A tiny, bright and friendly mother-and-son operation, Bodegas Ricla does a great line in garlicky boquerones and an incongruous one in soft rock. Cheap but good wine and sherry...

Madrid's original gay café is a sedate place where the lace curtains, 19th-century chandeliers and winding wooden staircase lend themselves nicely to a cosy destination for...

Still charming after all these years, this is Madrid's definitive literary café, open since 1888. It still holds poetry tertulias on Monday nights, and publishes a magazine...

A rough diamond, the diminutive Casa Camacho has changed little since it opened in 1928, except for the addition of a fruit machine and a TV - both in constant use. Pre-war...

One of the best sources of cocina casera, or home cooking, in Madrid, Casa Manolo has an endearing, homely atmosphere, enhanced by the black-and-white photo of the owner's...

Serving chocolate and churros (deep-fried batter sticks) to the city night and day since 1894, this veritable institution has had to introduce a ticketing system - pay before...

El Bierzo is one of the best of Madrid's long-established casas de comida - honest, dependable neighbourhood joints where you can get a good menú del día at a reasonable price....

Still going strong after a century, this is the best place in the city for deep-fried lamb intestines and other tasty titbits. Not for faint stomachs, this offal institution...

While the bakery downstairs supplies box after ribbon-tied box of flaky ensaïmada pastries, croissants and napolitanas to what seems like half of Madrid, the upstairs salón...

Always bustling with people, La Mallorquina occupies a prime location right on the Puerta del Sol. Downstairs, the pastry shop sells great cakes and savouries, all baked on the...

A gorgeous old bar, La Nueva was recently taken over and scrubbed up, losing a little of its character along the way. The new ownership has added a Russian theme, with oysters,...

Again, this is no looker, but it's a popular post-Rastro stop. Its specialities include the eponymous snails in spicy sauce, knuckle of ham, and zarajo, the lamb's intestines...

With their reputation for staying out all night, madrileños are popularly known as 'los gatos' (the cats) and there's nowhere better than here to begin a night prowling the...

Refreshingly unpretentious, Los Jiménez was serving no-frills food long before Chueca became the gay capital of Spain. Ghastly fluorescent lights overhead, the smell of frying...