Find a typical restaurant in Madrid among the perpetual openings and tourists crashing anything that looks like a tasca can be a bit of a hassle. The capital is capable of absorbing almost everything it receives and making it its own and in the process it is difficult to maintain the essence of the local.
Some typical dishes such as tripe and stew, in addition to the century-old restaurants are the pillar so that the “castizo” (traditional) endures, and is even living a new wave in which it is vindicated.
1. Lhardy
Émile Huguenin arrived in Madrid in 1839 and created Lhardy in the image and likeness of the restaurant that was then fashionable in Paris, Café Le Hardi. This emblematic restaurant was the first fine dining house, designed to bring together the city’s aristocracy in its dining rooms. The marquis of Salamanca planned here the neighborhood that would bear his name, the Queen brought her lovers, Primo de Rivera was a regular during his dictatorship and here Alcalá Zamora was elected president of the Second Republic. Azorín already said: “Madrid cannot be conceived without Lhardy“.
Although it was acquired by Pescaderías Coruñesas in 2021, the premises are still decorated in the style of the 19th century. Here the typical dish is the cocido madrileño and it is served in two courses, it is usual that the first one (the soup) has pieces of meat and chicken, although everyone takes it in their own way.
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📍 Carrera de San Jerónimo, 8 (Sol)
2. Ciriaco House
Another undisputed witness of Madrid’s history. It was at this point on Calle Mayor, where Casa Ciriaco is located, where an anarchist attacked King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia de Battenmberg when they were returning from their wedding at the Jerónimos and were on their way to the Royal Palace. The bomb never hit them, but it did hit the crowd that was watching the monarchs go by and 24 people died.
In addition to this tragic event, the relevance of this food house continues. Intellectuality gave it fame since Valle-Inclán turned the tavern into Zarathustra’s Cave. Later on, a gathering was created, which was chaired by the cartoonist Antonio Mingote until his death in 2012. In fact, you can order the hen in pepitoria to the taste of the cartoonist and it is one of the typical dishes along with meatballs and tripe.
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📍 Main Street, 84 (downtown)
3. The Ball
We continue on the route of the stew, but if the weather is not good, the tripe is also a specialty of the house. At La Bola the stew is prepared for more than 4 hours over very low heat and over holm oak charcoal.
In addition, the traditional clay pots are used here and it is served in the same container in which it is cooked. The raw ingredients are put into the stew pots: chickpeas, water from Madrid, bacon, potatoes, chorizo sausage, and it is taken to the charcoal, where it is cooked for more than four hours, during which time the pots are periodically refilled with broth.
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📍 Calle de la Bola, 5 (Sol)
4. Botín Restaurant
Casa Botín is incombustible: the oldest restaurant in the world, king of Madrid de los Austrias. Only closed during the pandemic months, it was the first time in three centuries that the century-old restaurant did not serve its customers: not even during the Civil War did it stop serving meals.
In 1987 the Guinness Book of Records named it the oldest restaurant in the world, which also mentions that Goya may have worked as a dishwasher in 1765.
Its menu is a good summary of Spanish gastronomy with a special focus on Castilian roasts of suckling pig and lamb, as well as grilled meat.
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📍 Cuchilleros Street, 17 (downtown)
5. Malacatín
Another classic is Malacatín. They have been preparing cocido madrileño since 1895, their motto used to be: “whoever finishes it, doesn’t pay” and now they even serve it at home. It is a quite small place, so finding a table is not an easy task, but when you get it… You surrender to the pleasure with each of the three turnovers of the stew, especially with its soup, which is quite dense and rich in fats. But if you prefer, they can serve it all together in a single pass.
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📍 Calle de la Ruda, 5 (La Latina)
6. Commercial Coffee
Café Comercial has long since ceased to be a simple café and has become one of the most typical restaurants in Madrid. Its leather sofas and marble tables could tell more stories than anyone who has been there, although after the renovation little remained of the original decor.
It was open uninterruptedly for a whopping 128 years until it was forced to close due to a bureaucratic issue. Its windows were then filled with farewell messages, as if the biggest rock star had left, but in March 2017 it returned to the charge, reformed, and with a new “glamour castizo”, in the words of Juan Luis Medina, in charge of the reform.
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gta. de Bilbao, 7 (Malasaña)
7. Macareno House
Casa Macareno is a classic tavern in Malasaña founded in 1920, where patatas bravas shine in a menu with just the right amount of innovation and strings of garlic and peppers hang from the walls. Proof that the “castizo” style is back is that Rosalía paid a visit after a concert in Madrid and has left the proof on his Instagram.
Surviving in a neighborhood that has undergone such a transformation has merit, perhaps the key is in his menu of the day and on Thursdays of cocido in winter.
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📍 Calle de San Vicente Ferrer, 44 (Malasaña)
8. Casa Lucio
If you come to Madrid for the first time, no matter the time of the year, one of the restaurants that you have to check in your list is Casa Lucio. It could be said that Casa Lucio’s are the most famous broken eggs not only in Madrid, but also in Spain.
In fact, the success of this dish crosses borders, tasted by legends of the small and big screen such as Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith or Eva Longoria. The restaurant opened in 1974 and its success has not stopped since then. Its emblematic dish can also be enjoyed at La Taberna de los Huevos de Lucio, run by the tavern keeper’s sons. With a more relaxed atmosphere, its menu offers other varieties such as chistorra sausage, ham or ratatouille.
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📍 Calle de la Cava Baja, 35 (La Latina)
9. Alberto House
Madrileños have been coming to this tavern in Las Letras since 1827 to enjoy a glass of wine and a tapa of codfish or corns. Casa Alberto maintains the mythical red façade of restaurants that have been open for over a hundred years and its sign with a black background and golden letters. Before it opened in this same space was the building in which Cervantes wrote the second part of Don Quixote, so to commemorate it there are some objects that recall the work and life of the great Spanish writer.
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📍 Calle de las Huertas, 18 (Las Letras)
10. Gijon Coffee
The Café Gijón has seen the best of the Generation of ’27 pass through its wood-paneled walls, taking the place as a meeting and debate point. The list of great characters is endless and crazy, even Mata Hari herself was seen here. It is part of modern Spanish history, and continues to be an essential stop to see and be seen in the capital.
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📍 P.º de Recoletos, 21 (Downtown)