The Room
El Invernadero opened on Calle Ponzano in Ríos Rosas in 2015. Chef Rodrigo de la Calle — who coined the term 'gastrobotánica' to describe his approach — built the restaurant as a greenhouse-styled dining room with five small tables seating four diners each plus a 10-seat chef's table. The Michelin Star and Green Star both arrived in 2021 and have been retained.
The dining room is dressed in the vegetable-kingdom register the cuisine implies: pale wood, hanging plants, an open-view kitchen behind the bar counter, indirect daylight. Service is small-team and floor-warm. The booking window is four to six weeks for weekend evenings.
The Food
The kitchen runs four tasting menus: Vegetalia (vegan/vegetarian), Vegetalia Experience (with pairings), Gastrobotánica (vegetable-led with seafood and meat additions) and Gastrobotánica Experience (the full upper-register version). Signature courses pull from de la Calle's research at the El Bulli foundation and his small-farm partnerships across Spain — fermented vegetables, foraged herbs, plant-only consommés that taste of stock.
Wine programme leans Spanish-natural with serious depth. The pairing menus are the right way in for a first visit.
Best Occasion Fit
First Date: El Invernadero's small dining room is the Madrid first-date for the diner who wants the night to register as Spanish-haute-vegetable. The progression is the conversation; the chef's interaction is the third hour.
Solo Dining: The chef's table at El Invernadero is one of Madrid's better solo dining seats — direct view of the open kitchen, the chef working in front of the diner.
Impress Clients: International visitors recognise the Michelin-Star-plus-Green-Star designation. The vegetable-tasting format frames Spain at its most contemporary expression.