The five star boutique hotel The Principal Madrid is the sister hotel of the city’s equally luxurious Hotel Unico Madrid.
Recently opened earlier this year, it boasts a central location on Madrid’s famous Gran Via and some of the city’s best views from its roof top terrace and 6th floor restaurant, Ático. Headed up by renowned chef Ramón Freixa, who has already earnt himself two Michelin stars at Hotel Unico, Ático offers an á la carte menu with a modern take on Spanish classics, and after hearing about Freixa’s success at Hotel Unico Madrid, StyleNest couldn’t wait to try it.
We arrived early to enjoy a drink on the terrace first, a fantastic addition to not only the hotel but also the restaurant for a pre or post dinner drink. We timed our arrival perfectly, just in time to see the sun setting over Madrid’s Gran Via and the famous and beautiful Rolex building, and with a cold glass of Spanish wine in hand. The bar menu had a small but choice selection of drinks and cocktails, as well as a selection of delicious sounding appetisers from Ático which definitely worked up a hunger for our evening meal.
We headed down to the restaurant, one floor below the terrace, but we didn’t need to give up our wonderful views, the large glass window in Atico still offered a great shot of Gran Via’s beautiful Spanish architecture. Our waiter seated us at our table and helped us choose a wine before ordering, and was on hand throughout the night to attend to our every need. The menu was full of simple Spanish classics, but with a modern, Ramón Freixa twist. It was a fantastic way to try some of the city’s local food, and also a taste of what things must be like over at Freixa’s eponymous restaurant at Hotel Unico Madrid with its impressive 2 Michelin stars. We started with a Spanish classic, croquetas with baby squid in black ink sauce, and took a risk with the baby potatoes stuffed with turrón, a Spanish style toffee nougat, and blue cheese. The waiter assured us this unusual sounding combination was delicious, and reminding ourselves that Freixa does have those two Michelin stars, we trusted that he knew what he was doing. And of course Freixa, and our waiter, were right. The combination was surprisingly good, and the croquetas were some of the best we had tasted in Madrid. For our mains we ordered Butifarra, a typical Spanish pork sausage seasoned with black pepper and spice, accompanied by baby squid and a pinch of chickpeas, and a seeded Chicken breast supreme accompanied by, as the menu described it in its translation, many fries. And many fries there were, with plenty to share between us and generous portions all round, so nothing extra needed to be ordered.
We still had room for dessert of course, and we were spoilt for choice with the perfect sounding menu, plenty of chocolate, our favourite fruits, and home-made ice creams. We decided to share the tri-coloured triple chocolate, as dessert isn’t dessert without chocolate, and the passion mango tartlet to add some fruitiness. The tri-coloured triple chocolate was a dome shaped three layered chocolate mousse which was both creamy and intensely chocolately, and the passion mango tartlet was the right amount of tartness and sweetness on a crunchy, crispy and buttery base. Ático had promised ‘scrumptious’ desserts on their website and they hadn’t disappointed, the only problem was they were so good we wanted to try more! Settling instead for more of the equally delicious wine we headed back up to the terrace to enjoy another drink now the sun had set to enjoy the sight of Madrid by night. And being open an incredible 24 hours a day not only for hotel guests but also walk-ins, means you can satisfy any cravings for those amazing desserts at an hour of the day.
www.theprincipalmadridhotel.com
The Principal Madrid is a member of Design Hotels™