Restaurant in Madrid, Spain
Honest Madrid cooking at neighbourhood prices.
A Michelin Plate holder for two consecutive years (2024–2025) at mid-range €€ pricing, Nantes in Arganzuela delivers seasonal, market-driven traditional cooking with a 4.6 Google rating from over 1,300 reviews. Book for the daily menu first; the à la carte vegetable section rewards a return visit. Booking difficulty is rated Easy.
At the €€ price tier, Nantes in Arganzuela delivers the kind of seasonal, traditional cooking that Michelin's inspectors awarded a Plate in both 2024 and 2025 — meaning the quality clears their bar for good food, without the three-figure tasting menus attached to Madrid's top-end addresses. If your benchmark is whether the money makes sense, the answer here is yes, particularly for the daily menu, which sits separately from the à la carte and typically represents the sharper deal of the two.
The room itself tells you what you are getting before the food arrives. An urban feel, a kitchen visible from the dining room, and a name drawn from a family story about a Nantes variety of carrot that the chef's grandfather grew and hauled to the old Legazpi market nearby. That context matters practically: this is a restaurant anchored in its neighbourhood and in seasonal produce, not one performing for tourists. The open kitchen is the main visual anchor of the space, and it signals a kitchen that is comfortable being watched , always a reasonable confidence indicator.
If you are returning rather than visiting for the first time, the multi-visit structure here makes sense because the format rewards it. The daily menu changes with the season, so what you ate in autumn will not be what appears in winter or spring. That alone is reason to return , the menu is not a fixed document you have already read.
On a first visit, the daily menu is the obvious starting point. It gives you the widest read on what the kitchen is doing right now, and at €€ pricing it is lower-stakes than committing to the full à la carte. On a second visit, move into the à la carte proper. The vegetable section in particular has drawn specific attention from Michelin's write-up: the chickpea stew with cuttlefish and pig's trotters is called out by name as a standout, and it is the one dish the available record singles out for specific praise. Order it if it is on.
By a third visit, you have enough baseline to use the seasonal shifts as your guide. A restaurant that names itself after a variety of carrot and sources from market traditions will rotate what it emphasises as the year moves. Spring and summer are likely to push the vegetable section harder; autumn and winter will lean into the heavier preparations. The current season is your signal for where to focus.
Nantes holds a Google rating of 4.6 from 1,325 reviews , a volume that gives that score credibility. At that sample size, a 4.6 is not an outlier driven by a handful of enthusiastic regulars; it reflects consistent delivery over a sustained period. The Michelin Plate in consecutive years (2024 and 2025) adds an independent cross-check: the inspectors are returning and finding the same standard. For a €€ neighbourhood restaurant in Madrid, that combination of volume rating and external recognition is a strong signal.
If you are calibrating Nantes against Spain's celebrated dining scene more broadly, it sits well below the tier of [Quique Dacosta in Dénia](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/quique-dacosta-dnia-restaurant), [El Celler de Can Roca in Girona](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/el-celler-de-can-roca-girona-restaurant), [Arzak in San Sebastián](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/arzak-san-sebastin-restaurant), [Azurmendi in Larrabetzu](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/azurmendi-larrabetzu-restaurant), [Martin Berasategui in Lasarte - Oria](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/martin-berasategui-lasarte-oria-restaurant), or [Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/cocina-hermanos-torres-barcelona-restaurant) in ambition and price. But it is not competing with those rooms. It is competing with other honest, mid-range Madrid restaurants , and in that field, the Plate and 4.6 rating put it ahead of most.
For other Traditional Cuisine points of comparison at a similar level, see [Cave à Vin & à Manger - Maison Saint-Crescent in Narbonne](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/cave-vin-manger-maison-saint-crescent-narbonne-restaurant) and [Coto de Quevedo Evolución in Torre de Juan Abad](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/coto-de-quevedo-evolucin-torre-de-juan-abad-restaurant), both working in a similar traditional register at comparable price points.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy. Reservations: book ahead, but this is not a room that requires weeks of planning , a few days' notice is likely sufficient for most sittings, given the neighbourhood positioning and mid-range pricing. Budget: €€, making it one of the more accessible Michelin-recognised options in Madrid. Address: C. del Maestro Arbós, 15, Arganzuela, 28045 Madrid. Dress: no formal requirement flagged; smart casual is appropriate for a room with an urban neighbourhood feel. Hours and phone: not available in current data , confirm directly before visiting. The lack of a published website means calling or walking past to check current hours is the most reliable approach.
