“Now we will go to a traditional Spanish food place, of course. We really want to try the tapas. And the pasta.” It is the response of Joe and Cindy at the gates of Zenith Brunch & Cocktails, at number 28 of Valverde Street, one of the fashion stores among tourism that visits the center of Madrid. This couple arrived from Chicago justifies to go to an establishment with such little profile Castizo On his first visit to the city. “I am also that I am celiac and not in all the places I have options that serve me,” she adds.
Although the number of tourists does not stop growing in Madrid, the businesses to which a large part of them go to mass make up to some extent restricted. Tourist (physical or digital) guides, social networking accounts and recommendations of unifying digital search engines that expand the criteria with which to select a gastronomic option. Joe and Cindy, for example, found Zenith through Google. He was one of the outstanding establishments by introducing the “gluten -free” variant and did not even scroll.
The Pum Pum Café de Lavapiés, on Tribulete Street (the same in which residents of a block try to resist the rush of a real estate fund to expel them), is another great representative of this trend by public and aesthetics. On the facade of the premises, to give an urban touch, the name appears customized as Punk Punk Café. The waitress t -shirts wear the slogan Sex, Drugs & Croissants.
This space has become a true tourist magnet. Despite offering careful aesthetic and a quality product, neither its products nor its appearance are part of the habitual gastronomic imaginary of Madrid. Responds more to a logic of visual consumption (very Instagrameable) and international comfort, that to a search for authenticity or contact with the truly local.
We move there to ask your customers. A group of three German tourists has reached the Pum Pum Café after a recommendation that came out in Tiktok. Several Italians have discovered it by chance and enter to take refuge in a rainy morning. Ann and Jamie, a British marriage, saw him in a guide Lonely Planet And there they have gone before catching a bus towards the Ribera del Duero. All of them can delight in a Bol of Greek yogurt for 4.70 euros, Benedictine eggs for 9.50 or a Sandwich club for 10.50. The letter, like the gastronomic offer itself, is in English (Also in its online format).
If we talk about Brunchanother mandatory stop (or that seems because of its influx) is the breakfast. Seen its success, the brand already has several stores in Madrid, although the most characteristic is in the central Barbieri street. Shanti and Shaiza, mother and daughter, go to the street still carrying their bags. They have just arrived in the city, where they visit Shanti’s brother and uncle/godfather of Shaiza. On her particular names, the mother herself recognizes that she belongs to “the third generation of hippies of Ibiza.” It is of Portuguese origin, while Shanti’s father was British.
Thus, although they left the place in English, they actually reside on the Balearic Island and the young woman even was born there. It was Shaiza who chose breakfast for him BrunchEmbelesada by “Los Pancakes” he saw on Google after introducing the terms “breakfast in Madrid”: “I really like the sweet,” he says as he laughs. Her parent admits that she has come “for her.”
The adjacent business, Café Coffee, has a similar audience, although it bets rather for specialty coffee and people (usually digital nomads) that come to work. Théo, a tourist coming from Paris, fulfills the French stereotype and is dedicated to smoking at the door while his teammates end the coffee.
“We are staying close and we didn’t feel like complicating much. Our first option was closed so we tried here,” he says to argue that they have come to this place, the second that has appeared in Google when looking for breakfasts in the area. “Our idea is to look for places to eat more traditional things, Paella and so on. But sometimes you have little time, you don’t want to fail and don’t complicate. It depends on the moment,” explains Théo.
Between ReelsNames in English and Coffee of Specialty
In Casto, oven and specialty cafeteria located on the nearby street of Víctor Hugo, a small tail begins to form almost from nothing. Tourists and, again, digital nomads ask Croissants of pistachio or Lattes (That is, coffees with milk) to carry. Here are also the shirts with a message: “Bollo and little drama,” says the particular uniform of the template.
María José, a tourist from Chile, has been having breakfast for several days. He discovered it because he stays close and every day he saw people agglutinated around. He does not eat meat and his offer is very much adjusted to what he is looking for, so he has repeated almost daily. However, Madrid indicates that what he has asked for this time has been “a coffee and a cake.” He could have found it in Bar Manolo, but Casto has managed to loyalty (even during the week that will stay in the city).
And from Chile to Colombia, from which Sandra and Bibiana come. The two are radiant in the Plaza de Chueca with two imposing desserts that have just served in Lumier’s Chimney Cake. This curious elaboration in the form of a chocolate and strawberry mix for an explosive and cloying combination.
The creation process causes sensation in networks, in fact these two friends discovered where to get them in Madrid through Reels of Instagram. “We have come to Chueca expressly for them,” they say. On whether they will taste more typical things in Madrid or Spain, they point out that they are willing to “try everything.”
@mpcordovez Chimney Cake in Madrid @lumierschimneycake_es. – – – – #chimneycake #chimneycakes #lumierchimneycake #budapest #budapestfood #PlanesenMadrid #NavedadMadrid #Comerenmadrid #postRestresMadrid ♬ My refe – Beéle & Ovy On The Drums
Joe, Cindy, Shanti, Shaiza, María José, Théo, Sandra or Bibiana are just a small example of how social networks, travel guides and Google reviews are able to influence and determine every step that tourists take when visiting big cities like Madrid, from coffee where they have breakfast to the neighborhood in which they stay, thus molding a more urban experience based on trends real pulse of the city.
Boca to mouth gives the witness to the algorithm
The great “guilty” of creating these currents are, mainly, the Influencers or content creators. His way of interacting with his audience through social networks is accessible to anyone and much more organic than the one proposed by travel guides to use. However, global platforms such as Lonely Planet, Kayak or specialized magazines such as Traveler They act as cultural filters that simplify the complexity of an entire city in lists, rankings and “unmissable” recommendations. Thus, many times visitors end up consuming a standardized and repetitive version of the destination, designed more to meet international expectations than to represent local daily life.
Social networks, especially Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube, have exacerbated this trend, rewarding those places that look good in a photo or video, above those who offer a more genuine cultural experience. The digital mouth has replaced the traditional, and the virality of certain sites has even altered the urban fabric, attracting visitors to the neighborhoods in which, in addition to tourists, there are neighbors who see their day to day by the long lines generated by some of these establishments in the street. This is the case of Malasaña, Lavapiés or La Latina, who have seen how dozens of corners became high -traffic tourist scenarios for this same reason and by the action of real estate speculation.
Google’s reviews, meanwhile, offer an apparent democratization of the tourist criteria, but often reinforce similar dynamics: comments usually come from other tourists with homogeneous expectations, creating feedback circles that consolidate certain places as “mandatory” without necessarily having a significant relationship with the cultural life of the city. In addition, the pressure to maintain good scores pushes the premises to adapt their offer to the taste of the visitor instead of the premises, transforming their essence.
This form of tourism guided by algorithms and “lists of the best” produces a partial and biased urban experience. Madrid, with all its cultural wealth, gastronomic diversity and neighborhood ways of life, is reduced to a few hypervisible places. Meanwhile, bars of a lifetime, traditional markets or almost hundreds (which most faithfully reflect habits and preferences of Madrid) go unnoticed by most visitors. As a consequence, an important part of the income that is associated with tourism has an impact on companies without roots with the city, often belonging to international conglomerates.
Travelers no longer explore the city, but a limited version of it, especially designed to fit their expectations. Far away from the visionary tourist the “coffee with milk in Plaza Mayor”, which has been replaced by a Latte to carry in a specialty cafeteria in Malasaña.
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