Route through 10 hundred-year-old restaurants in Madrid

They have resisted, at least, for a hundred years, proof of uncertainties, economic crises, pandemics and even gastronomic fashions.

With an offer of Castilian and traditional cuisine as a common denominator, these ten Madrid restaurants that we propose below are tourist destinations, but also places that local diners should definitely take into account to eat well.

loot house

Knife makers, 17. Madrid.

Tel. 91 366 42 17. Average price from €50 to €60

The business founded in 1725 has an almost official certification as 'the oldest restaurant in the world', at least, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

In any case, it is pure history of Madrid, with

.

They say that, about three or four times a week, they receive these animals from Sepúlveda, Aranda and Riaza, to later subject them to a pampered roast (with touches of pepper, onion, garlic, bay leaf and white wine, as well as lard). in its old and famous oven, photographed a thousand times by the tourists who filled this place (by the way, they say that this oven has never stopped since the business was founded!).

Thus, it is a destination to eat Castilian cuisine, whose offer is completed with many other recipes such as Castilian soup, breaded suckling pig trotters, garlic prawns, melon with ham!, Botín clams or egg flan with cream.

lhardy

Carrera de San Jerónimo, 8. Madrid.

Tel. 915 21 33 85. Average price from €60 to €80

When it opened in 1839, as a project by Emilio Lhardy, it was surely one of the most modern restaurants of the moment, because, in reality, it implied installing luxury restaurant trends imported mainly from France in the capital.

This restaurant,

, with the good fortune that it continues to function almost two centuries after it opened, especially after overcoming the pandemic crisis.

The Covid stoppage led to a bankruptcy that Grupo Pescaderías Coruñesas stopped with its purchase to start a new stage in the spring of 2021.

What has changed?

In improving!

The alliance of a hotel group (owner of O'Pazo, El Pescador, Filandón and the most recent Desde 1911) with such an emblematic space that has been polished in its offer and interior design implies the reconstruction of Lhardy into a large restaurant.

The menu has been reformulated, just like its most iconic dish: the legendary Lhardy stew, which adds soup with angel hair noodles and a succession of meats and products chosen in the last two years with the utmost care and 'name and surname' that guarantee great products.

It is a luxury stew, yes, with a price of 60 euros, which is well worth it and which includes (as a pack) the famous Lhardy soufflé for dessert.

On the menu, many more options, which combine classic dishes, such as a great Sirloin Wellington, with

from Coruñesas, such as its smoked salmon or lobster salpicón, even recipes created

, such as the famous Evaristo sole (tribute to the founder of the Madrid group) versioned with a champagne sauce.

It also has a delicatessen on the ground floor.

Villa Inn

Cava Baja, 9. Madrid.

Tel. 91 366 18 60. Average price from €50 to €65

The historical archives seem to point to the fact that the only flour mill in Madrid operated right here in the 17th century, which in 1642 became the first Posada de la Corte.

The hotelier Félix Colomo rescued the business in 1980 after a restoration of the space.

It preserves an old Arab oven where some of its recipes are cooked.

Within his menu, dishes such as the Madrid stew made in a clay pot on straw ashes and holm oak trunks or the roast suckling lamb in a clay pot stand out.

Snails in sauce, Madrid-style tripe, Manchego ratatouille, innkeeper's onion or rice with rabbit are some other options from an extensive menu to eat traditionally.

pike house

Cava Baja, 35. Tel. 91 365 32 52. Average price from €45

It is not exactly a business that reaches one hundred years of life, but it cannot be missing from this

.

It is the restaurant of Lucio Blázquez, who began working in this location when he was 12 years old and this business was Mesón El Segoviano (which was indeed a hundred years old).

It was Doña Petra, owner of the previous business and who considered him almost like a son, who sold him this restaurant in 1974, to which the innkeeper (born in Serranillos, Ávila, in 1933) continued by adding his own style.

Casa Lucio is a kind of icon of Madrid, beyond the gastronomic.

With his children María del Carmen, Fernando and Javier at the helm in recent years, his traditional cuisine menu remains intact with a

fashion-proof: its famous fried eggs.

In addition, fried or grilled lamb chops, scallops with garlic and parsley,

scrambled eggs (mushrooms, garlic sprouts and prawns), stews that change daily (such as lentils on Mondays or Asturian fabada on Tuesdays) or desserts , custard or flan.

Ciriaco House

Older, 84. Madrid.

Tel. 91 548 06 20. From €25

It was born as a wine warehouse in 1887 to later become a tavern as Casa Baliñas, until the Galician brothers Pablo and Ciriaco Muñoz Sanz went from employees to owners in 1929, in a business that was renamed Casa Ciriaco.

That amount of bar and restaurant continues to operate today, even after several capsizings, including its closure five years ago, which raised fears for the definitive disappearance of the essence of the centenary business.

Its reopening under new management seems to have focused in recent years on the objective of maintaining the traditional proposal of this establishment on Calle Mayor (partly redecorated without losing its look

always with the stamp designed by the illustrator Antonio Mingote as its emblem).

