Kibuka is my favorite Japanese restaurant in Barcelona so far. The food rarely goes wrong, if ever, and is always satisfying. Perfect location (I lived one block away, and in the best neighborhood, Gràcia!), reasonable prices, casual atmosphere, and great tempura, sushi, creative “tropical” rolls, and chocolate coulants just 1 minute away from home meant that I would be visiting very very often. All of this also brought back fond memories of my home near St. Mark’s Place back in NYC, more reason for me to have kept re-eating at Kibuka!

Entrance:

Unassuming and sitting on a corner of a quiet street off the busy Gran de Gràcia street. One tip: for dinner on weekends and even weekdays, come before 9:30pm or you will be stuck waiting in a long line (up to an hour) outdoors. Another option is to sit at the small bar which seems to be less popular, but you can watch them prepare your sushi from there.

Warning: I couldn’t help including so many of my photos from Kibuka here; they all looked so delicious. So, one very long post coming up!

My sad last dinner at Kibuka.

Miso Shiru €2.60

The miso soup here is not bad, not too salty and not too diluted.

3 pieces of Ebi niguiri (shrimp, €1.85 each) and 3 pieces of Shake niguiri (salmon, €1.85 each)

Always pretty fresh and decent.

Ebi (shrimp) Tempura €9.35

Best value shrimp tempura in all of Barcelona! 6 good sized shrimp fried in crispy crunchy batter with not a hint of soggyness, served with sweet tempura soy dipping sauce.

California Uramaki €6.40

The basics: slice of soft avocado and some shredded crab and mayo salad, wrapped in seaweed, sushi rice, and sesame seeds.

Soft Shell Crab roll €10.30

Crispy crab tempura. It was so cute when I watched them make it. They fry the tiny palm sized crab whole, slice it in half (not so cute) and roll it up in yummy sushi rice.

Chocolate Coulant €4.30

Big and square warm chocolate cake filled up with hot chocolate sauce and topped with a round button of a dark chocolate truffle. The one in this photo is seductively oozing from the bottom!

Receipt:
Agua 1 L 3.50
Misoshiru 2.60
Ebi Tempura 9.35
3 Ebi 1.85 5.55
3 Shake 1.85 5.55
Coulant 4.30
Soft shell crab 10.30
California uramaki 6.40
total+tax= €47.55 (dinner for 2)

Lunch: Menu del Día (set menu of the day)
The pricing is determined by your choice for the 2nd course, drinks and desserts included.

For an appetizer, you can choose between a miso salad or a miso soup.

The salad is topped with a creamy miso dressing with a sprinkling of sesame seeds which actually had quite a strong flavor to them.

There are several choices for the 2nd course:
I chose the typical California roll combo €11.50 (bottom)
Sushi combo €12.50 (top)

The sushi combo were rolls made with avocado and thick raw salmon chunks. The big salmon chunks weren’t as fresh that day…

Yakisoba.

For the 3rd course, a hot dish, you get a chef’s recommended item from the menu. Fried asian noodles with chicken and big bonito flakes. Quite a big portion for each person! Tastes average.

Chocolate pudding.

Looks like a slab of liver doesn’t it? Tastes like a mix between chocolate cake and flan, with a thick and dense flan texture.

Chocolate ice cream.

3 scoops of chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and shavings of dark chocolate.

Overall a very filling lunch.

total+tax= €24 (lunch for 2)

More on this restaurant: 1 2 3

This entry was posted by chicken on Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 at 8:55 am and is filed under Barcelona, Gràcia, Japanese. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.