The cooking is Asturian-rooted and traditional in register, the kind of food Ron described as cooking without surnames: plain, stripped of anything that isn't essential, and chasing clean, well-defined flavour. The carta covers fabada, callos, patatas a la importancia with clams, Luarca blue-lobster salpicón, Asturian cheeses and a sirloin cachopo alongside hake Galician-style and braised veal cheeks, and most dishes come as a full or half portion. The restaurant adds a daily menu and a tasting menu, and the cellar holds more than 240 references.

Paco Ron was born in Madrid in 1958, into a family with no connection to restaurants. He came to cooking through rugby: he played hooker for CAU Madrid and started work at Pinocho, the pizzeria run by his coach Emilio Cilleros. He was a kitchen porter at Dómine Cabra, cooked at the Armenian restaurant Ararad, and then worked through some of Spain's most important kitchens, among them Arzak, Martín Berasategui, El Celler de Can Roca, Atrio and, above all, El Cenador de Salvador.

In Viavélez, a village of under a hundred people, he found his own voice, updating the Asturian recipe book without cutting its roots. Dishes like red mullet with a pâté of its livers and olives, patatas a la importancia with clams, bonito with chocolate and hare à la royale became his signatures. After the Asturian restaurant closed he spent time at Pepe Rodríguez's El Bohío before opening in Madrid. The Academia Madrileña de Gastronomía gave him its lifetime achievement award in 2023. He had been away from the stoves for about three years because of illness when he died in July 2026.

The building works on two levels. The Taberna de Viavélez is on the upper floor, with a long bar to eat at and four tables; it serves cazuelitas, raciones and skewers at any hour, pours 15 to 20 wines by the glass and can open any bottle in the cellar. To reach the restaurant you cross the taberna and go down a flight of stairs, into a small room for 25 to 30. Both floors now share the same carta, and the restaurant also offers the tasting menus.

The daily menu changes every day. In the restaurant it's €35 for an aperitif, three half portions and dessert, drinks extra, and the taberna has a shorter weekday version that includes a glass of house wine or a beer and coffee. The tasting menu is €70 for an aperitif, five half portions, cheeses and dessert.

Bread and aperitif is €3.90. To pick at there's Ibérico ham, a board of Asturian cheeses (€20.50, or €12.30 for a half), ham and prawn croquettes (€16.95), cod fritters, salt-cured anchovies, a Russian salad (€12.75) and cochinita pibil tacos by the piece. The spoon dishes are the heart of it: callos (€23), fabada (€22), patatas a la importancia with clams (€23.95) and a cream of porrusalda.

From the sea come a Luarca blue-lobster salpicón (€39.75), octopus Galician-style or as a salpicón, and stuffed baby squid with squid meatballs; fish means hake Galician-style or Roman-style, fried anchovies with tomato and a fish of the day, such as red mullet, snapper or dentex. Meat runs from steak tartare (€25) and braised veal cheeks with potato purée to marinated Ibérico presa, a sirloin cachopo (€28.75) and a griddled entrecôte (€31.50). Desserts, all under €9, include apple tart, a caramelised torrija with milk ice cream, Payoyo cheese ice cream and rice pudding.

The cellar holds more than 240 Spanish and international references. The sparkling list runs from Agustí Torelló cava and an Asturian brut-nature cider from Emiliano Martínez to grower Champagne from Egly-Ouriet, Jérôme Prévost, André Clouet and Michel Gonet. Whites take in Rías Baixas from Do Ferreiro, Raúl Pérez and Pazo da Sinsela, Valdeorras from Rafael Palacios, the Canaries' Suertes del Marqués and a Burgundy page from Louis Jadot and Antoine Jobard; reds lean on Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra, Méntrida from Daniel Landi and Priorat from Cims de Porrera.

Viavélez also runs a series of winemaker dinners, Cenas con Bodeguero, with a menu built around one producer's wines; recent editions have featured Tinto Pesquera, Bodegas Juan Gil and, in May 2026, Álvaro Palacios's wines from Rioja.

Viavélez is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to midnight and on Sunday from 12:00 to 17:00; it's closed on Monday. The daily menu is served at lunch, 13:30 to 15:30. Book online through its site or call +34 915 79 95 39. There's a terrace, and the room downstairs suits business lunches and private celebrations.