Koy Shunka

Great fun and very good food that does not disappoint. We’ve been twice, and the best experience was when there was just 2 of us and we sat at the bar. We could watch our food being prepared and was served it by the chef who prepared it. When we went as a 4, we were seated at a table away from the kitchen. There is a wide variety of Japanese food, but both times we selected the tasting menu option with the wagu option.

A delicious and contemporary Japanese restaurant at Barrio Gótico.
A great option for special occasions!
The tuna tartar was great, as was the noodles. Oh, and save space for desert. They’re awesome!

If I could’ve given Koy 6 stars I would have!
Very low key recessed entrance with a small sign. Almost like they would not want everyone to find them here. You’ll need your google map to guide you here since it’s down a small alley with not much else next to it.
I decided on the tasting menu. There are two. One takes about an hour to go through and the other around two hours. I went with the one hour choice. I was in foodie heaven! I took pictures of every dish served. All I can say is from start to finish this restaurant was out of this world. The cooks and supporting staff all worked in concert. A spectacular thing to witness.
They open up for evening dining at 8:30 sharp. Not any earlier. Reservations are recommended, but you can take your chances like I did.
All the food looked very select and fresh. It was a masterpiece of culinary skills to see how the plates were put together. I felt like I was on iron chef!
Probably my best dining experience on all levels anywhere so far.
The staff were very friendly and made sure they thanked me for coming as much as I totally thanked them for the experience.

Koy Shunka? Should be named Soy Nunca!
Attention foodies and travelers looking for a high-​end meal… Please read!!!
Having been to places with extremely high end Japanese menus (or just high-​end in general) in this same price range from NYC to Melbourne, this fails on many levels. After having had Spanish tapas for 80% of our meals we opted for a «high end» Japanese restaurant which had an omakase menu. Granted… I did read the negative posts from other Unilocalers… and naively disregarded them. «Oh they must just be ignorant» I thought. Well… look who was completely wrong and ignorant… me! We had such a good run from Unilocal on our week long trip here. (Definitely go to La Flauta near the University.)
First of all there are two different omakase menus (plus everything a la carte), which they won’t let you order both at one table. If you are two or more and decide to do the omakase, you have to order the same menu for the table. My wife doesn’t eat as much so she wanted the smaller menu (Koy) and I of course the larger (Gastronomic)…we settled on the «Gastronomic». They do «comp» your bill for those items you don’t eat according to the waiter…(not really)…check your bill prior to payment. We were only partially comped (I cancelled the last two plates and was charged full rate of € 118). My wife cancelled the last four plates and was comped € 20.
I really don’t want to elaborate on the details of each dish because I’ve already wasted +2 hours and +€ 200, not including wine which was € 45.
Based on our experience, «Soy Nunca» is trying to be something it is not… and that’s a high-​end restaurant. While they execute certain items well with technique (foams, sashimi, etc), the overall taste is not there, when the price is. Case in point are the dishes towards the end of the meal… which were a lobster tempura something, and a Wagyu beef dish. Both are completely ruined with the preparation… the lobster is tempura fried and the Wagyu is «cooked» in a miso broth. I don’t know how you mess up Lobster AND Wagyu, but «Soy Nunca» managed to do both along with most of its dishes we were served.
I honestly was angry when leaving there… something I do not plan on when going to dinner. It’s a waste of time and money. I would’ve rather gone to McDonald’s…at least you know what your money is buying you!
On the positive side, it’s very clean, sashimi dish was good, staff is very attentive, good wine list, and bathrooms are impeccable. So if that’s worth € 100+ per person then by all means check it out. Can’t speak on desserts because we cut our losses early due to the quality of the food.
I hope this helps fellow Unilocalers. Goodbye Barcelona… wish our last night was better. Will miss you.
Please don’t waste your money here… go spend it on some over priced, crappy paella on La Rambla… you’ll feel better… trust me… and whatever you have leftover from that dinner; go buy a «Flamenco Dancer Magnet» for your refrigerator, or a € 6 fan for your mother-in-law…either way you will feel more complete inside.

