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If there is an iconic venue in the vicinity of Puerta de Alcalá, it is undoubtedly Ramses. It was 2007 when businessman Jorge Llovet launched a totally innovative project in a city like Madrid: an avant-garde and luxurious concept that combined haute cuisine with design, music, events and cocktails, putting it on a par with the most cosmopolitan capitals in the world. Now it has just celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with a big party. But it has not been an easy road, as Llovet himself confirms. “In this time we have lived through all kinds of crises, works in Serrano that have made it very difficult for all traders, economic crises, the COVID…. I think these 15 years are almost like a golden wedding anniversary,” joked the businessman during the event he organized at the store.
Now Puerta de Alcalá has become a leisure hotspot thanks, in particular, to Distrito Ramses, the name given to all the group’s hospitality businesses. Up to five different spaces and concepts coexist in this area to provide a varied gastronomic and leisure offer, with an international flair but, above all, placing value on the Spanish.
Ramses rules at Puerta de Alcalá
Here you are spoiled for choice. Starting with the group’s flagship, Ramses, which recently renovated its different spaces by the prestigious Parisian studio Jouin Manku. The Terrace of the restaurant is undoubtedly one of its great attractions. Not forgetting the Kitchen restaurant -on the mezzanine- and the Champagne Bar, one of its most photographic spaces, thanks to an impressive chandelier, created together with the MTX studio and Observatoire International, which resembles a cloud that gives the space a great attraction.
If, on the other hand, your mood is more towards Spanish roots, your stop will be Patio de los Leones, a tavern with a neo-Caní character, a folkloric soul and a rogue heart. Another option is one of its latest openings, Flamenco de Leones, a tablao offering a flamenco fusion-gastronomic show, which rescues the concept of the “singing cafés”, precursors of all the flamenco tablaos of our era. And to travel without leaving the capital, you can opt for The Kave, a cocktail bar and speakeasy inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy; or the also recently opened Lady Bongo, the trendy Hawaiian Tiki Raw Bar.
For 2024, a new English Club, but very Spanish
And that’s not the end of the story. During the celebration, Jorge Llovet announced that they already had new projects underway and by 2024 they will open another venue in the building. It will be called Casa Faraona and will be “an English-style club, but it will be a Spanish club. It will be inspired by everything Spanish. Flamenco is going to be very prominent and all the decoration as well. We want to elevate the Spanish. Cosmopolitanism is all very well and so are the usual international values, but I think we also have to go for what is ours”, announced the businessman.
Well, it seems that things are going to keep happening at Puerta de Alcalá because Distrito Ramses has plenty of room -and projects- for a long time.