Arganzuela is not the obvious tourist corridor, which works in your favour on booking difficulty. Restaurants in this district tend to fill with locals rather than passing visitors, and that dynamic generally keeps availability less compressed than comparable-quality rooms in Chueca or Malasaña.
If Nantes is full or you want a comparable neighbourhood-anchored alternative in Madrid, [Alcotán](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/alcotn-madrid-restaurant), [Amparito Roca](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/amparito-roca-madrid-restaurant), [Ayantar](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/ayantar-madrid-restaurant), [Bambú](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/bamb-madrid-restaurant), and [Casa de Comidas](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/casa-de-comidas-madrid-restaurant) are worth considering. For a wider read on where to eat, stay, drink, and explore across the city, see [our full Madrid restaurants guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/madrid), [our full Madrid hotels guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/hotels/madrid), [our full Madrid bars guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/bars/madrid), [our full Madrid wineries guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/wineries/madrid), and [our full Madrid experiences guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/experiences/madrid).
Yes. A kitchen-facing room with an open kitchen is well-suited to solo diners , you have something to watch, and the neighbourhood restaurant format is less awkward for a table of one than a tasting-menu counter with a formal procession of courses. The €€ price tier also keeps the bill manageable for a solo visit. The daily menu is the right order for a solo diner: it keeps choice simple and value high.
No phone or website is currently listed in available data, which makes pre-visit dietary communication harder than it should be. For any specific restrictions, try reaching out directly before you go , either by phone if you can source the number locally, or by visiting in person during off-peak hours to speak with the team. Traditional cuisine kitchens vary considerably in flexibility; do not assume accommodation without confirming.
At €€, yes , clearly. Two consecutive Michelin Plates and a 4.6 from over 1,300 Google reviews at mid-range pricing is a strong value proposition for Madrid. You are not getting a tasting menu or a theatre of technique, but you are getting seasonal, competent, market-driven traditional cooking at a price that does not require a special occasion to justify.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy, so a few days' notice should be sufficient in most cases. That said, the Michelin recognition generates awareness beyond the immediate neighbourhood, so Friday and Saturday evenings may compress more than weekday slots. If you are visiting on a specific date, booking a week out is safe rather than leaving it to the day before.
Nantes runs a daily menu that is separate from the à la carte, rather than a formal tasting menu. The Michelin write-up singles out the daily menu as a showcase for the kitchen's seasonal approach, and at €€ pricing it is where the value is concentrated. The à la carte allows you to target specific dishes , particularly in the vegetable section , but the daily menu is the better starting point on a first or second visit.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nantes | This simple restaurant with an urban feel and a kitchen overlooking the dining room takes its name from the affection that the chef’s grandfather had for the Nantes variety of carrot that he used to grow in his vegetable garden, then transport in his vehicle to the city’s erstwhile Legazpi market. Here, traditional, seasonal cooking is to the fore, which is unpretentious yet delicious and impressively prepared. This is showcased on a good daily menu that is separate from the à la carte. In the vegetable section of the latter we particularly enjoyed the chickpea stew with cuttlefish and pig’s trotters.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | €€ | — |
| DiverXO | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| DSTAgE | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Smoked Room | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Paco Roncero | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Coque | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how Nantes measures up.
Yes. A kitchen counter overlooking the dining room gives solo diners something to watch, and the daily menu format means you are not committed to a long tasting format. At €€, there is no financial penalty for coming alone. It is a comfortable option for a single diner who wants a proper meal rather than a snack.
The menu leans into traditional, seasonal Spanish cooking — chickpea stew, cuttlefish, pig's trotters — so committed vegetarians or pescatarians should check directly before booking. The vegetable section of the à la carte is specifically highlighted by Michelin inspectors, which suggests some flexibility, but confirmation ahead of your visit is advisable given the traditional format.
At €€, yes — straightforwardly. Two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025) at a mid-range price point is the value case in a sentence. For the same Michelin recognition at higher price tiers, you are looking at DSTAgE or Smoked Room; Nantes gives you inspector-recognised cooking without that outlay.
A few days' notice is likely sufficient — booking difficulty is rated Easy, so this is not a room that requires weeks of planning. That said, the daily menu and neighbourhood following mean popular midweek slots can fill. Booking three to four days out is a sensible baseline.
Nantes runs a daily menu separate from the à la carte rather than a formal tasting menu. The daily menu is the better entry point on a first visit; the à la carte, particularly the vegetable section, is where inspectors found the more distinctive cooking. If you want a structured multi-course tasting format, Smoked Room or DSTAgE are the Madrid options built around that experience.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
