Nakeima
Nakeima's dumplings, nigiri and dim sum change every day and go up in chalk on an enormous blackboard wall.
Why go
Gonzalo García and Luis Gómez-Bua opened this small counter in Argüelles in 2013.2 The De Tapas Por Madrid blog wrote in 2021 that García had cooked at DiverXO.4 Guía Repsol gives it one Sol and in 2025 praised its original ideas and precise, very sound execution.
1 García said in January 2014: We never imagined a queue at the door when we opened. What matters is doing things well day by day.
5
The blog found no menu to order from in February 2021: there is no menu here ... a parade of dishes starts from the kitchen and you decide when to stop.
The cooks asked first what you liked and what you couldn't eat. Anyone who went to the end got close to fifteen dishes.4 Kiki, an American writing in Madrid, counted twenty at an anniversary lunch in July 2022 that her partner paid for. She summed it up: Nakeima leans more avant-garde, but maintains one foot firmly in traditional Spanish cuisine.
3
The blog counted the garlic-prawn nigiri with Japanese mayonnaise and the Iberian pork nigiri with tomato among our favourite dishes
in 2021.4 Kiki watched Gonzalo make the nigiri in 2022. Of the dry ramen, with fresh noodles and bone marrow that year, she wrote: the noodles were so delicious we basically licked the bowl clean.
3 César Martín, the chef of Lakasa, named it in 2020 for the super-fun cooking of Gonzalo García and Luis Gómez-Bua.
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A meal with beer or soft drinks came to about 60 euros a head in February 2021, and 80 to 90 with wine.4
Order this / avoid
- Order: the pig's ear. The blog had it whole with brava sauce as the 'Oreja de Bangkok' in 2021.4 Kiki had it as takoyaki topped with katsuobushi (dried bonito) and put it among her favorites in 2022.3
- Order: the dumplings. Kiki (2022):
all of the dumplings were outstanding.
3
What locals & experts say
- Kiki, Come como Kiki (2022), her favorites:
the shrimp temaki, pig ear takoyaki, bacon miso soup, and Japanese eggplant with wild hare.
3 - Award: 1 Sol Guía Repsol, first given in 2019 and held in 2025.1
Good to know
- Where: Calle de Meléndez Valdés 54, in Argüelles.1
- Booking: none, so queue. There were about twenty seats in 2024.2 In 2021 the blog said
to get a table you have to queue at the door for at least an hour.
The list was taken half an hour before each service. Each person in line could hold places for four.4 - Timing: it served lunch and dinner in 2021. Check the house's Instagram for this week's days before you go.4
- The room: loud music, stools and high tables, and rubber chickens hanging from the ceiling (2021).4
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "no menu, no bookings, just crazy fusion food"
Verdict
could-visit — Queue an hour for one of about twenty seats and let the kitchen send dishes until you say stop. Expect loud music and about 60 euros a head with beer, the price in 2021.