The Middle, one of Madrid's best-kept secrets

To give a concrete example, consider what happened at the 9th World Tripe Championship, sponsored by Asturian chef Pedro Martino and organized by Vocento Gastronomía as part of the first international bread congress, PanFest, held in Zamora. There, the excellent tripe of chef Alberto González, owner of the Madrid restaurant El del Medio, deservedly triumphed.

More than one or two experts (including this writer, who takes this opportunity to offer a mea culpa) were somewhat dumbfounded because not only had we never been to this restaurant, but we didn't even know it existed. And yet, it will be celebrating its ninth anniversary on August 3rd, a milestone few restaurants in the capital can achieve!

There was no other option but to try to rectify such a blunder, so we headed to the pedestrian alley in Chamartín where the project created and directed by Alberto González and Silvia Rato is hidden. Silvia Rato is a co-owner and pastry chef, and her mother is responsible for the name of the place, because, as soon as she saw it, she stated that it was "the one in the middle of the alley."

The space is small and pleasant, but without any decorative flourishes, with an unmistakable Parisian bistro feel. In fact, as we'll see, El del Medio fits perfectly within the bistro style popularized at the beginning of the century in the City of Lights by chefs like Yves Camdeborde and Iñaki Azpitarte, who opted to sacrifice ambiance, and even comfort, in order to enhance the quality of the dishes without the bills skyrocketing.

The dining room seats two dozen people at lunchtime, spread across half a dozen tables and a bar, while dinner service takes place on a small terrace for the same number of diners, who move inside in case of inclement weather. The clientele is quite diverse, and it's clear that many customers are regulars and loyal patrons, which explains the daily full houses and the restaurant's longevity.

The menu features around twenty dishes, designed for sharing (the portions are generous), some of which change seasonally while others have remained unchanged since the beginning. Among the latter are the two snacks that have become the restaurant's signature: El del Medio bites and turbot saam with kimchi and lime.

The first consists of a puffed bread filled with ricotta and oriental mayonnaise (it contains kimchi), a fried quail egg, a veil of melted Iberian pancetta, chopped chives, and Espelette pepper powder. At first glance, it seems like an excess of ingredients, but on the palate, it's a symphony that touches every flavor and engages every taste bud, including a very pleasant, slightly spicy aftertaste. What a start!

The saam features strips of turbot coated in panko breadcrumbs, with kimchi mayonnaise (different from the previous one), cilantro, lime zest, and shichimi togarashi. One might wonder why turbot, if it's fresh, needs so many accompaniments. Well, the accompaniments not only don't mask the fish, but they enhance and elevate it.

The Russian salad couldn't be more classic: mashed potatoes (in the Mediterranean style), carrots, tuna, chopped olives, egg, and homemade mayonnaise. Elegant, smooth, and balanced. Followed by clóchinas (rock mussels) in Albariño wine with garlic and a touch of spice, it forms a diptych worthy of the most traditional Madrid appetizers… even though González is Catalan, from Sitges (he even played in Barça's youth teams, but traded the ball for the kitchen: he trained at the Hoffman school and then worked in London and Les Crayères de Reims before settling in Madrid).

We move on to more substantial dishes, such as the surprising fried eggs with cod tripe and ham stew, a comforting surf and turf reminiscent of traditional migas. Another excellent surf and turf is the terrine of pig's trotters with sautéed langoustines, served on a light vegetable broth and sautéed in butter with leek and shiitake mushrooms. The langoustines don't quite shine in flavor as much as we'd like, but in return, the interplay of textures is genuinely delightful.

In case it wasn't already clear that, in this house, concessions are kept to a minimum, don't go away yet, there's more, as Mighty Mouse would say, because the grand finale is still to come. "It's a very simple dish, but my favorite," González remarks about the Perol de Cal Rovira sausage with mustard and pickles. Pure indulgence at its finest and an unrepentant guilty pleasure, it's very, very reminiscent, in texture and flavor, of a French country pâté. More bistronomic? Impossible.

Another of the house classics is the pigeon cooked two ways with carrots (available whole or half). The breast is roasted for 10 minutes at 65 degrees Celsius, and the legs for 3 hours at 80 degrees Celsius. They are served on a bed of their own carcasses with ras el hanout and carrots prepared two ways (stewed and crispy). The cooking is impeccable and the pigeon is very juicy, although the slightly sweet taste imparted by the carrots is a bit overpowering, and the crispy topping adds very little.

It's time to try Silvia's desserts… wait a minute: didn't we come to El del Medio because it won the World Championship for Tripe? We should at least have a small bowl to confirm that yes, we are indeed dealing with some of the best tripe in Madrid, bordering on outstanding, and if it doesn't quite reach that level, it's only because it lacks that touch of spice that some of us cry out for, to no avail, in the wilderness. With pig's trotters and snout, which provide the essential dose of collagen, chorizo ​​from León, and Asturian cured meats, González cooks it slowly for twelve hours, after two or three blanchings. And then it's time to dip bread in it.

Now, let's move on to Silvia's dessert, who specialized in pastry at Le Cordon Bleu. The touch of acidity and freshness in a refined lemon tart is the perfect ending to the journey through the Mediterranean pantry, with a few stops in Asia, that González has taken us on, supported by a friendly, highly skilled, and dedicated service, and accompanied by a wine list that, while not extensive, is very sensible and well-chosen, and above all, reasonably priced.

Having said all this, we can only thank the organizers and the jury of the IX World Tripe Championship for forcing us to discover a restaurant we had never been to before, but which we will definitely return to.