A different Madrid table: 3 hotel restaurants to visit in the Spanish capital

WHAT by Mario Sandoval

Where? Hotel JW Marriott Madrid

It has only been open for a few months and surely aspires to be one of the leading restaurants in Madrid. It is located on the first floor of the JW Marriott hotel, in Plaza Canalejas, and bears the seal of the brothers Mario, Diego and Rafael Sandoval, also owners of Coque (two Michelin stars) and Coquetto Bar (opened in 2020).

The proposal is presented as “contemporary Spanish haute cuisine” and in an elegant and comfortable environment it offers diners various options. The menu is organized into appetizers to share, such as shrimp carpaccio, clams with albariño sauce or brioche with clarified butter topped with 10 grams of Iranian Beluga caviar. The starters continue, where there is a salad with vegetables that come from the garden that the Sandovals have in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a project (Agrolab) coordinated with the Community of Madrid and that seeks to recover native seeds. The ingredients for the vegetable panaché also come from there, which they offer in the vegetarian section. A baked Bilbao-style sea bass and a sea bream with pico de gallo are seafood options, and the meats stand out for their already famous sirloin Wellington, a dish that critics have praised.

In QÚ by Mario Sandoval it is Juan Doblado who leads the kitchen team, where we discover a presence that connects with Peru: Israel Samaniego Quispe, a Peruvian chef who has lived in Madrid for 10 years, and who is in charge of the cold and dessert items. What stands out in his experience is having worked for more than three years in the Japanese-Spanish cuisine restaurants Yakitoro and Omeraki, owned by the Spanish media chef Alberto Chicote (host of Antena 3).

Palm Court

Where? Hotel Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid

The signature of the great Quique Dacosta is stamped on the concept of this bright and captivating restaurant. “As the past has the ability to influence the present, just when we were about to develop the letter, vestiges of that history appeared, demanding a second chance. Those teapots, silver cutlery, huge trays, emblematic pieces led us to take on a great challenge: combining a new era for the hotel’s gastronomy with that heritage of palatial haute cuisine, served and carved on a tray,” the chef writes in the presentation of the menu that he himself designs and whose development he supervises.

Thus, crowned by a surprising glass dome, the elegant Palm Court offers a quite varied menu with three menu options, depending on the taste of the diner. They have a tasting menu of a la carte bites paired with champagne; a selection of Beluga, Ossetra, Daurenki and Nacarii caviar, all from different origins; dishes ranging from appetizers to desserts, some special for vegetarians, lactose intolerant, gluten-free and many other options that anticipate allergies or others. There is also another menu with classic preparations, for any time of day, and another for tea time.

But the Mandarin Oriental Ritz also has a restaurant with two Michelin stars. Deessa is the space where Dacosta shares experiences that bring him closer to his style, through four tasting menus that differ in their historical and contemporary touch. The Pictura bar and El Jardín del Ritz complete the offer.

Oroya

Where? Hotel The Madrid Edition

A roof top dominates the heights of the Spanish capital, and has a Peruvian spirit. The concept led by chef Diego Muñoz opened in April 2022 as a pisco bar and restaurant proposal, where the flavors of the ingredients and the national culture cross the Atlantic to connect (like the oroyas on the rivers) gastronomic Peru with Spain and the rest of Europe.

In charge of the kitchen team is Danitza Alpaca, a young chef from Arequipa who worked in restaurants such as DOM in Sao Paulo, Astrid y Gastón in Lima and Mugaritz in San Sebastián. Recently, she was recognized as the winner of the S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2023 competition for the Iberian Countries region, where she participated representing Spain and also won the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award for her field shrimp dish 2,335 meters above sea level.

On the fourth floor of The Madrid Edition, the Oroya restaurant occupies two rooms: an outdoor terrace full of greenery that is an extension of the colorful indoor dining room. In the cocktail proposal, pisco undoubtedly dominates the options on a varied list that includes much more than pisco sour: there are pisco punch and capitan, as well as chilcano, inka mule, negroni, Andean gimlet and more. To share, the list has many options, but the style of Danitza and her team is recognized for their sea bass and octopus ceviche, but also the beef heart anticuchos, potatoes with ocopa, oysters with pickled chalaca or fried calamari Pucusana style. A cuisine that tastes close, but that fearlessly takes risks with Peruvian combinations and inputs.