Say what you want but upon hearing the words “a mushroom restaurant” I would not exactly jump up with joy and excitement. Nonetheless, my curiosity got the better of me and I made a reservation at El Brote and I have no regrets: mushrooms won me over!

El Brote, calle de la Ruda, 14, 28005

El Brote is a very peculiar restaurant solely serving dishes that celebrate a variety of seasonal mushrooms. It is a very small affair, consisting of three people (two at the front, one in the back) and the entirety of five tables. They have two seatings at 20:00 and 22:00 and you do have to book, walk-ins are hardly possible.

El Brote calls themselves a mushroom and wine restaurant but their selection by the glass was truly abysmal – there was one red and two whites to pick from. I had a glass of their house red Torrederos wine (€3.20) made from 100% Tempranillo and aged for 6 months. It was quite smooth but I would not call this a great wine. Matas had a glass of Pardas Rupestris (€3.40) made from Xarel-lo and Malvasia and I cannot say that it was much better than mine. They had quite a decent selection by the bottle though but that was not a commitment we wanted to make that night.

We were suggested to order three dishes to share and that was great because that was exactly what I wanted to do. The first dish to come was Colmenilla (€20) and it consisted of morel mushrooms, watercress, homemade pickles, sesame and mashed corn dressing with a soft boiled egg on top. I love morel mushrooms but I have had so little opportunities to eat them that I had to have it here once I saw it was on the menu. And it was absolutely delightful!

This was a complex dish full of salty and tangy flavours. Morel was very soft and chewy yet not gummy, having absorbed a lot of that dressing it was juicy and tender with every bite. The different flavours just worked so well and a soft boiled egg added another layer with its creaminess. This was my favourite dish of the night. Top notch food.

We finally found a place that serves sourdough bread in Madrid! I really liked the tangy and chewy middle but the crust was rather hard and dry-ish. It worked well to sop up all the juicy goodness from the bottoms of the plates but a few corner pieces were useless.

Next to come was Oreja de Judas (€18) that consisted of wood ear mushrooms, asparagus, snow peas, nectarine and an in-house smoked croaker. I was curious what type of mushroom oreja de Judas was (the English translation on the menu was “Judas’s ear”) and I was actually slightly disappointed when it turned out to be wood ear mushroom which I am basically used to be eating weekly in Singapore. Had I known I honestly would have ordered something different, like chanterelles or summer truffle.

This dish turned out to be a little underwhelming. It lacked something and I cannot put my finger on what exactly, it needed maybe just a little bit more oomph that was not solely based on acidity and umami. In theory, this dish was quite complex – the sweetness from the fruit, the acidity from the sauce, umami from the smoked fish and yet it did not come around the full circle for us. The best part of the dish was actually asparagus – they we soft and mushy and soaked in all of that acidic juice they were full of flavour.

For our second round of drinks I stuck with the house red while Matas ordered the only other white available by the glass. 3 Miradas (€3.20) proved to be quite an interesting choice too, it was a dry white made from Pedro Ximénez grapes in Sierra de Montilla, aged under a fine flor! It had a lot of that sherry characteristic but was incredibly light and elegant. Very interesting wine!

Trompeta de los muertes (€20) came with black trumpet mushrooms, homemade seitan, green beans, baby potatoes with a mint and plum sauce on the side. Right of the bat, that seitan thing was weird as heck. I truly had no idea what it was made of (only now I googled what it is) and Matas and I agreed during dinner that it reminded us of a type of Lithuanian bread – plikyta duona (scalded bread) – that is rather dense and sour-ish. Well, we were not that far off, apparently, because seitan is made from wheat gluten! Anyway, apart from seitan, this dish was very nice. The black trumpet mushrooms had a bit of a fibrous texture with a lot of the surface area for the sauce to adhere. I really liked the sweet and tangy plum sauce and with an added freshness from mint this was a very lovely dish.

The dinner finished with a few cherries and these do require a full post or at least a long paragraph of adoration because the cherries in Spain are so good. I do not think I have ever had better cherries anywhere in my life. They are so plump and sweet and juicy! So meaty and snappy. They burst with unadulterated flavour so much so that it feels SINFUL to eat them. Oh dear oh dear oh dear, these cherries are truly divine.

This dithyramb over, I can safely say that El Brote receives my utmost seal of approval. I want to bring friends and family, have a bottle of 3 Miradas and enjoy all this rustic, cozy and quiet place has to offer.