Ministry of Foodies Review
Cuisine: Fusion – Japanese
Average price per person: 50€
Environment: 8/10
Food: 9/10
Service: 8.5/10
Other: Gluten-free options, Pet friendly
Website: https://srito.es/srito/
Sr.Ito offers fusion cuisine, marrying Japanese and Spanish elements in various styles and dishes. Apart from Sr.Ito restaurant in Chueca, Sr.Ito group has other spaces in Madrid, such as Sr.Ito Lab and Asiaco.
We visited the Chueca location on a Sunday for lunch.
Location/Environment
The restaurant has two levels for its seating areas. We were seated at the ground level, which had approximately 5-6 tables, and the bar where the staff was preparing the drinks.
It has a calming setting, predominantly with white colors and small tables to fit the space.
Sr.Ito – Menu
The menu includes different sections with appetizers, hot and cold dishes, baos, gyozas, sushi rolls, nigiri, and sashimi.
While the dishes are clearly inspired by Japanese cuisine, there are Spanish cuisine elements across the menu that create an interesting blend of flavors.
The menu does not include the list of allergens, so we had to rely on the staff to explain and indicate which dishes could be adapted.
There are several pages in the menu and you can find a link here.
Service
In general, there was a good pace between the dishes and everything was prepared relatively fast.
We did have an instance where I was just finishing my bite and the waitress came and took my plate to change the plating set for the next course. I found this a bit rushed, as you should wait until your guest is finished before taking anything off the table.
Sr.Ito – Food
We started with some Japotacos, with the taco shell made of rice cracker, filled with salmon tartare, smoked eel, and black garlic paste. Very tasty and slightly spicy.
Next to the bao buns, we opted for one with ox tail and ricotta cheese, one with Korean chicken and kimchi sauce, and my personal favorite, the pork belly with picked kimchi, This was a little spicy and the pork belly was melting in your mouth.
We had the gyozas filled with rabo de torro with egg cream and truffle served in a soy-based sauce. This was a hearty bite and the staff flambeed the cream on top when they were serving it to our table.
The Butifarra (white Catalan sausage) gyozas with Japanese bearnaise on top, had a very nice texture and flavor.
The Sr.Ito rolls with crab, scallop, and spicy sauce were good although there was not any particular heat from the spicy sauce.
The Obama rolls with shrimp, tuna, and cream cheese are originally served with tempura shrimp. We asked for it to be modified as we had one person with gluten intolerance in our group, so it was served with regular shrimp.
The spicy tuna Gunkan was also tasty and the tuna had a flavorful marinade.
Following that, we moved on to nigiri, first the flambeed eel with fois which was my personal favorite due to the rich taste of the eel.
We continued with a smoked sardine and chile cream one, which was ok; however, could have been more interesting in terms of flavor.
Finally the butterfish with black garlic and truffle. This one was also one I particularly liked and had a rich and buttery flavor.
For dessert, we opted for the chocolate brownie with Nutella, dulce de leche, cookies, and green tea ice cream. The ice cream was a nice contrast to the rest of the rich and chocolaty elements.
Lastly, we had their cheesecake with honey and miso. Although I was not excited after the first bite, as I kept eating it, I very much enjoyed it.
Conclusion
I did not have very high expectations coming into Sr. Ito, considering the variety of Japanese restaurants in Madrid. The competition is fierce and there are several with extremely high standards. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised during my visit. There are a lot of interesting dishes and while you might not find all the Japanese-Spanish combinations successful, it is still worth a visit.
Visit: June 2024