Our story...

The old house had 25 metres of frontage onto Calle de La Taberna, with two doors and balconies on the second floor, and another 18 metres onto the square, with balconies and a large gate leading to a courtyard with some singular mangers. Inside, among other rooms, stood the vast cellar where ten great earthenware jars were lined up, and an impressive cave holding another twelve, said to be over 400 years old.

The wines made there soon gained renown — especially a dense, cherry-red wine, a touch sweet, made by treading the garnacha grapes from the local vineyards. It grew popular across the capital: people came for a few jugs and stocked up for the week with a demijohn of garnacho, of moscatel, or of the delicious “house” wine sold on tap.

But the restaurant business truly began when, over time, the signature dish took shape: the lamb chops, served with a jug of wine and excellent bread baked in the family bakery.

“All of Madrid” began to pass through the old bodega — politicians, scientists, writers and artists; no important figure set foot in the capital without visiting the tavern. All the foreign stars came too; the producer Samuel Bronston even held his dinners here with the actors and film crew.

Ava Gardner spent many a fine evening dining alfresco in the courtyard. The bullfighters all came as well, but a special friend of the house was Antoñete, who made his first passes with the cape at the Hortaleza runs. And in football, the whole of Real Madrid — Di Stéfano, Navarro, Olsen and the rest. And so El Garnacho became the number-one restaurant of its kind.