What the lists agree on
Chocolat Madrid, in Barrio de las Letras, is named by 6 of 7 lists. Only Directo al Paladar leaves it out. Three places are joint second with 5 each: Chocolatería 1902 and Chocolatería San Ginés, both in Sol, and Churrería La Andaluza in Cuatro Caminos. La Antigua Churrería in Salamanca is fifth with 4.
Guía Repsol’s churros route has five stops, and all five are ranked here: Chocolat, Chocolatería 1902, La Andaluza, La Antigua Churrería and Rocamar. Each is named by at least 3 lists. Time Out Madrid has the longest list, 18 places, and it names 12 of the 14 ranked. Marie Claire España names four, and Chocolat is the only one of them that another list also names.
Three of the top four are in the centre: Chocolat in Barrio de las Letras, and San Ginés and Chocolatería 1902 in Sol. Chocolatería Valor, joint sixth, is in nearby Callao. Salamanca has two ranked places, La Antigua Churrería and Manosanta, and so does Malasaña, with Horno San Onofre and Madrid 1883. Churrería Siglo XIX and Churrería Antonio are in the south-east, in Puente de Vallecas and Villa de Vallecas.
Churros in Madrid
Churro dough is pushed through a star-shaped nozzle and fried in oil. The crisp, ridged loop is known as the churro madrileño. Porras are the thicker kind, made from a wetter dough with a pinch of baking soda and fried in a spiral. Chocolate con churros is a common breakfast in Spain, and especially popular in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Chocolatería San Ginés, on the Pasadizo de San Ginés near Puerta del Sol, became a churrería in 1894.
La Antigua Churrería, Manosanta and Churrería Milagros have more than one shop in Madrid, so check which address you’re heading to.