The boquerones en vinagre get only a brief marinade, boneless but with the loins left intact. Salmonete frito, fried red mullet, gets cut into sections for more precise cooking. Red prawns from Roses come boiled, steamed or grilled, and a classic flan de huevo closes the meal.

Estimar is the project of Anna Gotanegra and chef Rafa Zafra: knowledge of the sea and the hand of the kitchen at one table. Gotanegra is the fifth generation of a family that has worked the sea since 1895, and learned the trade at the fish market with her grandmother, mother and father, Pere Gotanegra, before she ever ran a dining room; she didn't inherit a restaurant, she built one. Zafra, from Seville, spent formative years with Ferran and Albert Adrià at elBulli and directed Hacienda Benazuza. Ferran Adrià has called Estimar the marisquería of the 21st century.

After the original in Barcelona's Born, opened in 2016, the pair brought Estimar to Madrid in September 2019, on Calle del Marqués de Cubas, a few steps from the Neptune fountain. It took its first Repsol Sol just three months later, closed through the first months of the pandemic and reopened in July 2020. In Madrid it was named Restaurante del Año at the 2021 Premios Metrópoli, has been recommended in the Michelin Guide since 2021, and has held two Repsol Soles since 2022.

Sánchez Guisado Arquitectos designed the Madrid room to echo Barcelona: stone on the façade, floors and walls, the red-brick arches that define Estimar, iron for an industrial edge against warm wood, and an open kitchen built into the dining room so diners feel part of the service. Fish and shellfish for the day sit on ice at the counter. There is a private room for ten, useful for business meals given the location near Congress.

Most of the catch comes through Pescadors de Roses, linking the kitchen to Cap de Creus, with fish and shellfish from Galicia and from Huelva and Cádiz, always respecting closed seasons. Everything is cooked fresh daily, with no storage chambers on site, and the cooking method follows the product: minimal handling and precise technique.

The queen of the house is the red prawn from Roses, boiled, steamed or grilled, alongside Andalusian-style battered baby squid with ink mayonnaise, roast langoustine and razor clams in escabeche. Fried fish carries more weight in Madrid than in Barcelona, a nod to Zafra's Andalusian roots: boquerones get only a brief marinade before frying, and red mullet is cut into sections to cook it more precisely. A classic egg flan closes the meal.

Other dishes that have defined the Madrid kitchen include a fried egg with white prawn and caviar, grilled toast topped with caviar, skate in Sanlúcar-style adobo with roasted-garlic alioli, lemon-marinated fried anchovies, and whole fish, grilled or roasted in the oven. The room seats about 45, plus the private room.

Estimar Madrid is open Tuesday to Saturday, 13:30 to 15:30 and 20:30 to 22:30, and is closed on Sunday and Monday. Book through the TheFork widget on the restaurant's site, by phone on 914 29 20 52, or by email at reservas@restaurantestimar.com. Gift cards are valid in both Madrid and Barcelona.