The story
La Tasquita de Enfrente is a small, 16-seat dining room on Calle Ballesta where Juanjo López Bedmar has spent 25 years refining a singular vision of Spanish cuisine. His philosophy is deceptively simple: source the finest raw materials, respect the season, and let technique elevate each ingredient without clutter. The restaurant has earned a Michelin recommendation and two Repsol soles, recognition that reflects the quiet authority of its cooking.
López Bedmar greets guests from a small table by the door, acting as both host and narrator. Beside him, Nacho Trujillo – his partner of over fourteen years – upholds the same commitment to precision, honesty, and the recovery of culinary roots. Together they craft dishes built from three ingredients at most, prepared daily with perfect texture and temperature.
The menu changes with the market. A la carte is available, but the two tasting menus are the clearest expression of the house. The “Menú degustación” (110€) offers nine passes – dishes such as langoustine salpicón from Sanlúcar, Maresme peas with squid, veal fillet meatballs, rock mussel infused with celery, ear terrine with brava sauce, Guetaria broad beans with ibérico veil, “Gaona” tripe, and Jerusalem artichoke cream with truffle. The longer “Experiencia La Tasquita” (150€) adds eleven passes, including carabinero in papillote and hake kokotxas in squid ink sauce.
In 2025, Madrid Fusión awarded La Tasquita the prize for Best Steak Tartar in Spain – a dish that exemplifies the kitchen’s approach: impeccable product, minimal intervention, maximum flavour.
The room is unpretentious, almost clandestine. It belongs to a Madrid that is both grand and rebellious, a place of encounters and the occasional disagreement. López Bedmar calls it “the path of an illusion” – a dream he began with his father and continues with his wife Diana’s support. The result is a restaurant that feels less like a stage and more like a private gathering, where the pursuit of hedonism through food is taken seriously, but never solemnly.
Recognition
Ambience
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