Spain is certainly a raising star in the culinary World, with more 3 Michelin stars than Italy and with chefs like Eneko Atxa stealing headlines around the World for their innovative approach to traditional Spanish cuisine.
One of such chefs to attain stardom fame is Dani Garcia, whose many ventures resemble the likes of Gordon Ramsey or Alain Ducasse - albeit on a smaller scale.
His probably most ambitious project to date is Smoked Room, a restaurant-inside-a restaurant within the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Madrid.
This project is housed inside Lena - an upscale steakhouse - and while the entrance is the same the space is entirely separated, having to go underground to find an intimate dining room - omakase style - composed by a dining table and a counter.
The exciting part of the counter seating arrangement is that you face the open kitchen and fire - just like you would in a traditional Japanese restaurant. As the name suggest, Japanese influences are heavy here, and all dishes have one element in common: smoke.
That's right, everything here is flavored with smoke, which makes this fine dining establishment quite unique. However, while service was good and the meal creative, some of the dishes sacrified substance to appease the eye, which was a bit regrettable.
Take the restaurant (and Dani Garcia's) signature Nitro tomato with smoked eel. Great artistry, but to me it had odd consistency and flavor profile. Nice to look at; less so to savor. Also, there was no tomato in the dish - so why bother with the gimmick?

Other dishes were much better and definitely worth the hype. The shrimp from Motril with noisette butter and smoked pepper, for instance, was as fresh as it was delicious.
Anyways, this was the full menu for the dinner. There would be plenty of food!
I will say we started very strongly, as the butter and brioche bread were fantastic. The butter was very flavorful, and the brioche super decadent.
Some dishes, while good, I thought tried too hard to embed Japanese flavors and influences, like the smoked hamachi.
Then you had some more exotic dishes like the sea cucumber with green shiso pesto and Iberian ham cream that hit the spot - albeit they left you a bit confused on what was the chef really trying to achieve here.
The last three dishes before dessert were all very enjoyable. They were smoked hare anolini - gamey, intense in flavor; smoked risotto and black truffle - excellent; and duck with carrots, sake-infused crepe Suzette and yuzu berigade sauce.
Desserts were also excellent, especially the smoked chocolate.
Other dishes were good, creative, but missed the mark in my opinion due to their jamboree of flavors. The Mackerel with dashi tomato was an example, and the sea urchin dish too.
The wine list had a decent selection by the glass, and I only had a couple glasses since I was by myself. The sommelier was very knowledgeable and indulged me with two complimentary glasses as he thought they would complement my dishes perfectly. I did appreaciate that!
Dinner last about 3 hours, and there was definitely a lot of food. Service was attentive throughout, and the waiting staff did an excellent job in describing each dish and the rational behind them.
Conclusion
So, how was my dinner at Smoke? Certianly memorable. The ambiance, concept, and service were top notch, and this definitely makes for a perfect date spot.
Food-wise, creativity was the keyword here; but while creativity at places like Azurmendi deliver a stunning, complex, yet coherent experience, I feel that the excessive focus on Spanish ingredients with Japanese flavors missed the mark somewhat. Am I glad I tried it? Absolutely! Would I go back? Personally, probably not.
More about F&B on my website https://wine-travels.com/