Javier Ortega

My parents had a bar in Carabanchel for thirty years, so I learned to pour a caña before I learned long division. I did not take over the bar. I studied journalism, wrote restaurant reviews for a local paper that no longer exists, and in 2017 I started taking visitors around the tapas bars I was writing about. Now it is the only job I have. Madrid eats late and eats standing up, and my tours follow that rhythm. We go to La Latina on a Sunday after the Rastro, to the Cava Baja for huevos rotos, to a place in Lavapiés where the owner still writes the menu on a mirror. I will tell you which bars give a free tapa with each drink and which ones charge you for the olives. Spanish, English and Portuguese, the last thanks to my wife, who is from Braga. From Madrid, I now guide on live video with my phone, and the chat stays open for your questions the whole time.