• VELÁZQUEZ.In this trattoria in the Salamanca district, classic cuisine reigns, with traditional dishes, very authentic and very well done

Velázquez Street has a curiosity that this chronicler has never found outside of Italy, nor in the United States, nor in Great Britain, nor in China, nor in Singapore, nor in Argentina, nor in Korea ...

Two Italian restaurants

,

fierce competitors in an upscale neighborhood

, situated next door.

Come on, you can go wrong if you go to the Ornella and enter the Numa Pompilio.

Well, it's unlikely because the latter - from the famous group of the Ten with Ten and company - has a facade as opulent as its interior, and the

Ornella

- from

the Pulcinella group

- is much more discreet.

And this is the one that we have approached, to verify that the frame is more attractive than it seems from the outside, and above all

if the kitchen is worth it.

The answer: yes

.

Ornella is like a return to those restaurants with

super-classic Italian cuisine

, that of the

traditional trattorie

, without any hint of Venetian, Emilian or Sardinian regionalism.

They are the Italian dishes of a lifetime

... but very authentic, very well done,

knowing what they have to know

.

Well, we will forgive you that the other day, at noon, you had run out of

linguine

: how can you finish the

linguine

at noon?

The fact is that they replaced them with spaghetti with pesto, and the important thing, which is the pesto,

was irreproachable

, pure basil, and the pasta was properly

al dente

.

So the reproach is minor.

We had started with two

antipasti

as classic as they were irreproachable: a

sirloin

carpaccio

with Parmesan and Modena vinegar, and a

vitello tonnato

as they like in Turin

, with the very tender veal and

the vigorous tuna sauce, just right

.

Popular cuisine, known around the world forever, but well resolved and with good ingredients.

The other main dish was also pasta, but without a doubt more

original and ambitious

: thick

paccheri

, just right

al dente

, with a

luxurious accompaniment

of fresh half lobster with which they went very well.

All this with

an unusual white wine in these parts

, but intense and concentrated enough for a meal with powerful flavors such as the

Fossa Mala Grave di Friuli 2018

, a wine from the northeast made with the grape that was called Friulian tocai until the Hungarians they complained bitterly, and that today is simply called Friulian.

Tasty and vigorous more than delicate.

Within this ultra-classic style, which took us back to the

trattorie

of the 80s, the

panna cotta

of the dessert could not fail, and

did not fail

, like the

ristretto

coffee

and the glass of

grappa

brandy

raised in oak.

A return to old favorites.

Friendly and attractive so many bad points marry, and are understood worse, with the most negative Ornella: A

service

sloppy

, painfully slow, full of errors and that clearly is in

need of a director -

at room did not see any ,

by that imposes efficiency and professionalism.

Truly unexpected and difficult to explain.

More information about Ornella

  • Velazquez, 18

    • 91 138 53 01

  • Opening hours: Does not close

    • Official Website: https://www.ornellamadrid.com/

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Madrid

See links of interest

  • News

  • Translator

  • Programming

  • Films

  • 2021 calendar

  • 2020 calendar

  • Topics

  • Coronavirus Spain today news last minute

  • Cordoba - Albacete

  • Quintanar del Rey - Sporting de Gijón

  • L'Hospitalet - Almeria

  • San Fernando CD - Castellón

  • Barcelona - Real Sociedad, live