Allard, the ‘Ave Fénix’ restaurant in Madrid, or how to come back from scratch after losing the Michelin stars

On November 22, Madrid’s Plaza de España was rediscovered after more than two and a half years of work. Thus a new, friendlier space was born, with fewer cars and the future desire for a greener environment – those planted trees have yet to grow. A month later, one of its most famous neighbors, the restaurant Club Allard, has announced its return on social media.

Of course, with the word “club” falling out of the name and with a message indicating that “Madrid transformed, the new times changed the city and reached AllardA surprising twist for a restaurant that since its opening in 1998, first as an exclusive space for members (hence the name club) and from 2003 as a place open to the general public, has always traveled along the line of the restaurant has. classic cut and with high gastronomic ambition.

It could not be otherwise located in one of the most emblematic buildings of modernism in Madrid, Casa Gallardo, built in 1914. Under the leadership of chef Diego Guerrero, El Club Allard achieved two Michelin stars (2007 and 2011) and this triumphant trajectory even survived the chef’s departure in 2013. At that time, María Marte, his right hand man and who came in to do cleaning work in the restaurant, was playing in one of those fairy tales that the Michelin guide likes so much. He managed to, against all odds, retain the two stars and retain them until she herself decided in 2018 to leave the project. That’s where the ‘affair’ between the red guide and El Club Allard ended.

The man who succeeded María Marte in 2018 is the same one who is now leading the new project: the chef José Carlos Fuentes, one of the big names in Spanish cuisine. A disciple of Carme Ruscalleda, he helped the Sant Pau restaurant in Tokyo achieve two Michelin stars and later succeeded the late Santi Santamaria in the Tierra restaurant in Torrico (Toledo) and earned one star. His stage since landing in Madrid has not been easy: Michelin has decided to take one of the two stars who held it in the year of his arrival from El Club Allard. Fuentes seemed determined to get her back in 2019, but the red guide ignored his efforts and in 2020, when the project apparently went to rest and fled, the pandemic arrived. Fade to black.

life behind the stars

Since its closure in March 2020, nothing was known about El Club Allard until the announcement of its reopening at the end of 2021. Along the way, the Michelin took away the remaining star, a logical decision as the venue It remained closed and without activity. A visit to the new Allard reveals a other restaurant, fresher, less linked to its trajectory. The tables have lost their tablecloths, the walls are colored green … However, there are still some references left.

In addition to José Carlos Fuentes, the room is still in the hands of Álvaro Prieto, who is also now directing. The latter is an important change: Luisa Orlando, who commanded El Club Allard during his heyday, divorced during the pandemic of the project after sharing the relationship – personal and work – she had with Antonio Chávarri, owner of the space, ended. Oddly enough, Orlando is now the director, oddly enough, of Leclab, a space located in the same Casa Gallardo and dedicated to events and exclusive experiences, in which from a ‘burlesque’ workshop to a short-lived Japanese haute cuisine restaurant.

José Carlos Fuentes believes that the new air of the restaurant has to do with the opening to the city and especially to the humanized Plaza de España that can be seen from the room: “You have to take advantage of views as amazing as this.” To sum up the new gastronomic menu, repeat the word “fun” endlessly. Fuentes, a type of person who enjoys himself and who likes his job, seems comfortable in his new role and seeks complicity with customers through the product, the season and good hands. Now the tasting menu is dispensed with and ordered à la cartealthough some ‘Michelin’ tics exist, such as an appetizer pass in which a traditional, yet delicate, pancake shines.

Between 70 and 80 euros

The line of the restaurant apparently follows that of other large Madrid dining rooms, strange to the stars, but with a solvency beyond any doubt, such as La Tasquita de Enfrente or La Buena Vida. Here you come to enjoy at all times the rhythm of what you play with a average ticket between 70 and 80 euros. Black truffle is not spared in the omelette made with Cobardes y Gallinas eggs, which arrive perfectly cooked, ointment and silky.

Fuentes reappears in the room that coincides with the arrival of the peas with quail eggs and strips of squid to explain that they come from Llavaneres, that they are the first of the season and that they are distinguished by sweeter and rounder than springs to be. “During my time in Sant Pol de Mar with Carme Ruscalleda, I remember that we already served peas on the menu for 1 January,” he explains.

Love that El Club Allard menu from winter 2020, the last one before the bolt, his iconic tarbot between salicornias and spinach with reduction of his bones and kikos. “It’s a dish that has accompanied me all my life. I’m very proud of it because it won first prize in the Spanish government’s tarbo recipe competition and I’ve never been without it since.”

Whole or half servings

One of Allard’s great successes is it virtually the whole menu is available in full or half portions, to test as many options as possible. Another is the firm commitment to room service. Miguel Lázaro is in charge of preparing the roasted wild pheasant or the glazed veal shank in front of the customer, accompanied by a very fine mashed potato in which the seasonal truffle reappears.

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Meanwhile, the chef returns to take notes on another of the dishes, the sweet cookies with Beluga caviar, and explains that “they are from Óscar, one of the great experts in waste in Madrid“, or to put the long teeth with some of his latest discoveries:” I found a strawberry grower on his way to Burgos who has excellent raw materials “; soon on Allard’s plates.

Another of these ‘coming soon’ will arrive in the form of a new opening that continues the commitment to break the barrier between the imposing Casa Gallardo and Madrid on foot. “In the coming weeks we will open Petit Allard, a new, more informal concept, based on portions and tapas but with the same quality of restaurant and which will have a terrace on the corner of Plaza de España and Ferraz “, Fuentes argues. Another reason to return to a restaurant that shows that when one star (Michelin) going out, another always finally relieved.