That means

such as anchovies in vinegar or Russian salad, or go to the restaurant area to try its famous chicken in pepitoria, tripe, beef meatballs, scrambled eggs with chistorra, Madrid stew or rice pudding.

The ball

Calle de la Bola, 5. Madrid.

Tel. 915 47 69 30. Price from €40 to €55

Opened in 1870 and endorsed by four generations, the name of the street baptizes this restaurant with

, within which the star recipe is, indisputably, its Madrid stew.

It complies with a peculiar recipe: the different products that make it up are simmered in different individual pots over oak charcoal embers, "respecting the tradition of ingredients and flavors for four generations", to later reach the table for steps: a soup poured by the waiter on the plate from the pot to continue with the rest of the solid ingredients (different meats, vegetables and chickpeas...), which also come out of that clay container.

It has a price of 24 euros per person.

There are more things to take into account on the menu of this traditional dining room full of nooks and crannies belonging to the Verdasco family: croquettes, ratatouille scrambled eggs, tripe, roast lamb, grilled squid, Roman-style brains and desserts such as apple fritters with ice cream

Alberto House

Huertas, 18. Madrid.

Tel. 914 29 93 56. Average price from €40 to €50

Inaugurated in 1827, it was born as the tavern of some Segovian restaurateurs.

It is said that, in its beginnings, wines were served with hard-boiled eggs as a cover.

But almost two centuries of history go a long way: different stages and owners have followed one another.

The important thing is that it continues to function and that, currently,

.

It is rather traditional and works with dishes such as tripe, lamb's trotters, stewed tail, Madrid-style snails and sweets such as the traditional cream bartolillos.

To drink, among other options, you can ask for the house vermouth.

the ardosa

Colon, 13. Madrid.

Tel. 91 521 4 9 79. Price: from €15 to €45

Tavern located in the Malasaña neighborhood, opened in 1892.

An essential tavern that serves as a recommendation for locals and tourists, because it is a guarantee to meet several objectives: discover a historical place, try a 100% Spanish offer and, specifically, enjoy a juicy potato omelette

.

Opened in 1892 and located in the Malasaña neighborhood, Bodega de La Ardosa offers many options under long hours with which you can have breakfast, have an aperitif, snack between meals, lunch or dinner, around a bar surrounded by high tables and barrels, as well as an area accessed by going under the bar.

Fried artichokes, salmorejo,

, shrimp croquettes, cold cuts, salted meats, cheeses... make up an appetizing menu.

Right next to La Ardosa, and owned by the same owners, is Casa Baranda.

hai alai

Balbina Valverde, 2. Madrid.

Tel. 91 561 27 42. .

Average price from €45 to €65

Among the hundred-year-old businesses in the Madrid gastronomic market, there are also clues such as Jai Alai, which brings together three generations of the Bustingorri family in the 100 years just completed by this Basque house.

Its first headquarters was in a pediment in Alfonso XI.

It moved in the mid-60s to Balbina Valverde street, the current space, where

.

A well-known destination for businessmen and executives as a business table, you should not miss its famous baby squid with onions, as well as the wonderful Club Ranero cod (with ratatouille), a fish that can also be tasted in pil pil, Vizcaína and ajo arriero.

The Basque cookbook menu continues with options such as baked crab, fried hake or in green sauce, chistorra from Navarra, vegetable stew, lamb gizzards, red beans from Markina or a cream millefeuille.

the wide

Zorrilla, 7. Madrid Tel. 91 429 81 74. Average price from €45 to €60

Four generations account for the surname Redruello and what is now called Familia La Ancha, a hotel group with other businesses in Madrid such as Las Tortillas de Gabino, Fismuler, La Taberna de La Ancha (Mercado de San Antón), Armando delivery, the The Omar bistro-bakery at the Hotel Thompson Madrid (where it also has the Hijos de Tomás cocktail bar) and, starting in April, the management of Club Financiero Génova, in alliance with Azotea Grupo.

We have to go back to 1919, the year in which La Estrecha started as the first business in this saga, under a tavern format, on Los Madrazo street in Madrid, which materialized the project of Benigno Redruello, great-grandfather of Nino and Santiago Redruello, today in charge of the businesses, with his cousin, Ekaitz Almandoz.

In 1928, Santiago Redruello, Benigno's nephew, took over the premises, renamed La Ancha and moved to Velázquez street in 1957. In the third generation, Antonio Redruello, son of Santiago and father of Nino and Santi, took over. management (his brother Benigno Redruello accompanies him over the years) to move to Príncipe de Vergara in 1969, where today one of the La Ancha headquarters operates.

The second, opened in 1988, is on Zorrilla street (with a nice terrace in a courtyard).

Castilian cuisine, they usually define;

and it is, but also with a Basque and even Asturian influence.

, with baked potatoes, salad, and fried onion.

But there is much more to choose from and eat scandalously: crab salad, Roman hake with squid ink, stewed omelette, fried mini anchovies, spoon dishes such as stewed lentils and various vegetable recipes with the stew as a synthesis.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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