Asturian, cooked traditionally and led by the ingredient. The verdinas with partridge and the morels stuffed with foie are house classics, joined by the group's hallmark of quality, authenticity and simplicity.

El Paraguas opened on Calle Jorge Juan in 2004, and its name became the name of a family: it was the first restaurant of Grupo Paraguas, which went on to open Ten con Ten (2011), Ultramarinos Quintín (2015), Amazónico and The Jungle Jazz Club (2016), Numa Pompilio (2017), Aarde and Origen (2019), and later projects in London and Dubai. The group describes all its restaurants as fine dining: excellent cooking, high standards of service and distinctive rooms in exceptional locations. El Paraguas, the original, holds two Repsol Soles.

The house motto is the sophistication of simplicity: an honest, traditional kitchen built on quality and authenticity, in a room that has seen deals closed, engagements made and every kind of celebration.

The cooking is Asturian at heart. Verdinas with pheasant and morels stuffed with foie gras and truffle have become Madrid classics, alongside fabada asturiana, fabes with clams or spider crab, verdinas with lobster, and a cachopo Pelayo with piquillo pepper, credited to Oviedo in 1950. Sea urchin appears gratinated, in croquettes and with hake, and there is rice with pitu de caleya, the Asturian free-range chicken.

The rest of the carta runs from spider-crab salpicón, Beluga caviar with blinis and steak tartare finished at the table to pixín (monkfish) Asturian-style, hake in cider, hake kokotxas, roast suckling pig, oxtail meatballs and roast fillet with black truffle. Prices include VAT, with a 10% supplement on the terrace.

The current carta also runs to sea-urchin croquettes and fabada croquettes, morels with foie gras and truffle, asparagus stuffed with spider crab, carabinero rolls, a spider-crab lasagne with sea-urchin 'caviar', rice with lobster, a fish stew with sea urchins, prawns and clams, pig's trotters with morels and truffle, and hake baked with spider crab.

The wine list is one of the room's strengths, a 44-page book. It opens with wines by the glass, including a full run of sherries from manzanilla and fino to amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado, then works through Champagne and cava, Spanish whites region by region, from Rueda and Rías Baixas to Valdeorras, Ribeira Sacra, Priorat and a Vino de la Tierra de Asturias in keeping with the kitchen, and international whites from the Rhône (Hermitage, Condrieu), Bordeaux, Tokaj and Germany's Nahe, before the reds, a 'great wines' section and sweet wines.

There are separate cocktail and dessert cartas. Desserts, such as the Paraguas rice pudding, cheesecake and Queen of Sheba cake, each come with a suggested sweet-wine pairing.

El Paraguas is open every day from 12:30 to 02:00, and the kitchen stays open all day. Book through the reservations page on the website, by phone on 91 431 59 50, through the call centre on 670 71 26 56, or by email. Reservations are only for lunch and dinner; for drinks, just turn up. At peak times there may be a short wait for your table. There are private dining rooms and a terrace on Jorge Juan.