Andalusian-inflected market cooking. Vegetables come from the restaurant's own huerta, grown from seed stock it says is more than 50 years old, watered with potable well water and sourced from Ávila and Tudela, and the tomatoes get a section of the carta to themselves. Around that: pulpo gallego with potato cream and ajada, ensaladilla rusa, pencas de acelga, alcachofas confitadas a la brasa, fried dishes like tortillitas de camarones, and red tuna from the almadraba. Every day the kitchen adds dishes outside the carta depending on what's in season, from setas and caza to potaje and torrijas on the right dates.

Pepa Muñoz was cleaning squid and anchovies in the family business at nine and cooking beside her father, Pepe, at eleven, travelling with him to the caterings he ran across Spain. Self-taught, but a regular at the best food congresses in Spain and abroad, she opened Qüenco de Pepa in 2003 with her partner Mila Nieto. The house motto is dedicación, sencillez y sensibilidad, dedication, simplicity and sensitivity. Today the team runs to 56 people, with Patricia as restaurant director and Marco as head chef. It holds one Sol in the Guía Repsol.

Pepa Muñoz comes from a well-known Madrid restaurant family: her parents ran El Qüenco, famous in its day for Andalusian cooking. She was one of six siblings, all of whom went into the trade, and from about the age of 11 she helped in the kitchen after school; El Qüenco is still open, run by two of her sisters. When she opened her own place in 2003, people assumed it was a branch of the family restaurant, but she was cooking something different: traditional food with more refined sauces and dishes, at a time when everyone else was chasing the avant-garde.

The first years were very hard. She has said that between 2003 and 2007 she and Mila Nieto were ruined and close to closing, but they held on. Today the house runs to about 50 tables for 180 diners, and the kitchen writes around 45 daily suggestions on top of the carta. The dish that never leaves is the rice with gurumelo mushrooms and foie gras, on the menu for more than two decades, alongside spoon dishes like chickpeas with artichoke and pumpkin and pochas in squid ink with carabineros.

Pepa's first concern is controlling where each product comes from, respecting the seasons and dealing directly with the farmer, forager, fisherman and livestock breeder. Around 90% of the carta comes from Spanish producers. Pepa and Mila keep a huerta in the province of Ávila, worked with their grower José, where they plant with their customers in mind: soil, water and good seed, some of it heirloom, with no pesticides and no cold storage. The tomato has become the star of the house and has its own section on the carta. They started by buying from particular growers in Ávila, where Mila is from, and set up their own huerta in 2004; it now runs to 11 greenhouses on some 20 hectares, growing seven or eight tomato varieties plus potatoes, lettuces, cabbage, courgettes and peppers, and giving work in a depopulated part of Spain. Muñoz calls herself half cook, half market gardener, and the kitchen trains its cooks specifically in handling vegetables.

In September 2025 Pepa Muñoz received the Premio Cervantes Gastronómico from the city of Alcalá de Henares. Her other honours include the Medalla de Honor de Madrid in 2022 and the Premio de Cultura of the Comunidad de Madrid in 2023, and in 2024 she was named an ambassador for 'M Producto Certificado', the Comunidad de Madrid's quality seal for local produce. As FACYRE's president during the pandemic she pushed for gastronomy to be included under the regional Department of Tourism and Culture, which opened up public aid to restaurants.

The cooking is Andalusian-leaning market food. Beyond the tomatoes there's pulpo gallego with potato cream and ajada, ensaladilla rusa, pencas de acelga, grilled confit artichokes, fried dishes such as tortillitas de camarones, and almadraba red tuna. Every day the kitchen adds dishes off the carta according to the season, from wild mushrooms and game to potaje and torrijas on the right dates. Group menus are priced at €75, €80 and €120 per person, VAT included.

Pepa keeps a living cellar, with classics in their best vintages alongside good Champagnes and spirits. Sherries and Sanlúcar manzanillas open the list, from Manzanilla La Gitana at €3.50 a glass, and a section pays homage to Veuve Clicquot, from the Brut at €80 to La Grande Dame at €190.

Qüenco de Pepa is open Monday to Saturday for lunch from 13:30 to 16:30 and dinner from 20:30 to 23:30, and is closed on Sunday. Book online, choosing interior or terrace, or call +34 913 451 084. Around the corner, at Calle Padre Damián 46, the Colmao de Pepa shop sells the huerta's tomatoes and produce, conservas, bread baked in the restaurant, cheeses from the Sierra de Madrid and homemade sweets, and takes orders for collection.