The world's oldest restaurant, in business since 1725 and still cooking suckling pig in the original wood-fired oven on the basement level. The building, on Calle de los Cuchilleros below Plaza Mayor, is a four-storey 18th-century tile-and-timber maze, and the dining rooms — narrow, dark, tile-walled — feel exactly as they must have done two centuries ago.
The two dishes to order are cochinillo asado (suckling pig roasted whole) and cordero asado (suckling lamb) — both around €30 per person, both carved at the table in a piece of theatre that has not changed in three centuries. The cooking is good rather than transcendent; you come here for the history, the room, and the spectacle. Reservations essential, ideally weeks ahead.