Restaurant in Madrid, Spain
La Mancha game cuisine done right in Salamanca.
Santerra is Madrid's most focused address for La Mancha's game-driven cooking, earning a Michelin star and a top-500 OAD ranking at a €€€ price point that undercuts the city's theatrical tasting-menu rooms. Book two to four weeks out for the semi-basement dining room; the bar upstairs takes walk-ins for croquettes and raciones without a reservation.
Getting a table at Santerra takes planning. With a Michelin star, a spot at #479 on the 2025 Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Europe list, and a Google rating of 4.4 across more than 1,700 reviews, this is one of Madrid's most reservation-intensive rooms at the €€€ price point. Book at least two to three weeks out for a weekend lunch sitting, and longer for Friday or Saturday dinner. The effort is worth it — there is no better address in the Spanish capital for La Mancha's game-forward, scrubland-rooted cooking done at this level of technique.
Santerra sits on Calle del General Pardiñas in the Salamanca district, Madrid's most composed and well-heeled neighbourhood. Chef Miguel Carretero built his reputation around what he calls cocina de monte bajo — literally, scrubland cooking , a style that takes the seasonal, unglamorous ingredients of La Mancha's countryside and treats them with the rigor of a serious kitchen. The result is a menu in which game anchors the plate: roast loin of venison, duck royale, pigeon soup, and escabeches that have become something of a Carretero signature. This is not fusion or provocation; it is a focused regional argument made with genuine craft.
The room operates on two levels. Upstairs at the bar, you can order tapas and raciones , the Iberian ham croquettes are cited by Opinionated About Dining as essential , without a reservation, which matters if you arrive in Madrid on short notice. Downstairs, a semi-basement dining room is where the full experience takes shape: media ración-style à la carte lets you build a personalised meal across multiple smaller plates, while two tasting menus, Monte Bajo and Veda Abierta, give the kitchen more room to sequence and contrast. For a special occasion, the tasting menu format in the lower room is the right call. For a lighter, more flexible evening, the bar upstairs delivers real quality without the full commitment.
The flavour profile here leans earthy, mineral, and autumnal even when the season is not. Game fat, cured meat, and the acid cut of a well-made escabeche are the dominant registers. If you are coming from a diet of seafood-forward Spanish cooking or the avant-garde register of Madrid's more theatrical rooms, Santerra will read as grounded and deliberate. That is precisely the point, and it is why the restaurant has earned consistent recognition , OAD listed it among Europe's leading new restaurants in 2023, ranked it at #524 in 2024, and moved it up to #479 in 2025.
Santerra is closed on Mondays. Tuesday through Saturday service runs at 1 PM for lunch (last booking 3:30 PM) and at 8 PM for dinner (last booking 10:30 PM). Sunday is lunch only, closing at 3:30 PM, with no evening service. This makes Sunday lunch the single most relaxed slot in the week , kitchen pressure is lower, the room tends to be less rushed, and it suits a longer, unhurried meal. For a date or celebration dinner, Thursday evening offers a good balance: the room is busy enough to feel alive but without the peak-weekend crush that can compress service on Fridays and Saturdays.
On the late-night question: Santerra's dinner service closes at 10:30 PM for last bookings, which places it firmly within Madrid's early-to-mid dinner window rather than the city's genuinely late dining tier. If your evening runs past midnight and you need kitchen food, this is not the address. What Santerra offers in the dinner hours it does keep is a controlled, technically serious experience , not a long-session drinking-and-eating room. Pair dinner here with a pre-dinner drink in Salamanca, then let the meal carry the evening through to 11 PM or so, and the timing works naturally. For what comes after, Madrid's bar scene in the surrounding streets handles the rest.
Price sits at €€€, which in the Madrid context means you are spending meaningfully less per head than the city's €€€€ tasting-menu rooms , [DiverXO](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/diverxo-madrid-restaurant), [Coque](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/coque-madrid-restaurant), [Deessa](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/deessa-madrid-restaurant) , while receiving a Michelin-starred experience with a clear regional identity. For a special occasion where the food is the main event and theatrical production is not required, that is a strong value position.
Santerra is the right choice for a date or celebration dinner where you want food that genuinely rewards attention, a neighbourhood setting that feels polished without being corporate, and a bill that does not require a separate conversation. It is also a serious option for solo diners who want to eat at the bar and work through the croquettes and a couple of raciones without booking in advance. Groups of four or more planning a tasting menu in the dining room should book the furthest out , that configuration fills the fastest.
