The belle époque interior is entirely fake yet entirely convincing, making this one of the most peaceful and elegant spots to flick through the newspapers...

A quintessential point of reference in the city's café society, the Bellas Artes is utterly elegant. Under new ownership, it is now free to enter at...

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...

One of the city's most evocative old tabernas, hung with oil paintings and presided over by a septuagenarian. It still has its old zinc bar complete with...

A tiny jewel among tapas bars, with wonderful tiling inside and out. The tapas are mainly from Galicia, with lots of octopus, gammon, pig's ear and, of...

A restaurant unsurpassed by any other in Madrid for its famous patrons: King Juan Carlos, Bill Clinton and Penélope Cruz among them. This is the place of...

Despite the address, De 1911 actually sits on the tiny pedestrian street C/Coloreros, on which it has tables. It is indeed from 1911, but is a curious mix...

A perennial favourite with seemingly everybody; from those looking for a peaceful morning coffee on the leafy Plaza de la Paja to those meeting up for a few...

Popular with audiences and actors from the nearby Teatro Alfil, the Fat Fish buzzes at night and is fabulously mellow during the day. The main attraction...

The world's oldest restaurant (with a signed Norris McWhirter certificate to prove it) is still coming up with the goods after nearly 300 years. For all its...

Under Italian, ownership, this fabulous gelatería serves the best ice-cream in the city and probably the whole of Spain. Twelve flavours (which rotate...

If you associate burger bars with junk food, then think again. Home is the brainchild of a French Canadian restaurateur, who has created a carefully...

J&J is at once a relaxing little café (at ground-floor level) and a well-stocked second-hand bookshop (in the basement). Activities held here include...

La Movida meets Friends in this cramped but jolly little café, where everybody knows everybody else. This is where the painfully cool neo-punks from the...