Just a year ago, at just 24 years old, Carlos Casillas became the youngest chef to win the first Michelin star and, with it, the first in history for Ávila. I did it in the Michelin Gala 2024 organized in Barcelonawhere he received with surprise another Michelin star, this time Greenfor your restaurant Mudwhich had only been open for seven months.
Today, with the restaurant occupying a new, much larger location, where there are no limits to continue growing, the Avila native continues to gain recognition: Carlos Casillas was named best young chef of the 2025 Michelin Guide. Carlos Casillas made history by picking up his second star for Ávila in less than a year.
Who is Carlos Casillas?
Encouraged by his grandparents to leave their town, he He trained at the Basque Culinary Center and left with the best results of his class.. His career was forged in restaurants such as La Tasquita de Enfrente, Miramar Paco Pérez** and Ambivium*. Furthermore, he joined Bullipedia with Ferrán Centelles, with whom he worked on research and writing volume VII on the History of wine.
In 2021 he received the Juli Soler Award for Wine Talent and was chosen among the 100 young talents according to the BCC. With two stars to his credit –its first star and a Michelin green star -, as well as a Sol Repsola promising future awaits us.
Mud makes history in Ávila
With a magnificent panoramic view of the walls of Ávila, Barro occupies the building where a flour factory. He left his space 16 square meters for another 1,700 steeped in history. Having taken this legacy and transformed it into a three-story space, the restaurant that has been on everyone’s lips for some time continues to be place of pilgrimageand from today with this price, with more reasons.
With this latest recognition, Unlike the increase in the price of the tasting menu that award-winning restaurants choose after the gala, the chef at the head of the Barro has decided reduce yours: “The idea was balance the menu a little. “We started with a menu that we thought would be more balanced on time and we preferred to make it a little shorter, adjusting the price,” Casillas explains exclusively to Cocinillas El Español, a few days before the Gala.
The gourmet restaurant with Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star occupies the upper floor, one floor below is Surco, where we will work according to the same philosophy but in a more informal format. Finally, in the basement, wall to wall with a cellar which stores 1.1180 wine referencesstay Mud. The cocktail bar was advised by Esther Merino and Diego Prado, a couple experimenting with distillates and fermented drinks that complement the mixologist universe of the space.
“The challenge is to maintain the public. There are still a few details left,” Casillas explained one day in September, coinciding with the opening of the cocktail bar. The restaurant has been operating in the new space since July. “We’re still figuring out if we’ll finish the coffee in Barro or Fango.” THE three spaces, although separate, are united by “a common thread”. The “cracks” in the wall, constant in Fango’s space, reach Barro through the cellar.
The mud is made up of “Volver”, its unique 17-course tasting menu, which can be enjoyed by up to 26 guests, with a further eight in a separate reserved area.And. He does not leave behind his philosophy which returns to the territory with a thoughtful look, but he also wants to “look forward and not so much backward and abandon the nostalgic look” and he demonstrates this with the wagyu that accompanies the shrimp, “ which no one expects.” which is Castile.” Also in the sequence is a wonderful pistachio and chili horchata grown in Segovia that reinforces his points.
Having become – and reaffirmed by this prize – an icon of contemporary cuisine, Focus on the environment and highlight the problems that affect itThe product does not take long to arrive. Humble, without camouflage. There is speech, but without excess. With them, he tells the story of products that he handles with firmness, sympathy and, sometimes – the truth is – nostalgia.
Price reduction on your tasting menu
Unlike what usually happens in most award-winning restaurants after the gala, choosing to increase the price of their tasting menu, The chef at the head of Barro has decided to reduce his.
Since this new stage that the restaurant begins in summer, they have decided to opt for a unique menu of 17 dishes, Backwith the possibility of adding up to 4 extras when arriving at the table, which cost 180 euros. From this Thursday, its menu, “renewed at 50%” will cost 150 euros. A substantial reduction of €30, which also involves changes to the menu, from 17 passes to 15, with a greater weight on seasonal products in the extras section.
The chef commits to “something that no one has ever done, but realistically Ávila has to be full on Thursdays.” From Friday to Sunday there is no problem, but during off days an incentive should be offered“, Casillas explains, that a large part of the audience he receives is international.
With this new change he wants”break with the strict codes of gastronomy That there you are going to eat everything that “comes out of my balls”. The proposal is ours, but we also have to open our hands a little so that people can configure certain things, the additional dishes, etc.,” he says, referring to the additional steps with which the menu can be completed.
The mostwhich previously implied a price supplement of €20, Now they will no longer have a fixed price and will change frequently. “This will depend on each passage: There will be wild rabbit ravioli à la royale, because it is a pass that includes caviar, its price is obviously €30. But in the case of mushrooms – eel with cod, glass eels and pil pil with saffron – they cost €15,” shares the owner of Barro.
“Our catering structure needs a constant creative stimulation and the best way to achieve this is precisely to escape a little from the constraint of certain moments”, explains Casillas. In fact, they are on the verge of releasing “The house table”which occupies the stand next to the Barro room. “These will be menus that people will personalize, depending on the Barro or the product, with a special wine list. If someone tells us they want to eat lobster and sea urchin, then we buy the product and prepare a dish with, which also stimulates us a lot on a creative level.”
As for the liquid harmoniesoffers several options that maintain their price, but accommodate another format which is the mixed: half wine, half non-alcoholic drinks, i.e. €75. An alternative to that served from bdrinks made in BARRO R&D to accompany our menu with little presence of alcohol NoLo wines and mixed drinks (€75) and its “most differentiating” pairing, consisting of both wines and their own low alcohol drinks of wine, which amounts to €190.
