The Crown Melon, grown in Fukuroi, Chiho Murata's hometown, is one of the world's most prestigious melons, and Pilar Akaneya was the first restaurant outside Japan to serve it. The sumibiyaki tasting menus run through several cuts of premium wagyū, from Ito Ranch Matsusaka A5 to Kobe, grilled at the table, and close with a slice of that melon.

Chiho Murata and Ignasi Elías opened the first Akaneya in Barcelona in 2011, and nine years later poured everything they had learned into a new sumibiyaki, Pilar Akaneya, on Calle Espronceda in Chamberí, the first sumibiyaki in Madrid. By its own account, it became the first restaurant outside Japan to serve the Crown Melon, from Fukuroi, Murata's hometown, and one of the first three in Spain to serve Kobe beef. In 2023 Hiroki Ito came to Madrid in person to present his Ito Ranch Matsusaka beef, and the restaurant holds Ito Ranch's EU licence No. 03. It is recommended in the Michelin Guide and won a Repsol Sol in 2024 and 2025. The group also runs Carlota Akaneya in Barcelona and Marie Akaneya in Paris. OAD placed it 651st in its Europe Top Restaurants list for 2025.

Pepe Fernández was born in Algeciras in 1987 and grew up on his grandmother's stews and the taste of meat charred over wood and stuffed in bread. He started washing dishes in Tarifa, learned service at the Hotel Alborán, went to London at 23, and came home aiming for fine dining in Madrid. After the Aranda school he worked at the two-Michelin-star El Club Allard, where José Carlos Fuentes introduced him to Japanese cooking, then at Étimo. When Murata asked him to run Pilar Akaneya, he trained in Barcelona and created the Sansekai menu with her.

Sumibiyaki means cooking over charcoal: here, Kishu binchōtan from Wakayama on house-made grills at every table. There are three tasting menus, each for a minimum of two and priced per person. Menú Akaneya (€89) runs through five cuts of Japanese wagyū and Kobe beef, with dishes such as duck broth with udon, Kobe gyoza, a wagyū rump hotpot and Kobe A5 nigiri. Menú Matsusaka (€129) brings six cuts of Matsusaka A5 and a portion of Crown Melon, and Menú Matsusaka-Ito Ranch (€195) six cuts of Ito Ranch Matsusaka A5, including BMS 12 fillet, with a whole Crown Melon for two.

There are no vegetarian, vegan or fish options, but menus can be adapted for coeliacs, diabetics and allergies if you say so when booking; because dishes are shared, the adaptation applies to both diners.

The top menu, as published in March 2026, opens with duck broth with udon and a Matsusaka-Ito Ranch A5 gyoza, then a hotpot of the rump, six cuts of the day grilled at the table and a nigiri of the fillet, and finishes with a yuzu mousse, a Crown Melon kakigōri and half a Crown Melon each.

Murata designed the room with studio C97 in the style of classic Kyoto: rice-paper lamps and house-made barbecue tables across two small adjoining rooms, in wood, iron, clay and ash. A dedicated extraction and air-supply system, plus air purification, keeps the air moving, so the room stays calm rather than smoky.

Pilar Akaneya is closed on Monday and Tuesday; dinner runs Wednesday to Sunday from 19:30 to 22:30, with lunch on Saturday and Sunday from 13:30 to 17:00. There are 11 tables and no private room, and bookings take four to six people at most. Tables booked before 20:15 are the first sitting and have two hours, and tables are held for 15 minutes; if you are running late, call +34 91 330 76 99.