El 22

Where the Sierra and the World Meet on One Menu

Colmenar Viejo sits in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama, about 30 kilometres north of Madrid, and its food culture has historically tracked the terrain: game, stews, slow cooking, and the kind of Castilian directness that treats a cocido or a venison braise as sufficient statement. C. de Salvadiós is a quiet street in that town, and El 22 occupies it with a degree of culinary ambition that reads as genuinely incongruous with its surroundings — not in a strained, trying-too-hard way, but in the manner of a cook who has absorbed influences from well beyond the sierra and sees no reason to leave them at the door.

The physical approach to the restaurant signals none of this. Colmenar Viejo is a market town, not a dining destination, and arriving on foot from the centre, you pass butchers and bakeries shaped by the same Castilian traditions that El 22 will later place into conversation with Korean ferments, Peruvian raw preparations, and South Asian spice logic. That contrast is the premise of the place.

The Sourcing Logic Behind a Seemingly Contradictory Menu

The question that any serious fusion kitchen must answer is where the ingredients come from and whose pantry is actually being raided. At El 22, the answer is layered. The stews and game dishes that anchor the menu draw on the obvious regional supply: the Sierra de Guadarrama and the wider Madrid hinterland produce venison, wild boar, and the pulse crops that go into Castilian legume-heavy cooking. This is sourcing with centuries of local logic behind it.

But tiraditos require quality white fish — ideally the kind of firm, fresh-caught product that Peruvian coastal kitchens take for granted. Kimchi preparation depends on good cabbage fermented with correct timing and the right chilli heat. Curries need whole spices sourced at the right age and dryness. That El 22 achieves dishes described as well-executed across these categories, at a price point marked €€, suggests a procurement discipline that punches beyond what the address might imply. Spain's wholesale networks for imported ingredients have deepened considerably over the past decade, particularly for Asian pantry staples, and kitchens willing to source carefully can now access the building blocks that would once have required a city-centre location to justify stocking.

The Michelin Plate recognition in the 2025 guide is the relevant trust signal here. A Plate is not a Star, but it is a formal declaration from the guide that the kitchen is cooking good food , a meaningful floor in a country where the bar is set by restaurants like DiverXO in Madrid, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, and Arzak in San Sebastián. Spain's three-star tier , which also includes Azurmendi, Cocina Hermanos Torres, Martin Berasategui, Mugaritz, Quique Dacosta, Aponiente, Ricard Camarena, and Atrio in Cáceres , represents a demanding reference class. The Plate acknowledgement places El 22 in the credible tier beneath that, which in a town of Colmenar Viejo's scale is a notable signal about what the kitchen is capable of producing.

Format: Two Menus, One Spine

The format at El 22 runs to two tracks: an executive menu priced at the accessible end of the €€ range, and a tasting menu that presumably extends that ambition further. This dual-menu structure is common in Spanish provincial kitchens that want to serve both lunch regulars and guests making a deliberate journey, and it functions as a kind of self-sorting mechanism. The executive menu makes El 22 usable as a midweek lunch stop for people working or living nearby. The tasting menu offers a different register , a more structured argument for the kitchen's range across Castilian, Peruvian, Korean, and Asian-influenced preparations.

Wine list, described as featuring little-known producers, fits the overall posture of the place. Spain's wine geography extends well beyond Rioja and Ribera del Duero into less-documented appellations , Manchuela, Almansa, Méntrida, and the various small Madrid DO producers whose output rarely travels. A list that leans into that territory reads as coherent with a kitchen that is also working in less-charted culinary space. Guests who know Spanish wine will find discovery material; those who don't should ask rather than default to familiar names.

El 22 in the Wider Context of Spanish Fusion

Spanish fusion has matured considerably since the early days of trying to apply vaguely Asian technique to local product. The current generation of Spanish cooks working outside the avant-garde tier , away from the molecular laboratories of the three-star world , tends to be more confident and less self-conscious about mixing reference points. Restaurants like Ajonegro in Logroño represent a similar sensibility in the Rioja context, and Arkestra in Istanbul demonstrates how this kind of informed cross-cultural sourcing operates in a completely different city context. El 22 belongs to that broader movement: a kitchen that treats Korean kimchi and Peruvian tiradito not as novelty but as parallel traditions worth knowing properly.

What makes the Colmenar Viejo location specifically interesting is the contrast with the city-centre norm. In Madrid, fusion at this quality level would face a competitive field dense enough to require a marketing apparatus. On a side street in a sierra market town, El 22 operates with a lower profile and a more self-contained logic. The 284 Google reviews at a 4.7 average suggest a customer base that is both loyal and evangelical , the kind of word-of-mouth pattern that sustains kitchens working at this level outside the main dining circuits.

Planning a Visit

El 22 is at C. de Salvadiós, 36, in Colmenar Viejo, about 30 kilometres north of central Madrid. The town is accessible by commuter rail on the Cercanías C-4b line, which runs from Chamartín, making a lunch visit from the city practical without a car. Given the 4.7 rating across nearly 300 reviews and the Michelin Plate recognition, booking ahead is the sensible approach, particularly for weekend evenings. The €€ price range makes the executive menu accessible for a midweek lunch, while the tasting menu format suits a longer, more deliberate visit. There is no dress code indicated, and the overall register of the restaurant points toward a relaxed but engaged dining room rather than formal service.

For further context on what Colmenar Viejo offers beyond El 22, see our full Colmenar Viejo restaurants guide, our Colmenar Viejo bars guide, our Colmenar Viejo hotels guide, our Colmenar Viejo wineries guide, and our Colmenar Viejo experiences guide.