The Sobrino de Botn is an old restaurant in Madrid that opened in 1725.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it's the oldest continuously-operated restaurant in the world.
I thought the food was good, even though it was expensive.
The oldest continuously-operated restaurant on the planet is called Sobrino de Botn. I wanted to know if I was worth the fame on my trip to Madrid.
On a recent trip to Spain, I made a reservation at Sobrino de Botn, which is still referred to as "Casa Botn" by local madrileos.
The oldest continuously-operated restaurant on the planet is called Botn.
The four-floor Botn has had its share of famous diners. Writers, world leaders, and visitors have stuck their forks in the restaurant's famous roasted pig.
In the 18th century, a young Francisco Goya worked as a dishwasher.
He had a table on the second floor where he spent hours writing at his typewriter while eating snacks from the kitchen and drinking wine, and the restaurant was included in his books. Hemingway was once given the chance to cook in the kitchen by the owner. The chef told him to keep his job.
I noticed that the street names were named after people who lived on the street.
Calle de Cuchilleros is the street where Sobrino de Botn has been for the last 300 years.
There is a food hall just up the road.
Calle de Cuchilleros is a popular tourist destination.
There were souvenir shops, restaurants with bright tiles, and one eatery that made its employees dress up as gun-wielding bandoleros, a historic version of an Iberian cowboy. Occasionally, there was a busker. This made the area feel like a tourist destination.
My dining companion and I were given a menu by the waiter after we entered the restaurant.
The L-shaped room was adorned with blue tiles on the walls and wood beams on the ceiling. The room was almost full when I arrived at 1:45 p.m., which is early for lunch in Spain.
Two Korean tourists are at a table with a group of seven tourists from Barcelona. Some of the people in the dining room had Madrid accents and I could hear them in the dining room.
The ratio of tourists to locals at Botn has been around 75 to 25 since the early 20th century, according to a member of the family that owns the restaurant.
Ernest Hemingway had a regular table on the second floor.
Hemingway loved Madrid so much that he called it the "most Spanish of all cities in Spain".
He spent time here in the 1920s and 30s, as well as in the 50s and 60s, before he died in Idaho in 1961.
"The Sun Also Rises" was written in Botn. Two people stopped at a restaurant to eat.
We had lunch at Botin's. The restaurant is one of the best in the world. The man didn't eat a lot. She didn't eat a lot. I drank three bottles of Rioja Alta after eating a large meal.
A half bottle of Rioja Alta was ordered by me and my companion at our table.
It was loaded with typical Spanish standards, such as garlic shrimp, Madrid-style tripe, chipirones (marinated baby squids), and scrambled eggs with blood sausage.
The cured Iberian Jamon is shaved off an acorn-fed pig leg for each order. I think Spanish Jamon has a better taste than Italian prosciutto.
We started our meal with a small amount of food.
In Spain, there are many types of croquettes, which are fried balls of delicious goodness. I learned on my trip that bechamel sauce can be used to flavor croquettes.
ham is the most common. We ordered the ham. The croquettes were good on the inside and good on the outside.
Next was a black sausage. Blood sausage is the first item made of a slaughtered swine. Depending on where you are in Spain, the ingredients can be different.
The morcilla was a fairly straightforward mix of blood and fat, but not for the squeamish or non-adventurous eaters.
The garlic soup is a fan favorite at Sobrino de Botn.
I decided to try the garlic soup after reading that it was a popular dish in the restaurant.
I thought the garlic soup was great for a winter day. The soup was made with pieces of Iberian ham, soft pig fat, and bits of garlic.
The soup was very filling and delicious. I'd skip it next time to save space for the roasted pork and lamb.
The wood-fired oven is the center of attention in Botn. The restaurant has been open for over two centuries.
Anyone heading up to the second floor dining room can see the wood-fired oven that my soup and other dishes came from. Next to the stairs is it.
Look at the chef, long paddle or peel in hand, as he pushes around the roasting pigs and lambs inside the burning oven before you go upstairs.
The restaurant's oven has been burning since it opened in 1725. The chefs don't have to worry about getting the oven hot when they come into work the next day because the flame is always going.
The most popular dishes at Botn are the cochinillo asado, which is roast pig, and the cordero asado, which is roast lamb.
The roast pig and roast lamb are Botn's most famous dishes.
Journalists and celebrities have been trumpeting the dishes for a long time, but as we discovered, they are actually quite good.
I think any first, second, or third time visitor should get the pork and the lamb, and I think two people could probably share one dish.
The pigs and lambs come from farms in Segovia. The pork is slow cooked in the oven for two hours and 15 minutes, while the lamb is cooked for about an hour and a half.
There are other restaurants in the area that try to duplicate what Botn does, but they can't.
Botn is the only place in the area where you can find a similar menu.
The roast pig was $29 when I visited.
jus was spooned onto the meat before it was brought to our table. I was ready to dig in. I didn't need a knife to cook the roast pig meat because it was tender. The meat was light and juicier than normal.
I thought the lamb belly was soft and juicy, with a slight gamey taste. When it hit my tongue, it melted. It's perfect in a roasted lamb.
When the star of the show is good, the roasted potatoes felt like an unimportant part of the show.
When I tasted the potatoes, they were great. They added juice from the meat to make the spuds even better.
We drank a glass of herbal booze after eating.
We were too full after the main dish to eat dessert.
The waiter put the bottles of orujo into the shot glasses.
The green-tinted variety was double distilled and I thought it had a more complex taste than the translucent one.
Is my opinion correct? Sobrino de Botn is not a tourist trap. A lot of tourists eat here, but it isn't a trap.
Most people travel to eat with locals. Yes, I do.
I think it's worth an afternoon of eating roasted suckling pork and roasted lamb for tourists at Botn.
I would recommend coming here at least once in your life.
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