DiverXO

Review Highlights

Alexander returns to DiverXO for his second visit, two years after his first. Tucked inside the NH Eurobuilding hotel in Madrid's Chamartín district, the location feels at odds with the restaurant's three-Michelin-star status — but once inside, the creative, eclectic interior and buzzing energy immediately set the tone. Chef Dabiz Muñoz himself stops by the table with a promise: "Today is going to be more creative this time." There is only one menu — the Flying Pigs Cuisine, priced at €450 for around 18 courses — and Alexander wastes no time ordering the top-tier €900 wine pairing, the same one that blew him away on his last visit. The stage is set to see whether the kitchen can top an already legendary first impression.

• ·Blue duck nugget in tempura, dripping in Jamaican jerky sauce with pickled chilies, black truffle, and Pyrenean crispy with calamondin — "Probably this is my new favorite restaurant. I know you hear it from me all the time, but wow. Just wow." At this point, barely three courses in, Alexander is already sold.
• ·Shark fin soup illusion — a deeply rich broth made from Galician shark (meato), poured over Cantonese-style dongo pork belly and grilled chistorra from Arbizu, served alongside a puffed spring roll filled with roavia stew and vegetables fermented in black bean paste. Paired with a legendary 1995 Massandra Barbato. "Mind-blowing. Lots of umami, beautiful rich flavors, and damn, this type of crunchiness is just coming through. Oh my god."
• ·Butter masala lobster ragu with silky buffalo milk cream and warm cardamom, flanked by tandoori bacon rings and Galician clams with lamb reduction and numpre pow. Paired with Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva 1996. "We're not eating Spanish dishes here. We're traveling Singapore, Japan, Peru, India."
• ·Rooster broth with noodles — Muñoz's take on chicken soup, built on a rooster from a small village in Galicia instead of chicken, delivering a deep, beautiful smokiness. Paired with Château d'Yquem 1986, one of the greatest sweet wines in the world. "Mind-blowing flavors."
• ·Asturias y Yucatán — a stingray wing chop from Asturias topped with situated parmesan, finished with melipona honey, chili morita, mole, and semi-dried tomato. "This dish defies logic. I want to say something clever, but the only thing that popped into my mind is, 'Oh my god.'"
• ·Paella nigiri — langoustine paella transformed into sushi with a sharp kick of pickled wasabi and a light palo cortado wine foam. Followed by hand rolls: one with rabbit brain, yuzu kosho, vinegar, and marinated sardines; another with rabbit meat crowned with caviar. "Royalty at its finest."
• ·Agus Minino — the chef's father's favorite snack and a deeply personal tribute dish: suckling pig pork belly with black trumpet pesto, homemade Sriracha, basil, cured goose, and cold cut from the pig. When Dabiz was a child, his father made this for him; when his father grew old, Dabiz made it for his father in return. Paired with the legendary Vega Sicilia Único 1991.
• ·Desserts — mango sticky rice with Thai Alphonso mango marinated in mango and chili, paired with Vespino Tonales Moscatel aged 18 years in Asian solera barrels that pours like syrup; followed by camel milk with Buddha's hand, miso, galangal, and toasted caramel chocolate, paired with an almost 60-year-old Porto.

This wasn't just a dinner — it was a full-blown culinary knockout. Alexander places it in his "top five OMG moments ever," an even stronger reaction than his first visit two years ago. He is candid about the flaws: the hotel location doesn't fit the calibre of the restaurant, the interior is starting to show its age, and serving water from a urinal-shaped vessel isn't funny to him. But none of it matters. "The bar was already set high and yet they keep raising it. There is no reference point because every dish is built from different parts of the world — different cultures, different ideas — all brought together into something that somehow works perfectly." The total — €450 for the menu plus €900 for the wine pairing — makes this one of the most expensive meals on the channel, but Alexander leaves no doubt it was worth it.

About

DiverXO is the three-Michelin-star flagship of Dabiz Muñoz — the three-time winner of the World's Best Chef award — located inside the NH Eurobuilding hotel in Madrid's Chamartín district. It serves a single tasting menu called 'The Kitchen of the Flying Pigs,' a maximalist, genre-defying journey of 15–25 courses that fuses Spanish ingredients with the flavours of Japan, Peru, India, Thailand, and beyond under the motto 'Vanguardia o morir' (avant-garde or die). Muñoz earned his third star at just 33, making him the second-youngest chef ever to reach that milestone, and DiverXO has since become one of the most polarizing and talked-about fine dining destinations in the world.