Llama Inn – Madrid

A great Peruvian restaurant at the centre of Madrid.

Cuisine: Peruvian

Average price per person: 60 €

Environment: 9/10

Food: 9.5/10

Service: 10/10

Other: Pet-friendly, Solo dining, Gluten-free options

Website: https://llamainnmadrid.com

Llama Inn is relatively new in the Madrid food scene since it opened its doors in 2022. However, Llama Inn’s sibling in New York has been operating for almost 10 years. With a focus on Peruvian cuisine, Llama Inn is one of my favorite restaurants in Madrid.

Llama Inn external
External

Location/Environment

Its setup is simple and elegant, with a clean design on the ground floor where you can find the bar that makes some excellent cocktails (plenty of Pisco options). 

Lllama Inn Bar
Bar
Ground floor
Ground floor

On the top floor, there are several tables and a large communal table from where you have a view of the kitchen. If you are dining alone or just with another person, this is a great option to observe the kitchen staff and how they operate.

The first time i visited Llama Inn alone, I opted for that spot which i very much enjoyed. Compared to different open-kitchen restaurants, the cooks were relatively calm and there was no excessive yelling. This is not uncommon in other open-kitchen restaurants, especially when there are a lot of customers to be served. 

At Llama Inn, you can enjoy the view of the kitchen without getting too agitated or focusing on that part alone and losing the rest of the experience. 

Service

The service is great, from the staff at the door to lead you to your table to every person serving the tables. Everyone is welcoming and able to explain the details of the menu and make recommendations based on your tastes. All that without being overly posh or too casual, just the perfect balance.

There are gluten-free options available and the staff can help you navigate around those too.

Menu

In terms of Llama Inn’s regular menu, it is split into 4 sections. Snacks, hot and cold appetizers/mains, and sharing plates as well as a couple of dessert options. Every Sunday, it’s brunch day, so they have a separate menu for Sundays. 

I have visited the restaurant both on Sundays and during weekdays and my personal preference is Sunday’s brunch. By the way, don’t think pancakes or waffles when you read the word “brunch”, although that’s what I first thought as well. We are talking about scallops, Peruvian ceviche and lomo saltado, which are some of Llama Inn’s brunch options. Bold flavors with a true Peruvian character.

Brunch Menu
Brunch Menu

I recently visited the restaurant on a Sunday with a few friends. First, we needed a cocktail. Llama Inn serves one of the best Bloody Mary variations I have ever tried, the Super Mary-o. If you like spicy and refreshing cocktails, this is definitely for you. Pisco Sour is another classic cocktail worth having here.

Super Mary-o
Super Mary-o

To kick things off, there is a snacks section that gives you the option to get small dishes, which I appreciate as you can get a taste of anything you like. This allows you to try many things, which in my book is always a big plus. We tried a couple of those at the bar with a cocktail before we moved to our table.

Food

An oyster with leche de tigre, corn and a pico de gallo type of topping. It was very fresh and a good option to kick off the meal while enjoying a drink.

Oysters
Oysters

Next, a small sandwich with fried calamari, a staple in Spanish cuisine. This Peruvian version includes an aji amarillo tartar sauce, lettuce and criolla sauce. Aji amarillo, which is a type of spicy pepper used in Peruvian cuisine, was a great addition to the rich tartar sauce making the sandwich slightly spicy. For me, this was a significant level-up for the classic Spanish calamari sandwich.

Calamari sandwich
Calamari sandwich

Another one of the cold dishes is the mixt ceviche. Included the fish of the day which was seabass, octopus, shrimp and aji amarillo. Great balance in terms of acidity, spice and different textures. The Peruvian white corn, also adds great texture and taste to this dish.

Ceviche
Ceviche

As we moved to the table, we opted for a scallop with parmesan cheese, fried garlic, and coffee. For me, this was a very interesting option and I didn’t expect the combination to work out.

I was proved wrong since the parmesan cream worked well with the scallop and the light taste of garlic with the coffee added some aroma that gave an extra dimension to the dish.

Scallop with parmesan cream
Scallop

Tiradito is one of my favorite dishes at Llama Inn. The fish of the day is cut similarly as in a sashimi dish and is served with basil, avocado, and what they call on the menu cevichera cream. 

The mix of the salty, acidic and sweet sauce with the basil and the freshness of the fish makes this a top choice for me. I will say that during my various visits, the taste hasn’t always been 100% consistent. But to be fair, at Llama Inn it always varies between very good and excellent.

Llama Inn - Tiradito
Tiradito

One of the new dishes for the brunch menu this year is the octopus with sweet red pepper, avocado, and fried garlic. The octopus is thinly sliced, almost as carpaccio, and served with mini slices of tostada. The octopus is very fresh and gets a nice sweetness from the peppers. The great quality olive oil allows the octopus to shine.

Octopus
Octopus

Another new dish was the eggs benedict with the pork belly and aji amarillo hollandaise sauce. I have mentioned this before sometimes it is dangerous to mess with the classics. 

Nevertheless, this is a great interpretation of the classic eggs benedict. Crispy and tender pork belly, served with a classic carb base, a well-cooked poached egg, and a truly wonderful hollandaise sauce with aji amarillo. The aji amarillo is a great addition to the rich and slightly acidic hollandaise. 

Combined with the pork belly and the creamy egg yolk, this makes it one of my favorite dishes currently served at Llama Inn.

Llama Inn - Pork Belly eggs benedict
Pork Belly eggs benedict

For our main sharing dishes, we opted for the Lomo Saltado, which is another classic Peruvian dish. Served with rice, a sunny-side-up egg, and banana, this is easily a dish for 2 people to share. 

I liked the taste of the meat and the crunch of the green onion as well as the sauce which had a great flavour that tied everything together. I was not a big fan of the banana. For me, it was too sweet and did not fit well with the rest of the elements, despite creating a contrast in textures. 

While this technique with different textures and combining salty, sweet, and acidic worked well in all the other dishes, it was not very successful here.

Llama Inn - lomo saltado
Lomo Saltado

Finally the braised chicken with the crispy potatoes and a mildly spicy sauce with aji amarillo (there is a reason to add aji amarillo everywhere, it’s delicious). The crispy potatoes are the highlight of the dish to me. I cannot describe the satisfying crunch you get when you first bite into them, so you just have to try them for yourself. 

The chicken was really flavourful and crispy on the outside, staying moist on the inside. The sauce is a great addition and I was taking turns dipping first the chicken and then the potatoes in this amazing condiment.

Llama Inn - Braised chicken and cripsy fries
Chicken and crispy potatoes

Conclusion

All in all a great experience and a place that i will keep visiting, both sticking to the classics of the menu, but eager to see what else they will be offering when the Llama Inn team makes seasonal changes.

Visit: February 2024

Address: Esquina con, Calle  del Conde de Xiquena, Calle de Prim, 2, 28004 Madrid

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.