Kiki - japanese restaurant — Restaurant in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

First things first, make sure you have a reservation. You can make one via email, WhatsApp, or online.

Where do I even start? I could write about Kiki for days. This was one of the best dinners we had during our two-week trek through the Canary Islands and the best Japanese restaurant we’ve ever visited. From the food to the ambiance, it was all perfect.

You have several menus to pick from for drinks and food. There’s the fusion menu, which is more creative and has more twists, and the regular menu, which has your traditional and classic Japanese dishes. We opted to order the Menu Kiki from their fusion menu, which consisted of the chef’s tasting, a combination of their best plates. It included a bit of all: tempura, sashimi, small creative dishes, and even two very different desserts. This is the way to go so you can try as much as possible. At €75 a person for the “menu de degustación Kiki,” we thought it was a great deal as we got so much delicious food and left stuffed. Every little (and big!) thing we tried was incredibly fresh, full of wild flavors, and thoughtfully created.

The drinks were no exception. Although we usually go for bottles of wine in Spain, we chose to try Kiki’s cocktails, and they did not disappoint. At an average of €10 per cocktail, these handcrafted concoctions were out of this world. Not only did they taste delicious, but the mixologist did a fantastic job weaving a “story” with each drink. He’d deliver the drinks and explain in detail why it was unique and what ingredients they used. And get your cameras ready — many of the cocktails were photo (and video) worthy with elegant decor and, at times, even smoke coming out of them.

Service was excellent, although in the beginning, that wasn’t the case. Initially, we had to wait about 30 mins for our server to come to our table and get drink orders. A bit frustrating at a restaurant of this caliber, but once they did come to our table, the service was excellent for the rest of the night. Rather than one server, we had several servers continuously bringing out the food and explaining what everything was.

If you’re visiting Tenerife and are into fresh seafood/sushi/Japanese, do yourself a favor and visit Kiki. They’re killing the game in Santa Cruz.

Comment for management: please fix the men’s bathroom as it doesn’t lock. This is probably not Kiki’s fault as the bathroom is part of the hotel where the restaurant is located, but it dealing with that...

Food was good, but not worth the price, this was by far the most expensive meal we have eaten in Santa Cruz and we've been here two weeks. This place has no business being mentioned in the Michelin guide. Atmosphere is cheesy kitsch, with a giant mural of an Asian lady plastered over the main wall of the restaurant. Annoying QR code menu. They didn't have one of the signature Robata dishes on the menu, but we weren't informed of this when we ordered, only when the waiter came back out (don't they have pre-service staff meetings where they go over these issues?). But what really annoyed me was the wine service. The waiter helped himself to a generous portion of our white wine. Now some restaurants still cling to the arcane practice of tasting a customer's wine before it's offered to the customer (which is supposed to be solely for the purpose of determining whether it is acceptable to pour for the customer), so I initially chalked this up to that annoying practice. However, when we ordered a second bottle of a different, red wine, the waiter didn't pour himself any of that wine, so I guess he picks and chooses what he wants to sample. Absolutely shameless.

Response to restaurant: What your "sommelier" told you is a patent lie. I watched him bring our first bottle (a reasonably expensive, somewhat esoteric, white wine) to his station along with a glass (no glass was present when he opened our second bottle, a red wine), so he had already decided he was going to taste it before he opened it, it had nothing to do with the cork, which, by the way, was in...

Una grata experiencia gastronómica y una excelente atención. Era la primera vez que íbamos y nos decantamos por probar los menús de degustación: largo (75€) y corto (60€) y la verdad es que quedamos muy satisfechos. Compartimos para probar ambos.

El restaurante con mucho encanto, bonita decoración, un ambiente agradable, un suave hilo musical que genera un entorno ideal para esta experiencia culinaria.

A destacar la constante y cercana atención de los diferentes camareros y el Barman, que explicaban en que consistía cada plato que iban sirviendo.

El menú estaba todo muy rico, con sorpresa para el paladar una tras otra.. los platos fueron saliendo en este orden: Spring roll de cangrejo (ambos menús): pasta filo rellena de cangrejo..una delicates en boca. Usuzukuri (ambos menús): corte fino de pescado blanco (corvina) con salsa tartufata. Tajo Kiuri (menú corto): ensalada de pulpo a la brasa con emulsión de olivo, almejas, algas, pepino y aire de algas. Se mezcla todo y hay una explosión de sabor en el paladar. Miso Shiru (menú largo): sopa de miso con tofu, cebolleta y alga wakame. Un caldo muy sabroso. Sashimi: corte tradicional de pescado con 2 rodajas de cada tipo de pescado, acompañado/decorado con zanahoria rallada, remolacha rallada. La diferencia entre menú corto y largo en este plato, es que en el largo lleva pescado blanco y salsa wasabi, aparte del atún rojo y salmón del menú corto. Acompañado de salsa de soja y Gari (jengibre con lima), éste último para limpiar el paladar entre pescado y pescado. Gyozas butaniku: empanadillas japonesas al vapor con cerdo ibérico y verduras, acompañado de una deliciosa salsa. Usuzukuri kiki-Sake (ambos menús): corte fino de salmón noruego con salsa de maracuyá y crujiente spring roll con pasta filo, cilantro y aguacate. Simplemente una explosión de sabor en boca. Nigiris (ambos menús): uno de cada: Nigiri clásico de atún rojo (maguro) Nigiri fusión Hotate Trufa: Nigiri de viera a la brasa con mantequilla de trufa y ralladura de lima. Makis (en menú corto 1 de cada uno mientras en el largo 2 de cada): Uramaki Sake-lima: (salmón) Uramaki Tempura picante: (langostino) Tempura Moriawase (ambos menús): Tempura de verduras y langostinos con 3 tipos de sales. Shiru Umeboshi (menú largo): magré de pato con salsa de ciruelas negras y cebolla encurtida en vinagre de arroz y shichimi togarashi, acompañado de pan bao y mermelada de cerezas.

Hasta aquí los platos.. mientras esperamos los postres pedimos un cóctel: 'se te camba la peluca' compuesto por ron, scrub de manzana, fruta de la pasión, toque de maracuyá y chocolate blanco. Con una piedra de hielo cuadrada que contribuye a su decoración y frescor junto a unas rodajas de manzana verde.

Para beber pedimos 2 tipos de cervezas japonesas (Sapporo y Asahi)y una botella de agua Solan de cabras.

Los postres tampoco dejan indiferente a nadie, tanto en presentación como en sabor.. Crepes Fuji: crepes con una rica salsa entre capas, acompañado de helado de manzana verde y crumble de sésamo. Exquisito y muy muy recomendable. Semi frío de miso, espuma de yuzu, crumble de chocolate blanco y corazón de sorbete de mango. Con una linda presentación

La única crítica que le pondría es el tiempo que tardan en servir entre un plato y otro. No es un sitio precisamente barato, pero es una experiencia muy recomendable. Nosotros repetiremos seguro, pues aún nos queda pendiente probar el resto de la carta. Gracias por...