The story of this symbol of Spanish cuisine began in the 1970s in Sitges, when Sacha Hormaechea’s parents, Carlos and Pitila, set up the first restaurant. Two years later they moved to Madrid to open a place with six tables, the same one that after being expanded is now run by the chef, who had to step up and put his career as a photographer on hold when his mother died in 2001.

Nowadays, in this restaurant laid out like a bistro and completely enclosed by windows, Sacha still gathers friends around tables filled with exciting food, that doesn’t follow any trends or guides. This is what the fried and pickled oysters, the false sea urchin lasagna or the “lazy” omelette tell us. This is what they talk about in the best after-dinner conversations in the capital.