completes the museum experience through avant-garde gastronomy. A must-try dish? It's hard to choose, but its raw food section is one of the best.

The good thing about NuBel is that, whatever time you go, you'll find a delicious menu prepared by Michelin-starred chef Manuel Berganza. Although it's common to go for lunch after your visit, you can also enjoy their breakfast or brunch menu (their cakes, especially the cheesecake, are incredible).

Although their menu could be too modern, it's a great place for the whole family, so if you 've been to Madrid with children, I encourage you to stay for lunch at NuBel and order some tapas or dishes to share.

Quality comes at a price, and if we add the privileged location of both the Arzábal and NuBel restaurants, we can only expect a high price.

Lunch or dinner at the Reina Sofía Museum is what you get, so be prepared to pay around €20 for each main course. In total, a meal for two can cost around 50€-70€ (including dessert), to which you should add wine (around 30€ plus a bottle). Be careful, don't think you'll get a discount for having bought the Museum ticket, as there is no agreement of any kind.

Although it may seem so, the Arzábal and NuBel are not high priced simply because they are where they are, but because of the quality and originality of their recipes. Even the simplest or most traditional recipes have been designed by great chefs, and only the best products on the market are used in their kitchens.

You won't have to worry about opening hours, as the Reina Sofía's restaurants, the Arzabal and the NuBel, are open almost all day. However, you will have to check with them in advance, as they tend to change throughout the week.

In general, the Arzábal is open from 10am to 1am and the NuBel from 9am to midnight. As you can see, they are always available during the museum's opening hours, but the closing time is extended so that later visitors can arrive for lunch or dinner.

Arzábal restaurant opening hours

The Arzábal is open every day from 10am. Closing time does vary from day to day, so check the opening times on the website. In general, from Monday to Thursday it closes at 1am, Fridays and Saturdays at 2am and Sundays at 8pm. They don't have a weekly break, so you always have the option of eating there, even when the museum is not open.

Opening hours of the NuBel restaurant

NuBel does close two days a week, so forget about trying their food on a Monday or Tuesday, as you can see on their website. However, the rest of the week it has quite long opening hours, always opening at 9am and closing at midnight (Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday) and at 2:30am (Friday and Saturday), so that you can enjoy their cocktails while a DJ plays some music on any given night.

Note that although the opening hours are continuous, the different menus at NuBel may only be available at specific times of the day. For example, the Afternoon Tea menu is only available from 5pm to 7pm, while the Tapas menu is only available from 4pm to 8pm.

The NuBel and Arzábal restaurants have a dynamic, modern and, in a way, also artistic atmosphere. It is not only in the dishes that innovation is evident, but also in the spaces, which act as an extension of the museum and are open and decorated with care.

Moreover, everyone who goes there agrees that the waiters are pleasant and always advise you on the best of the menu, which can sometimes be a little confusing if you are unfamiliar with a gastronomic term.

Both spaces are suitable for the whole family, although NuBel is especially so as it has original and colourful furniture, something the little ones always like. For example, instead of traditional chairs there are sofas or armchairs. This does not make the space feel chaotic, as it is spacious and allows for the movement of pushchairs.

The Arzábal, on the other hand, although innovative, is still a traditional tavern. The interior spaces can accommodate many diners at the same time, but you will see that the terrace is spectacular.

The best thing is that it's partly indoors, so on rainy and cold days it can be enjoyed just as well. Overall, the atmosphere is cosy and inviting with a glass of wine and a tasty dish on the table.

The great chefs know that the gastronomic experience does not begin on the plate, but in the restaurant itself. As you can imagine, if we add to this the fact that the Arzábal and the NuBel are located in a contemporary art museum such as the Reina Sofía, it is to be expected that their decoration is carefully chosen, but at the same time that one is very different from the other.

The Arzábal has a style that mixes the traditional and the innovative in the same space, just as it does in its dishes. Inside, it is a warm restaurant with traditional aesthetic elements (such as the wooden bar) but in perhaps more elegant colours (black predominates). In addition, to highlight its extensive wine list, the bottles form part of the decoration and are displayed in stained glass windows, as if they were paintings.

El NuBel is much more colourful, with a predominantly orange tone thanks to the lamps that light up every corner and every table. Also, being located under the red dome of the Nouvel building (built as an extension to the museum), the interior is bright and has a very modern feel.

If you want to secure a table at one of the Reina Sofía's two restaurants , my advice is to book. Especially at busy times (lunch and dinner) they can get crowded, although both have plenty of space inside and outside.

I know it's very difficult to know what time you will finish your tour of the museum, so normally both the staff at the Arzábal and the NuBel take this into account and keep your table for about half an hour.

You can easily make a reservation on their websites, both the Arzábal and the NuBel, which is very convenient to check the availability of tables as you get to the end of your visit to the Museum. If you can't make a reservation, I'd still recommend going there to see if there are any free tables or space at the bar.

If there's one good thing about eating at the Reina Sofía Museum, it's that you have even more time to contemplate its art. What do I mean? This museum has some of its works on display in its courtyard, so from the windows and terraces of the Arzábal and, above all, the NuBel, you'll have a privileged view of them.

The NuBel terrace is located in the courtyard of the Nouvel building. If you sit at one of the restaurant's outdoor tables, you will share your meal with Roy Lichtenstein's "Brushstroke", a monumental sculpture that has been there since 2004.

Although the view from the Arzábal may not be as artistic, the views are impressive, especially for those lucky enough to sit in the garden. This space is reminiscent of the Alhambra or a greenhouse, full of plants and with a very Mediterranean feel.

Not everything is going to be about eating, especially when there are such large spaces in which to celebrate. That's why the Reina Sofía's restaurants take advantage of all the hours they are open to organise events, concerts or DJ sessions. Which ones are you going to join?

El NuBel, which closes at 2:30 on Fridays and Saturdays, extends the dinners by inviting local DJs and other musical groups to liven up the night. It also has a varied cocktail menu to combine the best of gastronomy and music. On their website you can consult all the events they are organising.

El Arzábal is not far behind and also usually has DJs to liven up the dinners. This is when most young people are enjoying a drink.

Perhaps one of the elements I would highlight in both Museum restaurants is that they are based on Spanish gastronomy.

Modernity or concepts such as "fusion" do not eliminate tradition, and you can savour traditional dishes with a modern twist. In addition to the chefs' creations, something that struck me is the personality of each restaurant and what makes them so different, even though they are practically in the same space.

El Arzábal, for example, is more welcoming and its great advantage is its semi-covered terrace. On the other hand, NuBel's avant-garde style gives it its great advantage: its versatility. You can go there for breakfast before your visit to the Reina Sofía Museum or for lunch when you finish. If you're running late, you have an excuse to stay for their cocktail and music evenings.

As with everything, there are better opinions than others, but in general everyone who eats at the NuBel or Arzábal leaves satisfied and even wanting to repeat. If there is one thing that people highlight, it is the quality of the products and also how nice they are inside.

In the end, when a good atmosphere and good food are combined in the same restaurant, success is almost certain. At NuBel in particular, I like its more avant-garde dishes, which have the clear signature of a Michelin-starred chef. Of course, as is often the case with more modern places, the quantities can be a little small, although that perhaps enhances the flavour.

El Arzábal is another great option for its menu, but if there is one aspect that always gets the best ratings, it is its decoration, especially on the terrace. You could say that it's worth eating there just to spend some time among the plants, although there are those who think that the total price is a bit expensive for the quantity served.

Do you already know what you're going to order? I'm sure that reading my advice has made your mouth water, so don't hesitate to eat at one of the two restaurants in the Reina Sofía Museum.