Chef Rubén Iborra, known for his Japanese tavern in Tetuán, has exchanged the urban bustle for silence among pine trees. He has done so to create Ruge, the first Mountain Club in Madrid, a unique gastronomic space located in an old mountain refuge, less than an hour from the center of the capital.
Ruge is not only a restaurant. It is also a cocktail bar, a chill-out terrace and a viewpoint overlooking the Jarosa reservoir. But, above all, it is a cuisine with family roots, haute cuisine techniques and a staging that carries the word disconnection by flag.
Precision grills
Ruge’s raison d’être lies in its rice dishes. Iborra considers them an emotional inheritance: the Iberian ribs with tender garlic and chickpeas is a recipe of his grandmother from Murcia. But there is also room for technique: the water is mineralized to compensate for the hardness of the mountains, and he works with sun-dried Tartana rice, ideal for achieving that sought-after loose point. This technique, as the chef himself explained in an interview with Gentleman of El Periódico, responds to the need to adapt the Madrid water, with low mineral content, to obtain the perfect rice.
The menu features traditional dishes such as Valencian paella, Murcian caldero or fideuá with foie, with Nikkei creations of Japanese and Peruvian inspiration. All cooked with absolute respect for the product: matured fish, selected Discarlux cuts, vegetables of proximity, embers calibrated to the millimeter.
The environment as a key ingredient
Located in what used to be the El Cordobés shelter, Ruge breathes sustainability and family. Iborra lives in Guadarrama, and the idea came up during a walk through the area with his wife, Jennifer Ini (CEO of the project). This is how the chef tells it in an interview published in Metrópoli of El Mundo, where the chef explains how they discovered the place during family walks and decided to bet on a project rooted in the environment. They bought the two-hectare farm and designed a space that respects the environment: limited capacity, solar energy, no generators.
The result is a place to eat outdoors under the trees, enjoy a cocktail at sunset in front of the reservoir or spend a leisurely after-dinner drink in the chill-out area.
More than a restaurant: a statement of intentions
Rubén Iborra has worked in kitchens all over the world and alongside chefs such as Massimo Bottura and Mauro Colagreco. But Ruge is, in his words, “the project of my life”. After the closure of Chirashi, he has opted for a more personal model, more sustainable and more connected to its history.