The video above was commissioned by Food Insider and I shot it last years, and it was recently published on their YouTube channel.
Madrid is home to hundreds, maybe thousands, of historical locations. One of the is Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world, certified by the Guiness Book of World Records. I know there are several other restaurants that claim to be the olders, dating back to even thousands of years. So what’s the differences? This one can prove that since 1725 it never closed its doors, never changed places and never changed its name.
This place apparently opened it’s doors in the 16th century as a lodge of sorts and then transitioned into a restaurant. I’ve found records that there was another Sobrino de Botín a few blocks to the north its current location at the Calle de los Cuchilleros. I think they opened that one afterwards and then closed it some time in the 20th century.
Many legends surround this place, such as one that says the master painter Francisco de Goya washed dishes for a short time while he was a teenager.
I you go, you HAVE TO go to the cellars downstairs. They are part of what used to be a labyrinth of tunnels used by the court so they could move unnoticed.
Many will say that in Segovia the sucking pig is better, and they may be right. What Sobrino de Botín has is not restricted to its menu, which by the way is very good. The place’s history deserves to be enjoyed at its full. With very little imagination you can picture yourself 300 years ago eating cochinillo and drinking while just like Hemingway did. I suppose that’s what he thought, who wouldn’t? A visit to Madrid without going to Botín is… well, you have an excuse to come back.