Pablo Roncal
Head chef at El Brote, a mushroom-only restaurant in Madrid's Embajadores neighbourhood, cooking alongside the two foragers who founded it.
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Pablo Roncal is the head chef at El Brote, a seven-table market-cuisine restaurant in Madrid's Embajadores neighbourhood, which he joined in 2011 when it was a small tavern in Chamartín run by lifelong mushroom foragers Eduardo Antón and Álvaro de la Torre. The kitchen is built entirely around whatever wild mushrooms Antón brings in each day. El Brote holds a Michelin Selected listing.
Biography
Early years
Roncal has said mushroom foraging was part of his life since childhood, with memories of walking the forest looking for mushrooms with family and friends.
Career
Roncal joined El Brote in 2011, when it was a small tavern in the Chamartín area run by Eduardo Antón and Álvaro de la Torre, lifelong mushroom foragers who used to sell their finds to other Madrid restaurants. Feeling the product wasn't being valued the way it deserved, the pair had opened their own place, and Roncal came on as head chef. The team later moved El Brote to its current space on Calle de la Ruda near Plaza de Cascorro, a seven-table restaurant where mushrooms are effectively the only thing on the menu (aside from a seasonal tomato with salt and oil).
Philosophy
The kitchen at El Brote is built entirely around what Antón brings in that day: there is no fixed menu, and the offering can run to a dozen varieties in a good week of foraging or narrow to three or four in a lean one. Roncal is a veteran cook known for his skill working with mushrooms.
Restaurants
Pablo Roncal in our guides
Editorial guides featuring Pablo Roncal’s restaurants.
Frequently asked
Who is the chef at El Brote in Madrid?
Pablo Roncal, a veteran cook who has run the kitchen since 2011 alongside the restaurant's founders, mushroom foragers Eduardo Antón and Álvaro de la Torre.
What is El Brote known for?
It's a small, seven-table restaurant in Embajadores built almost entirely around wild mushrooms: the menu changes daily depending on what Antón forages.
Where is El Brote located?
Calle de la Ruda, 14, near Plaza de Cascorro in Madrid's Embajadores neighbourhood.
Does El Brote have a fixed menu?
No. Aside from a seasonal tomato dish, mushrooms are effectively the only thing on the menu, and the selection changes daily depending on what co-founder Eduardo Antón forages that day.
When did Pablo Roncal join El Brote?
In 2011, when the restaurant was a small tavern in Madrid's Chamartín area, before it moved to its current Embajadores location.
Does El Brote have Michelin recognition?
It holds a Michelin Selected listing, though it doesn't hold a Michelin star.