Three Michelin stars, boundless culinary influences and a creative vision that has turned provocation into a gastronomic language. Nearly twenty years after opening DiverXO, the Spanish chef has no intention of softening his approach to cooking: for him, the future still lies in the ability to surprise.
At DiverXO, even pigs can fly. This is no metaphor for contemporary cuisine or clever marketing gimmick: flying pigs have become the emblem of a restaurant where rules can be rewritten, culinary traditions from around the world collide, and a dish stops being simply something to eat and becomes a succession of surprises.
Nearly twenty years after opening in Madrid, Dabiz Muñoz continues to champion the idea that has guided his project from the very beginning: creating an experience unlike anything offered by any other restaurant. Three Michelin stars and an international reputation have not turned DiverXO into a monument to its own history. On the contrary, the Spanish chef's challenge remains that of constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible, even when it would be easier to stick with a successful formula.
His manifesto is summed up in a statement that sounds like a non-negotiable condition: “Vanguardia o morir” – avant-garde or die.
Avant-garde, however, does not necessarily mean stripping things back: “I like to think that at DiverXO we don’t follow trends; if anything, we create them. Right now, for instance, gastronomy is going through a ‘less is more’ phase, with very refined, minimalist dishes, whereas I continue to serve food that is deliberately over-the-top, packed with contrasts and different elements. In general, I prefer going against the grain rather than following trends. That is also what makes DiverXO unique.”
That is how Muñoz described his vision to Food&Sens a few years ago – an approach he continues to pursue today with the same confidence and creative flair.
London: The Testing Ground Before the Revolution
To understand where this style of cooking comes from, we need to go back to Muñoz’s formative years. He chose the restaurant industry early on: at 17, he enrolled in catering school and began working, later gaining experience at Viridiana, the Madrid restaurant run by Abraham García. But it was London that truly transformed the way he thought about food.
There, he also worked at Hakkasan, where he was exposed to the techniques, spices and flavour combinations of Asian cuisines. It was about more than simply learning new methods: he discovered that ingredients and culinary traditions could interact without having to respect predefined boundaries.
When he returned to Madrid at the age of 27, he had limited financial resources but a clear vision: to open a restaurant that would allow him to build a world of his own.
DiverXO was born in 2007, in a small restaurant in Madrid’s working-class neighbourhood of Tetuán. The early days were far from glamorous: the chef has revealed that he lived and slept in the restaurant for several months.
Recognition came quickly. In 2008, Madrid Fusión singled out the restaurant as one of the revelations of Spanish gastronomy, followed by the Michelin stars and, ultimately, the ultimate accolade of three stars.
Even the name was a statement of intent. DiverXO evokes the Spanish word diverso (different), with an “X” replacing the “S” – a nod to the diversity that runs through Muñoz’s cooking – as well as, according to the story behind the project, to Cantonese XO sauce, which he discovered during his time in London. This is not simply a matter of bringing together international influences, but of filtering them through a personal vision, without ever shying away from excess.
A Restaurant That Refuses to Look Like a Three-Michelin-Starred Establishment
Today, DiverXO is housed within the NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding, in a striking space designed in collaboration with Lázaro Rosa-Violán. Here, the flying pig has become a recurring presence, appearing across walls and ceilings, while the service guides guests through an experience that feels more like a gastronomic performance than a conventional succession of courses. The dishes themselves are not necessarily static creations either: preparations can unfold in several stages, building a narrative through textures, temperatures and flavours. The visual element is not an embellishment added to the food, but an integral part of a language designed to engage diners on multiple levels.
Muñoz describes his universe as dreamlike and his cooking as hedonistic, creative and limitless. The aim is not to surprise at all costs through theatrical effects, but to create an experience that could not be replicated anywhere else.
In his interview with Food&Sens, the chef described DiverXO as a place where diners should be able to experience something entirely new – a kind of emotional roller coaster.
While much of contemporary fine dining has embraced simplicity, restraint and minimalism, Muñoz continues to work through abundance, contrast and intensity. His creations can bring together acidity, sweetness, heat, smoky notes and rich, fatty elements, pairing Spanish ingredients with Asian sauces, Thai spices, French techniques and Mexican influences. The result may seem deliberately chaotic, but behind the visual impact and succession of flavours lies meticulous technical work. In this context, creative freedom does not mean improvisation; it means being able to combine different culinary languages without making any one of them the sole point of reference.
Almost Twenty Years On, with No Intention of Becoming a Museum Piece
Nearly two decades after opening in Tetuán, the move to a new location, announced several years ago, has yet to materialise, and the restaurant continues to evolve in its current home. The pursuit of new ideas, however, has never stopped. Muñoz’s international acclaim and numerous accolades – including being named the world’s best chef by The Best Chef Awards for three consecutive years – do not seem to have diminished his need to constantly challenge his own work.
The cooking remains intense and unpredictable, but the challenge is to find new forms of expression without turning provocation into a repetitive formula. For any restaurant that has become a benchmark, the danger is ending up imitating itself: serving up what has worked before, turning original ideas into a reassuring repertoire, preserving the past rather than testing the present. Muñoz seems determined to avoid precisely that fate.
“The day I stop being avant-garde, I’ll close DiverXO,” he once declared. It is a radical promise, entirely in keeping with a career that has made diversity its name and unpredictability its signature. The twentieth anniversary is drawing closer, but in Madrid, the pigs are still flying.