Madrid's broader restaurant scene offers plenty of context. For cooking with a similar regional focus but a different geographic argument, [DSTAgE](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/dstage-madrid-restaurant) and [ConSentido](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/consentido-madrid-restaurant) are worth knowing. Further afield in Spain, the La Mancha and Castilian tradition connects to a lineage that includes addresses like [La Botica de Matapozuelos](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/la-botica-de-matapozuelos-matapozuelos-restaurant), while the wider Spanish Michelin map runs through [Arzak](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/arzak-san-sebastin-restaurant) in San Sebastián, [Azurmendi](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/azurmendi-larrabetzu-restaurant) in Larrabetzu, [El Celler de Can Roca](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/el-celler-de-can-roca-girona-restaurant) in Girona, [Cocina Hermanos Torres](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/cocina-hermanos-torres-barcelona-restaurant) in Barcelona, [Martin Berasategui](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/martin-berasategui-lasarte-oria-restaurant) in Lasarte-Oria, [Aponiente](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/aponiente-el-puerto-de-santa-mara-restaurant) in El Puerto de Santa María, and internationally at addresses like [Le Bernardin](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/le-bernardin) in New York. For everything Madrid, see our [full Madrid restaurants guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/madrid), [hotels guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/hotels/madrid), [bars guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/bars/madrid), [wineries guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/wineries/madrid), and [experiences guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/experiences/madrid).
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santerra | Modern Spanish, Contemporary | €€€ | Hard |
| DiverXO | Progressive - Asian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Coque | Spanish, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Deessa | Modern Spanish, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Paco Roncero | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Smoked Room | Progressive Asador, Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Lunch is the stronger choice for most visitors. The 1 PM sitting on weekdays and Saturday runs through 3:30 PM, giving you time to work through the à la carte or a tasting menu without feeling rushed. Sunday lunch is the only service on that day, so it also functions as the default option if you're visiting on the weekend. Dinner is the pick if you want a slower, more formal pace in the semi-basement dining room.
Santerra divides neatly into two formats: bar-side tapas and raciones, and the more structured dining room downstairs. First-timers who want the full Michelin-star experience should head to the dining room and consider the Monte Bajo or Veda Abierta tasting menus, which showcase Chef Miguel Carretero's La Mancha-driven, game-heavy cooking. If you just want to eat well without committing to a full menu, the media ración à la carte at the bar is a practical and lower-commitment entry point.
The kitchen's identity is built around game and seasonal La Mancha produce, so the menu skews heavily meat-forward. Pescatarian or vegetarian diners will find the format less accommodating than at a broader contemporary Spanish restaurant. It's worth contacting Santerra directly before booking if you have significant dietary restrictions, as tasting menus with strong conceptual throughlines are harder to adapt than à la carte formats.
Yes, particularly if you sit at the bar. The tapas and raciones format there suits solo diners well, and the Iberian ham croquettes alone justify a visit. Solo diners who want the full dining room experience will find it manageable given the focused, tasting-menu format, though Santerra's atmosphere in the semi-basement room skews toward couples and small groups.
Book at least two to three weeks out for weekday lunch. Weekend lunch and Friday or Saturday dinner at a Michelin-starred, OAD #479-ranked restaurant in Madrid's Salamanca district fill faster, so aim for three to four weeks minimum for those slots. Santerra is closed on Mondays, which removes one option from the week and concentrates demand across Tuesday through Sunday.
The Iberian ham croquettes are explicitly flagged as essential by Opinionated About Dining, and the escabeches are where Chef Miguel Carretero's La Mancha cooking is most distinctively expressed. The awards record also highlights roast loin of venison, duck royale, and pigeon soup as signature dishes. For the clearest picture of what Santerra does, the Monte Bajo or Veda Abierta tasting menus are the most direct route through the kitchen's full range.
Santerra sits in the Salamanca district, Madrid's most composed residential and dining neighbourhood, and holds a Michelin star. The dining room in the semi-basement reads as a formal dinner setting. Neat, put-together clothing fits the room without requiring black-tie formality. Bar-side visits for tapas allow a more relaxed standard, but the Salamanca postcode sets a generally polished tone across the board.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
