Sobrino de Botin in Madrid - the world's oldest running restaurant
In his novel “the Sun Also Rises” Ernest Hemingway wrote “We lunched upstairs at Botin’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta”. If Hemingway praised the restaurant, one has to believe it to be true.
A few things are for sure though. Founded in 1725, the Casa Botin restaurant is the oldest restaurant in the world in continuous operation, according to the Guinness Book of Records and is a benchmark of Madrid’s best traditional cuisine. Originally named Casa Botin after its owners Frenchman Jean Botin and his wife, the restaurant’s name was changed to Sobrino de Botin (meaning: Nephew of Botin), when Mrs. Botin died and her nephew inherited it. Initially it was more of a tavern than a restaurant. Botin has four floors and the air of a traditional Spanish tavern. There are three dining rooms: the bodega ("cellar"), the Castilla room, and the Felipe IV room.
This 300-year-old restaurant with a menu that has hardly changed, (incidentally diners are offered menus in a choice of seven languages including English-written menus), sits comfortably in the company of multiple Michelin starred eateries and possibly every haute cuisine establishment in Spain – let alone Madrid. This is after all, a country where food is everything. Infact, Forbes magazine gave Sobrino de Botin third place in the list of the world’s top 10 classic restaurants.
Its specialty dishes are Cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig) and Cordero asado (roast lamb). This may be signature cuisine – carefully preserving the notion that originality means returning to the origins as it comes with the signature of centuries of tradition instilled using the essence of the best ingredients. Apart from using the original recipes, the restaurant has also kept the flame burning in the 300 year old wood-fired oven continuously, never to be extinguished.
Since the restaurant's beginning in 1725, Sobrino de Botin has been associated with some famous people in its history. Besides royalty, politicians, and actors, the most notable is the American author Ernest Hemingway. He was a frequent diner here, and this part of the restaurant was his favourite to eat, drink, and tap away at his typewriter The Spanish painter Francisco de Goya worked in Cafe Botin as a waiter while waiting to get accepted into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
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