“El Invernadero is a perfectly ordinary restaurant where vegetables and mushrooms take center stage, nothing more and nothing less,” says chef Rodrigo de la Calle about his restaurant El Invernadero in Madrid. The restaurant has been awarded both a red and a green Michelin star and was named the best vegetable restaurant in the world for the second consecutive year in 2025. We speak with De la Calle about his culinary philosophy, which he calls ‘gastrobotánica’.

Chef Rodrigo de la Calle is a pioneer when it comes to plant-based cooking. Since the turn of the century, the Spanish chef has given vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and roots the leading role in his kitchen. Although El Invernadero now receives significant international acclaim, De la Calle’s path to the top was not without its hurdles.

Before opening El Invernadero – ‘the greenhouse’ in English – De la Calle ran another restaurant. He was forced to close it in 2014 because business was not going well. De la Calle then went to work for the legendary French three-star chef Joël Robuchon, who was named ‘Chef of the Century’ by Gault&Millau in 1989. “I created the plant-based menus for his seventeen restaurants worldwide,” he says. “Robuchon saw in me what others did not yet see. He said something I will never forget: that I was far ahead of my time and that the world would only understand what I was doing in fifteen years.”

Now, more than ten years later, De la Calle’s restaurant has been named the best vegetable restaurant in the world by We’re Smart World. Nevertheless, De la Calle is still fighting for recognition among the general public in Spain. “In Spain, I am not famous, except within the gastronomic elite. It feels a bit sour that I am not truly recognized in my own country, even though we are the best vegetable restaurant in the world. At the same time, I am really happy that I do receive that recognition internationally, exactly as Robuchon predicted.”

We’re Smart Top 100 Best Vegetable Restaurants

Every year, We’re Smart publishes the Green Guide, a guide featuring leading vegetable restaurants. This gastronomic guide reviews restaurants with a plant-forward cooking style in 50 countries and awards them 1 to 5 radishes. They look at innovation and creativity surrounding fruit and vegetables on the menu. 5-radish restaurants form the ‘Champions League’ and are true pioneers and inspiring examples for other vegetable chefs.

The We’re Smart Top 100 is the list of the best gastronomic vegetable restaurants in the world. Chefs whose restaurants hold the number one spot for two consecutive years are declared ‘Untouchable’. They are no longer included in the rankings but receive a special mention. Rodrigo de la Calle of El Invernadero will join this illustrious group next year.

Gastrobotany: Saving vegetables by cooking with them

De la Calle opened the doors of El Invernadero in 2015, but he has been working on what he calls ‘gastrobotánica’ since 1999. “In 1999, a botanist friend of mine gave me a report to read from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. It stated that more than 70% of plant species on the Iberian Peninsula had been lost since 1900. As the son of a farmer, that pained me. In the 90s, the quality of supermarket vegetables had declined sharply: tomatoes had no flavor, green beans no longer snapped, and eggplants tasted like cork.”

Together with biologists and botanists, De la Calle decided to save as many varieties from extinction as possible. They searched the vegetable gardens of farmers who still kept ancient seeds. “I started my own garden with heirloom varieties that still possessed that true flavor.” In total, the chef saved more than 25 vegetable varieties from extinction, but he finds it even more important that the work of the local farmers was put back on the map. “In an era where the world was mainly looking at the molecular gastronomy of elBulli, we paved the way for plant-based haute cuisine in Spain. The term ‘gastrobotany’ is a combination of botany and gastronomy, and it aims to save all kinds of vegetable varieties from disappearance by cooking with them.”

To give vegetables the same culinary status as meat or fish – think of a perfectly cooked Wagyu steak or langoustine – requires a lot of technical skill. De la Calle creates the depth that meat naturally possesses, through complex fermentation and extraction processes. “Our most revolutionary technique is the vegetable demi-glace,” he explains. “Seventeen years ago, we developed the first recipe for it based on legumes; now, we incorporate every kind of vegetable into our demi-glace. That is our secret to a plant-based umami boost.”

“Fermentation is the future of flavor in the green kitchen”

Since the start of his business, De la Calle has used many fermented products to create flavor and depth within his plant-based menu. “Think of plant-based bases made of algae treated like miso, or the use of koji to enrich broths and sauces. Once you master the techniques, the possibilities with vegetables are endless. In 2015, we already served our first pairing with homemade plant-based drinks, based on natural yeasts and ancient techniques. Fermentation is the future of flavor in the green kitchen.”

Vegetables as a luxury product

According to De la Calle, there are several misconceptions regarding vegetarian cuisine. He is firm about the perception that vegetables are cheap. In addition to the common types of vegetables everyone knows, vegetables can be just as much of a luxury product as Wagyu beef, according to the chef. He believes there should be more awareness surrounding this. “I sometimes serve peas that cost €140 per kilo. We have truffles worth €3,000 per kilo, tomatoes for €30, and white beans for €50 per kilo. Quality vegetables can be very exclusive. I can easily name thirty plant products that cost more than caviar. And those prices are only rising because there is almost no one left to grow them.”

Yet, that does not stop De la Calle from continuing his mission. “I want to be remembered as the cook who blazed a trail for a new kind of gastronomy. Cooking is freedom, but the earth and what it produces is the foundation of everything. Tasty, healthy, and good food is the only true key to happiness.”