Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid Built Its Culinary Program Around Chef Quique Dacosta

The Ritz in Madrid has occupied its place at the top of Spanish hospitality since César Ritz opened it in 1910, and its 2021 relaunch as Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid gave the historic building a genuinely comprehensive second life. The $100 million restoration, led by architect Rafael de La-Hoz Castanys, restored the hotel's original glass dome, while Gilles & Boissier redesigned its 153 rooms and suites, 53 of them suites, without erasing the building's early-20th-century character.

The culinary program was handed to Quique Dacosta, one of Spain's most decorated chefs, whose own restaurant holds three Michelin stars. Dacosta oversees all five of the hotel's restaurants and bars, an unusually broad mandate that let him shape the property's entire food and beverage identity in one sweep rather than handing off individual venues to separate teams.

What makes the address distinctive today is how completely the hotel's history and Dacosta's contemporary Spanish cooking sit side by side. The restored dome and Belle Époque public rooms remain, but the kitchen driving the hotel's five venues is unmistakably of the moment, giving one of Madrid's oldest luxury addresses a culinary reputation to match its architectural one.

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