Sergi Arola

Catalonian essence

Sergi Arola

Sergi Arola Gastro is a small restaurant on a quite street in Madrid, so what is so special about this restaurant? It was one of the trendiest restaurants in the Spanish capital not so long ago and also holder of 2 Michelin stars. I opted for the lunch menu and I was really surprised that instead of downgrading all the ingredients like most restaurants, you actually can pick any dishes from its ALC menu at a cost of 50 Euro and I must say that it is amazing value.

G&T and canapes

amuse bouche

bread backet

My starter of veal sweetbread with roast potato and false scramble of perrechicos was fun and  the quail eggs surprisingly worked really well with the mild spiced sweetbread, it was rich but not challenging on the palate. I also managed to try the King prawn in "essence", a baby king prawn tartare with vegan oyster and garlic ginger, the natural sweetness of the prawn really shone with a light and refreshing hint of spices coming through from the ginger.

anchovy 'A la espalda' style, cider vinaigrette, apple

veal sweetbread, roast potato, false perrechicos

raw baby king prawn, vegan oyster and garlic ginger

false black rice, red mullet, sea cucumber, sea snails, seaweed

The false black rice dish was simply top notch, the rice was actually pasta cooked in squid ink and the flavour and the texture was heavenly, the sweet red mullet and sea snail combined with the pasta wonderfully. The smooth and refined taste is not something I've ever encountered before, it was by far the best plate of pasta I've eaten in my entire life.

suckling lamb cheek, orange, pumpkin and carrot

quail hamburger, potato and home make ketchup

strawberries and cream with wasabi ice cream

'vulcano', cocoa cupola, orange coulis, pepper truffles
and vanilla fume

My lunch at Sergi Arola turned out to be much better than I had expected, the cooking was without a doubt at a solid two Michelin stars level and I really enjoyed the unusual approach of Catalonian cuisine in such a fun and unique way. For 50 Euro for a 3 course lunch at such a high level standard, I was really over the moon about it. And the service was excellent, they all had tremendous knowledge of the menu, never missing a beat in attending our needs, I would love to return to try out its tasting menu in the future as I am sure it would be something very special. 

Food 4.5/5

Executive chef: 
Sergi Arola

What I paid: 
£75 per head with 2 glass of wine

Average cost without drinks and services:
£37 lunch menu
£78 tasting menu


Calle de Zurbano, 31, 28010 Madrid, Spain

http://www.sergiarola.es/