NM Restaurant, Oviedo, Asturia, Spain

Barcelona-based Hazard Studio founder Alfredo Rodriquez has created a tiny puff ball of a restaurant, NM in the revitalized El Vasco Station shopping centre located in the town of Oviedo, in the Northwest of Spain.

The 25-seat, 75 square-metre (807 sq.ft) monochromatic space is one of the many restaurants helmed by the two-Michelin-star chef Nacho Manzano.

His most famous restaurants and food concepts include Casa Marcial (where the two Michelin stars come from) and the restaurant in the Narbasu Hotel (where he has gained one Michelin star).

The Manzano culinary enterprise dates back to 1993 when the then-23-year-old Nacho Manzano and his sisters started a restaurant in the family home in La Salgar, today known as Casa Marcial.

Nacho and Esther Manzano, along with their sisters Sandra and Olga, now own the Restaurants Casa Marcial, Narbasu Restaurant and Hotel, Gloria in Oviedo and Gijón, and Catering Manzano. Nacho Manzano is also partner and gastronomic director of Ibérica Restaurants in the UK with five restaurants in London and one in Leeds.

The tiny NM restaurant is part of the larger food court space, Nastura Oviedo in the El Vasco shopping centre. Hazard Studio was in charge of designing the larger food court space as well, and Nacho Manzano is in charge of the cuisine of the entire area.

The elegantly plated fresh food served at NM is based on a singular tasting menu that changes four times a year to take advantage of what is the freshest regionally. The Michelin guide describes the tasting menu’s freshness: “…it  is demonstrated on a single tasting menu that takes guests on a journey through the bountiful meadows, woods and mountains of Cantabria and the family’s market garden in Narbasu.”

Chef Manzano expresses it this way: “Our territory is the message on each of our plates. Here we are very fortunate, each season has its own personality and supplies us with its own products.”

The interior of NM is stunning in its monochromatic whiteness that brings to mind puff pastry, whipped butter and shortbread. Rounded corners and petal-like shapes look like large tacos or chips, some of which are pendant lighting from the Brass collection created by the Italian designer and architect, Paola Navone for Gervasoni.

Navone is the founder of Milan-based design OTTO studio that she operates with Gian Paolo Venier, Chiststina Pettenuzzo and Domenico Diego. Tuija Seipell