Madrid's most famous literary café, in business on the Paseo de Recoletos since 1888 and a regular haunt of every major Spanish writer of the 20th century — from Pío Baroja and Ramón Gómez de la Serna in the early years through Camilo José Cela and Antonio Buero Vallejo more recently. The interior — green velvet banquettes, marble tables, brass coat racks, slow ceiling fans — has barely changed in a century.
The food is honest old-Madrid stuff: cocido on Tuesdays, callos, fish on Fridays, decent menú del día at lunch. Most visitors come for a coffee or a vermouth and the atmosphere — table 14 is the famous tertulia table where the writers met. The pavement terrace on Recoletos is one of the better places in the city to watch the world pass. Open daily; expect a wait at lunch.