When Saddle opened, Madrid could only express joy. For the iconic space that had housed Jockey for more than half a century, it reopened its doors with a project that promised to be more than up to the task. Seven years after the closure of one of the capital’s most emblematic culinary temples, Saddle took up the baton with an updated traditional cuisine and an exceptional dining-room service that quickly placed it among Madrid’s best restaurants, a title it has continued to honor with every service seven years later.
The Saddle dining room is like its kitchen: a genuine commitment to silent luxury (before the concept became fashionable). Here there is no need for artifices or strict protocols to prove it; on the contrary, a regal simplicity governs everything, from the delicate linens and palace-worthy dinnerware to dishes where the intervention is as delicate as the excellent raw material. Under the natural light gifted by magnificent windows and its glass roof, the creations that Pablo Laya, Saddle’s executive chef, has been executing for a year, parade.
At Saddle, the work is carried out à la carte. And while the season is key, there are some dishes that have not missed since they opened: the Mont Royal squab, the Garrucha red shrimp, the grilled Meunière-style sole, their beef shank (a tribute to Santi Santamaría), or a skewered hake that is now served with lemon pil-pil, piparra broth and beans. And, of course, the Jockey tripe, which remains on the menu in homage.
Like Jockey, Saddle is one of those places where classic recipes and nouvelle cuisine are exalted, giving it the exact touch of modernity. There are no lacking impeccable table choreographies, such as the live carving of the aforementioned beef shank, a genuine spectacle; but the formality loosens with the option to order some half-portions of its enticing starters. A nod to the past, another to the present. One of cal, another of sand.
