This is Madrid comfort food: croquettes, a stewed potato tortilla with tripe sauce, callos with trotter and snout, pochas with vegetables and piparras, a duck rice, battered cod and filetes rusos with homemade tomato. Offal runs through it without taking over, from beef tongue with vinaigrette and pork ear with brava sauce to lamb sweetbreads and battered lamb brains. Much of the carta comes in whole or half portions, and snacks like the croquettes are sold by the piece, so it's easy to order widely. A few dishes cross over from La Tasquería, and the tongue, one of Estévez's fetish ingredients, turns up more than once.

The address has a longer food history than the restaurant. From 1960 the premises were El Lince Casa Avelino, a bar-restaurant whose offal, tripe and brains included, is what Estévez found when he went through the old documents. That match with his own specialty settled the name, and the original marquee sign survived the refit; today the neon sits inside the room.

In September 2025, Estévez opened a second El Lince on Plaza de Pedro Zerolo in Chueca, sharing more than half the carta and adding a grill. That branch has since closed, so Príncipe de Vergara is the one to book.

To start there are cecina croquettes by the piece (€3.50), a house Gilda (€4.50), a corn toast with beef cheek, spicy mayonnaise and guacamole, and a “Paloma” of ensaladilla rusa (€5). The potato tortilla comes two ways: stewed with a tripe sauce (€13.50) or covered with the tripe stew itself (€18.50). Veal-sweetbread tacos come with chimichurri mayonnaise, cabbage and green apple (€15.50 for two), and there's Cádiz chicharrón with lemon oil and chives, beef tongue with vinaigrette and a cheese tasting.

Spoon dishes and stews are the soul of the place: pochas with vegetables and piparras, callos with trotter and snout, chickpeas with ear, snout and king prawns, and a duck rice with magret and chipotle mayonnaise (€24.50 per person). Fish means Roman-style battered cod tacos with pesto and tomato, and a fideuà with griddled baby squid and saffron aioli. The meat and offal section covers steak tartare with chips, pork ear with brava sauce, lime and tajín, lamb sweetbreads al ajillo with egg yolk, celeriac and mangetout (€23.50 whole, €16.50 half), battered lamb brains with lime mayonnaise, a semi-boned pig's trotter with tripe sauce, filetes rusos, and a 45-day aged Simmental entrecôte for two (€45). Desserts include a brioche torrija with lemon ice cream, apple tarte tatin and a tribute to grandmothers: chocolate with bread, salt and olive oil.

The wine list is short by section but ranges widely. Sparkling runs from Paloma Mínguez rosé (€29) and Gramona and Recaredo through Veuve Clicquot, Gosset and Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé (€115). There's a sherry section from Gutiérrez Colosía and Barbadillo, whites from Galicia, Rueda and Toro plus a Mosel Riesling from Dr. Loosen (€22) and a Petit Chablis, and a long run of Spanish reds: Raúl Pérez's La Clave, Casa Castillo from Jumilla, Dominio de Bibei, Ànima Negra from Mallorca and Numanthia from Toro. The special reds go up to Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5º 2016 (€310) and Termanthia (€315).

El Lince has a terrace on the wide Príncipe de Vergara pavement, close to the Plaza de la República Dominicana. Inside, the entrance has a bar with high tables, then a dining room of bare brick with the neon sign, and upstairs at the back a second room used as a private space. There are group menus for larger parties.

El Lince is open Tuesday to Saturday from 13:00 to midnight without a break, and Sunday from 13:15 to 16:00; it is closed on Monday. Book online through its site, call 911 372 658, or email hola@ellincerestaurante.com. Tables can be hard to get. There is a terrace. The average spend is around €45–50 a head with drinks.