Zuara Sushi

Rice, temperature, and the counter

The rice arrives warm to the hand, the fish held cool enough to keep its line. David Arauz, chef-owner of Zuara Sushi in Madrid, works from that narrow band of control, where sushi depends less on flourish than on timing, pressure, and restraint. His path into this room runs through sushi-bar work at 99 Sushi Bar in Barcelona, then into the chef-owner station at Zuara, where the decisions are close to the guest and close to the product. The Madrid restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2023 and a Repsol Sun in 2023, both attached to this address and to the consistency Arauz has built here. The room suits that scale of work. A U-shaped bar seats 12, putting the pass within reach of the hands shaping each piece, while a private table for 7 sits apart from the counter’s rhythm. Arauz’s discipline is sushi first: rice, fish temperature, acidity, richness, and balance held in sequence rather than spread into display.

An omakase built by narrowing the field

Zuara runs on omakase, with menus named Zuara and Shibui, and the structure moves through technique and flavor before it settles into sushi. The product list is not decorative. Tuna, caviar, pámpano, chicharro, calamar, vieira, quisquilla, sardina, and flamed toro each ask for a different handling at the counter; toro sashimi, Anguila Kamado, pargo, and ventresca atún sellado extend the same logic without leaving the house language. Arauz uses Koshihikari rice imported directly from Japan, a choice that places the grain at the center of the method rather than behind the fish. His signature range keeps that frame tight: hamachi with citrusy ponzu, bluefin toro nigiri, and spicy temaki each hold freshness, fat, and immediacy in a different proportion. Vanilla miso ice cream closes the menu in the same register, with sweetness and savory depth kept in contact rather than turned into contrast for its own sake.

The room around the pass

At C. del Pensamiento, 28, in Tetuán, Zuara works at a scale where the room can stay quiet without becoming distant. The counter is the main instrument: guests sit along the U, the chef’s station remains visible, and the sequence lands piece by piece rather than as a parade. The address sits near Paseo de la Castellana, between Cuzco and Tetuán, in the former location of the first DiverXo; the history is present, but Arauz does not borrow from it in the cooking. The room reads clean and Japanese in its restraint, giving the fish, rice, and handwork enough space to carry the evening. Nothing in the setting asks to outrun the pass.

Recognition kept close to the work

The 2023 Michelin star and the 2023 Repsol Sun gave public shape to what the counter already makes plain: Zuara depends on repeatable control, not breadth. For Arauz, the next measure remains the same station and the same sequence, one piece at a time, with Koshihikari rice under the hand at Zuara Sushi.