Mario Valles

Executive Chef Mario Valles leads Casa Hortensia in Madrid, bringing a quietly assured culinary voice to a city that rewards precision, restraint and a sense of place. The Colombian chef arrived with experience from El Patio de Claudio, also in the city, and now stands behind a kitchen that has earned an Opinionated About Dining Classical recommendation. It is the kind of recognition that suggests a restaurant speaking in a well-judged register: polished, composed and attentive to the pleasure of the table. Valles’s path reads as one of deliberate movement rather than flash. Colombian by nationality, he has moved through Madrid’s dining landscape with the calm of a chef who understands that a restaurant’s identity is built as much through discipline as imagination. At Casa Hortensia, that balance is central to the story: a place shaped not by excess, but by clarity of purpose, where the kitchen’s ambition is expressed through care and control. The setting at Hotel Único Madrid — where the dining room is located — frames that ambition elegantly. Valles has described the brief as an invitation to create a bistro-style space, one where guests would eat well and where he would have the freedom to design the menu. That freedom, in his telling, is not a blank canvas so much as a responsibility: the opportunity to translate an idea into something coherent, inviting and memorable. The result is a restaurant that feels intent on being both relaxed and exacting, a combination that suits a chef who values the process as much as the final plate. His own words underline that sense of thoughtful construction. “I worked on the project, together with my partner Silvia de Germán, carefully.” It is a phrase that carries the rhythm of a kitchen built methodically, with attention paid to the smallest decisions before anything reaches a guest’s table. In a world where openings are often announced with haste and noise, Valles’s emphasis lands differently: measured, collaborative and patient. At Casa Hortensia, that patience is part of the appeal. The restaurant’s Classical recommendation from Opinionated About Dining places it within a certain conversation about standards and style, while Valles’s background at El Patio de Claudio adds another Madrid chapter to his professional arc. Together, these details sketch a chef whose work is rooted in continuity — a steady progression, a practiced hand, and a commitment to making a dining room feel both welcoming and distinct.