The cooking is Japanese haute cuisine with French and Spanish touches, built around freedom for both chef and diner. You can order your own way or leave it to Nagahira's omakase, a tasting menu the kitchen describes as a sensory experience that's never repeated twice.

Ikigai is the gastronomic workshop of chef Yong Wu Nagahira, hidden behind a staircase in the centre of Madrid. Born to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother and raised in Jaén, he cooks Japanese haute cuisine with French, Spanish and personal touches, a mix that mirrors his own story. The idea turns on freedom, for chef and diner alike: order your own way, or leave it to Yong's omakase, which the restaurant describes as a sensory experience that never repeats. Sushi might carry Ibérico pork, a ramen might hide foie, and sashimi might be paired with natural wine. Ikigai holds one Sol in the Guía Repsol.

Ikigai is a Japanese idea usually translated as a reason for being, and Nagahira chose it for his first restaurant, which he opened on Calle Flor Baja in 2018, a few steps from Gran Vía, as a relaxed, informal place where tradition and mixing meet. In May 2022 he opened a second, Ikigai Velázquez, in Chamartín, where he also hosts the Ikigai Sessions, collaborative menus with other chefs and restaurants.

His cooking keeps the strict structure and rigorous technique of Japanese cuisine but works with Spanish produce, ageing and marinating fish to deepen its umami, and changing sauces and stocks with the season. For summer 2025 he refreshed the Flor Baja carta, adding the Hiyashi cold ramen and the Baocata along with new fusion nigiri, such as white prawn al ajillo, red snapper with tiger's milk and sweet potato purée, and squid noodles with Balinese satay, shiso and lime, plus a temaki of chopped toro with yuzu mojo picón.

The carta is split into starters, fusion nigiri, rolls, classic nigiri, sashimi, temaki and desserts. Starters include garlic edamame (€7), beef cheek gyozas with Japanese curry and yuzu (€14 for four), tuna tartare with avocado and kimchi (€22), Nobu-style rock shrimp tempura (€26), a salad of Corujas lettuce with marinated mackerel (€17), a pork katsu sando (€18), the Baocata of chicken karaage in dakgangjeong sauce with tzatziki (€8.50) and Hiyashi, a cold ramen in yuzu and jalapeño aguachile with wok-fried prawns and mussels (€18).

The Menú Korto, at €69, goes straight to the roots of Yong's cooking: snacks such as a wonton with Russian salad and trout roe, crispy rice with olive emulsion and a mock nigiri of sardine in escabeche, then the Corujas and mackerel salad, the Hiyashi ramen and the Baocata, and finally eight fusion nigiri chosen by the chef. The Menú Largo, at €90, adds beef cheek gyozas, ten fusion nigiri, a temaki, a white chocolate mochi with miso toffee and petits fours. Both prices are per person, drinks not included.

From Monday to Wednesday, at lunch and dinner, Ikigai Flor Baja runs an unlimited nigiri menu under Yong's eye for €60 per person, drinks not included. Booking ahead is recommended.

Ikigai is at Calle Flor Baja 5, behind Gran Vía 61. It is open Monday to Saturday from 13:30 to 16:00 and 20:30 to midnight, and on Sunday for lunch only, from 13:30 to 16:00. Book through its site or call +34 916 226 374. Takeaway orders and gift vouchers are also available through the site.