Saddle restaurant, first LEED® Gold certified restaurant in Spain, Madrid, Spain

The Saddle restaurant opened its doors in 2019 and is already considered one of the most authentic gastronomic experiences in Madrid, a city that in recent years has undergone a remarkable evolution approaching the great European capitals. For Haryán Rodríguez, CEO of iKasa, the company that owns the restaurant, "the offer in Madrid is very fragmented, and when we created the Saddle concept we didn't do it to compete but to generate a unique proposal in itself that revolves around the experience and service. A very ambitious idea that involved a large investment and a medium and long-term vision. This is the strategic line behind all iKasa's projects, harvesting the fruits little by little along the way, allowing the tree to mature". The results, however, began to come soon, and just a year after opening Saddle received its first Michelin Star. 

This gastronomic recognition was then added to many others, including being the first restaurant in the country with LEED® Gold certification and the only restaurant located in a provincial capital that integrates geothermal technology for the air conditioning of the building. This system, developed together with Uponor, consists of 12 geothermal boreholes with probes 125 metres deep through which the building is heated and cooled almost 100%.

Saddle restaurant is a gastronomic experience committed to the customer and the environment through a menu that gives priority to local and seasonal products, with a traditional cuisine at source but incorporating the latest gastronomic avant-garde, also committed to energy efficiency that also results in the comfort of the diner.



"We offer our customers a total experience, where not only the gastronomic aspect is important, but also everything that happens around the table. A large part of the best moments of our lives happen around a table, and Saddle brings back the cult of the table from the 1950s", says Haryán Rodríguez.

It is not for nothing that the restaurant is in the same location as the iconic Jockey restaurant. "Saddle was born out of the inspiration to bring the best restaurant of all time in our country into the 21st century, regardless of the awards and recognitions that others have won throughout history. This is not a quantitative but a qualitative question. Jockey, for example, was the first restaurant to serve caviar or beurre Suzette in Spain. It was at the forefront of the gastronomic experience for many decades. Today we are following in its wake, it is not just about offering the best product but everything that can be the best, from the staff, to the ambience and the interior design, or also what is not seen, such as the kitchen, the energy rating of the building or the air conditioning system", concludes Haryán Rodríguez.

One of the most ambitious projects in Madrid from the point of view of energy efficiency and sustainability.

iKasa and Uponor have implemented a comprehensive heating and cooling solution based on a shallow geothermal renewable collection field consisting of a total of 12 simple PEX geothermal probes of 125m in length, terminal elements using Invisible Air Conditioning by underfloor heating and Uponor Smatrix Pulse integral temperature control system for the control and monitoring of the HVAC installation.


"Comfort is paramount to the customer experience. There are systems for generating energy that are more natural and less as well as more sustainable and less. Our commitment from the beginning was to offer the best both in the chosen solutions and in the size of the installation, always going above and beyond what we really needed. The commitment to sustainability and energy savings is in the DNA of iKasa, and therefore of Saddle, and we assumed the investment because we know that in the medium and long term the profitability is greater", explains Haryán Rodríguez. 

iKasa is a family company that was founded in 1970 as a housing developer, builder and land developer in the province of Madrid. Since then, its activity has diversified into property development, interior design and decoration, real estate asset management and recently it has developed its restaurant business, with the opening of the Saddle restaurant in the capital. Haryán Rodríguez points out that "in 2012 we were already working with geothermal energy, biomass and energy certifications. It's not just about being an environmentally conscious company, it's about knowing that we are offering the best possible product to our customers in any of our business lines. Today there are energy solutions that make it easier for our customers to have only one mortgage, the bank mortgage, not the energy mortgage as well".