Spain's foreign restaurant pioneers

The Día de la Hostelería is marked in Spain every second Tuesday in October to celebrate the hospitality industry. It was just ten years ago that it was decided to dedicate a day to all the people who make it possible for us to enjoy bars, cafes and restaurants.

On this day, it would be fitting to remember the foreign restaurateurs who contributed to the development of the hospitality industry in Spain and made it diverse.

Chefs from France, renowned for their culinary tradition, were the first to influence the improvement of the restaurant business in Spain. This year, the restaurant Botin, located in the heart of Madrid, celebrates its 300th anniversary.

In fact, it is considered the oldest restaurant in the world, which is why its name is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The story started in 1725. French chef Jean Botin and his wife, of Asturian origin, opened a small inn, a stone’s throw from Plaza Mayor. Dishes were prepared in a wood-fired oven. The place became very popular with lovers of the Castillian-style roasted suckling pig and lamb.

Apparently Botin was the first to start preparing food for diners because until the 18th century customers took their own products to be cooked at the restaurant.

Approximately 40 years after the opening, a young man knocked on the restaurant door. It was artist Francisco de Goya, who was looking for work and he was hired as a dishwasher in the restaurant. Today, Botin remains one of the benchmarks for the best traditional cuisine in Madrid. The kitchen works tirelessly to receive hundreds of mostly foreign tourists daily.

A few hundred metres from Botin, a new French restaurant was established in 1839. It is believed that pastry chef Emilio Huguenin Lhardy left France for Madrid thanks to Prosper Mérimée, a famous lover of Spain. It is reported that the author of Carmen befriended a young pastry chef in Bordeaux and once suggested that he move to Madrid, which, in his opinion, lacked high-class restaurants. Indeed at the beginning of the 19th century, the gastronomic offerings in Madrid's taverns were indeed meagre, and the service was terrible.

Soon the establishment with the name Lhardy opened as a bakery where Emilio displayed an affable and energetic character. His éclairs and mille-feuilles, his brioches and croissants were well received. Gradually Lhardy expanded to serving meals and offered high-end catering services to hotels and for high society celebrations. For the international traveller, the opening of Lhardy represented a unique sweet alternative.

Asian cuisine came to Spain in the 60s. In 1962, three young Chinese chefs from Hong Kong arrived in Madrid, and within a few months, a restaurant appeared that shook up the culinary scene in the Spanish capital. At that time, the Chinese concept seemed exotic and revolutionary to the people of Madrid.

Fuji is considered the first Japanese restaurant to open in Spain. In the 1960s, Japanese fishing companies worked throughout the Western Atlantic, from South Africa to the Mediterranean. Soon, their logistics bases were established in the strategic La Luz Port in Las Palmas, where ships were repaired and crews rested.

Eventually a large community developed in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and in 1967 the restaurant Fuji opened its doors on this Canary island. Incidentally, the food there was very different from what we think of as Japanese restaurant fare today - no maki or rolls. The menu was extensive, and many dishes required lengthy preparation.

As for the Costa del Sol, the 70s seem to be a special period for introducing new concepts and types of cuisine on the coast. In 1972 a pioneering Italian food chain in Andalucía opened in Fuengirola.

After travelling to different countries Italian Sergio Bracci came to Malaga coast to realise his dream of setting up his own business. His dream came true when his first pizzeria, called O Mamma Mia, not only opened but immediately became very popular. People came from the capital and all over the Costa del Sol to eat pizza there.

La Cacerola in Torremolinos also started out as a pizzeria. However, in 1974, Jack Crosland transformed it into what was then the first English restaurant in this fashionable resort town. La Cacerola was a trendy establishment, and customers regularly queued up outside.