Madrid's Old Town has been feeding people for centuries and it has not lost the habit.

This tour starts near the Royal Palace and moves through the cobblestone streets of the centro histórico and into the Literary Quarter, with five food stops and the city's most iconic squares along the way. You begin with Iberian ham and tomato toast at Casa Ciriaco, one of fifteen centennial restaurants still operating in Madrid, where your guide covers the city's royal history and the area that grew around it. At Meson La Revolcona, garlic mushrooms with a cold beer, vermouth, or tinto de verano, a local's bar that tourists rarely find on their own.

Past Plaza Mayor, one of the great central squares of Europe, to La Campana on Calle Botoneras, where the fried calamari sandwich has been the order of choice for Madrileños for generations. Your guide gets you in ahead of the queue. In the Literary Quarter, La Casa del Abuelo has been serving garlic fried shrimp in the same spot since 1906. The tavern has barely changed. The shrimp arrive sizzling.

Chocolates El Indio closes the tour with handmade chocolates and a warm chocolate drink, in a shop that connects to Spain's centuries-long history with cocoa, going back to the first ships from the Americas.

Come and discover the flavours that have made Madrid one of Europe's great eating cities!