DiverXO * (Madrid, ES July 1, 2025)

TLDR: RUN, don't walk to DiverXO. This place has to make #1 in the world….

Food: Spain mixes with Asia, Latin America, Mexico, flavors from childhood memories, tons of fun. Very flavor forward, textures, contrasts, and temperatures were all perfect. We had 0 misses. Maybe 1 dish I thought was just "good" the rest really wowed us. I can only imagine those looking for subtlety might be overwhelmed. I can't really go in to each dish and how incredible they were, but some hightlights:

• First bite – Laksa Ox, Prawn. wow–best first bite. Incredibly rich flavors, most buttery and perfectly cooked prawn I've had. The crisp bite and subtle sea explosions from the roe. We knew we were in for a special meal.
• Stingray – the stingray was incredible with a complex mole that brought you to Mexico, with multiple layers of textures and flavors.
• Caviar dish – one of the most unique, fresh, contrasty, with savory and sweet caviar courses we've had.
• Boar Rib stew and bread – incredible last savory bite. The bread was mind blowing–tasted just like a pizza coming out of an oven with char. My wife said the gluten free bread they made her was the best she's ever eaten.
• All desserts nailed it… Cauliflower dessert – amazing balance, complex flavor combo, and texture of the chocolate "hive," the bubblegum dessert was a trip down memory lane–fun yet still adult and complex, and the Mochis were incredible.

Service, Ambiance, Etc. Amazing team. Young professionals at the top of their game. Perfect English. Right amount of interaction. The somm was great for my wife who had the pairing and was engaging and few times would show us the menu card and guess what the wine would be. The wine pairing itself was perfectly paired to the food and they elevated each other.

I have to give a special callout to the level this team is working on when it comes to dietary issues. My wife is gluten free and dairy free (butter is ok). They accommodated everything except the mochis at the end, which the team said they were working on. My wife's dishes were indistinguishable from mine. 0 sub par substitutions. She had 0 adverse affects or irritation. Given the number of ingredients and complexity I'm floored. True professionals and we can't say that of all 2 or 3 star restaurants, where we have seen sub-par substitutions, cross contamination resulting in a reaction, or flat out refusals to try to try to accommodate.

We will both go back. 50Best list needs to do some soul searching on how this stalled out in the rankings. This was the first stop of 3-heavy hitters in Madrid and it was our top meal of the trip.