Best Restaurant 2024
Club de Gourmets magazine, Spain’s longest-running gastronomic publication, has announced the winners of the 13th Club de Gourmets Awards, which recognise the best in the sector based on readers’ votes. In 2024, we have been named Restaurant of the Year 2024, an accolade we receive after seven years in business.
37th edición del Salón Gourmets,a showcase for global gastronomic trends, took place from 22 to 25 April 2024 at IFEMA, where, as every year, competitions, championships, award ceremonies, tastings, cooking demonstrations and a host of other activities centred on the world of wine and gastronomy were held. Since 1976, Grupo Gourmets, through its publications, has served as a link between the gastronomic world and its audience. Thus, this publication annually asks its readers to rate the most prominent professionals in the gastronomic and wine sectors, as well as establishments and media outlets, amongst other categories.
The winners of this year´s 13º Gourmets Awards were:
• Best restaurant: Ambivium, Peñafiel, Valladolid
• Best chef: Adolfo Santos, Saddle, Madrid
• Best head waiter: Alfonso Rodríguez, Urrechu, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid
• Best sommelier: Lucía Fuentes, Alquímico, Almería
• Best delicatessen: La Vinoteca Mayor 22, Barco de Ávila, Ávila
• Best hotel: Hotel María Cristina, San Sebastián • Best media: La Picaeta podcast • Best organisation and institution: DO Ribeiro
• Best book: CCR. El Celler de Can Roca. Montagud Editores • Best product: Almaoliva Arbequino, Almazaras de la Subbética
• Special recognition: José María Ruiz Benito, founder and owner of the restaurant José María (Segovia) and Bodega Pago de Carraovejas
• In memoriam: Benjamín Urdiain, Zalacaín, Madrid; Xavier Gramona, Gramona; Javier Oyarbide, Príncipe de Viana, Madrid.
It is an honour and a pleasure for the whole team to be included in this year’s list of winners, as it means that our commitment to offering a unique wine experience has resonated with the readers of Gourmets. We thus remain committed to our goal of becoming a leading gastronomic destination in the region, a mission we have pursued since our inception in 2017 as Alma Carraovejas`s gastronomic venture in Peñafiel.
The project was conceived with the aim of creating a new concept that bridges the gap between cuisine and wine, between tradition and innovation. Today, we boast a unique wine cellar and a tasting menu featuring distinctive pairings. These form the basis of a menu offering authentic cuisine, named ‘Cellarium’, which pays homage to the classical Latin term used to describe the cellar or the place where wine and food were stored. Now in its third season, the restaurant has evolved and consolidated concepts and techniques based on preservation methods such as dehydration, maturation and fermentation. Seasonal and locally sourced produce take centre stage on this menu, which is closely linked to techniques inherited from our ancestors and to more innovative, contemporary methods developed by our R&D department.
We are a team passionate about this unique concept, which offers a journey through the world of wine, beginning in the cellar, continuing through our pairing laboratory and kitchen, and, of course, our distinctive dining room, which houses a glassware collection featuring over fifty different styles from the most prestigious brands. This is just one of the many special touches we have in store for you.
Thank you very much for this new accolade as the best restaurant of 2024!