Go Omakase or go home. The Japanese tapas in the beginning to middle of the meal were amazing. The sushi here sucked. Definitely worth trying if you like high end Japanese food.

First off don’t think of this as a sushi restaurant. While it does have nigiri, sashimi and rolls what really makes it nice are the other dishes on the menu.
Second, you know it’s going to be expensive when you can see almost as many people in the kitchen as there are customers.
It’s a beautiful place with an extremely open kitchen that is almost a stage.

the worst sushi I have so far n I’m surprised how this restaurant got Michelin stars… the average-​below level food comparing its overprice. Don’t waste ur time in this poor restaurant.

Os recordáis del olor del mar? Ese perfume yodado que os llena los pulmones cuando os paseáis en una playa del Cantábrico? El restaurante Koy Shunka, recientemente galardonado con una estrella michelín es capaz de transformar esta experiencia olfativa en una experiencia única para el paladar. El espectacular plato del cual les hablo combina la ostra Gillardeau (la mejor del mundo según dicen) con huevas de pez volador (Tobiko) y crema de Tupinambo, indescriptiblemente exquisito!!!
Nos decantamos por el menú Koy (77 € sin bebida) que nos pareció completo y accesible para nuestros bolsillos en esa ocasión excepcional. Empezando por la ostra que antes os contaba, el recorrido de ese viaje gustativo se hace a través de un servicio de 10 platos, todos deliciosos y equilibrados, donde varios de ellos fueron auténticas sorpresas. La gamba de Palamos estrellada, la ternera wagyu en toban con su salsa de miso (la carne llega en la mesa en un plato de cerámica donde continúa cociéndose) el sushi de anguila del Delta del Ebro, el sushi de toro (vantresca de atún rojo) estaban todos para morirse. El postre era de un nivel inferior en su base que consistía en un pastel de chocolate, pero con el simple echo de poder degustar una bola de helado de Yusu (mandarina japonesa) se salvó a nuestro ya bastante elevado nivel culinario.
Algunos críticos gastronómicos y numerosas opiniones de clientes hablan del Koy Shunka como el restaurante donde mejor se corta el pescado en España! No lo sé, pero si queréis comprobarlo, reservad una mesa al lado de la inmensa cocina abierta (solo parejas o grupos pequeños). Podréis contemplar los chefs en acción en esa esplendida cocina que llena el espacio de la sala principal como si fuera un ring.
En cuanto a servicio, os acompañara un equipo 100% japones, quienes dominan el castellano como a sus cuchillos (hablan inglés también). El servicio es el adecuado lo que completa una velada ya muy agradable.
El muy simpático Chef Hideki Matsuhisa ha logrado destacar productos españoles de excelencia con la cocina Japonesa, podemos hablar de alta cocina nikkei, los superlativos son de circunstancia. Es un honor para Hideki acercarse a vuestra mesa al final de la cena para conocer vuestras impresiones o tomar una foto con el grupo. Solo os puedo recomendar este sitio, cualquier ocasión excepcional lo vale…

I went there with a group of friends. The food and service were excellent. We had a menu a goof variety of the restaurants dishes (which I recommend if it is the first time you go)

Reputation well deserved as fusion japanese. We got seated in front of who was perhaps the sous chef.
We opted for the 2^nd omakase course.
Our amuse bouche was a trio that started with fried satoimo slices with foie gras dip, with deep fried baby squid in dashi broth and anchovy with apple drizzled liberally with yuzu
We had an amazing dashi with shiitake mushroom broth.
Followed by spanish caviar with yuzu gelli with mashed pink turnip
Baby octopus with mirugai and razor clam with yuzu gelli,? sauce and blanched green onions
Nyumen with sea cucumber (best i ever had) and spanish asari (chef substituted the pork out for me). Broth was spectacular, dashi but tasted different from the shiitake soup.
Semi grilled sashimi lobster with a round robin of dipping sauce as follows — lobster head foie with yuzu, toasted sesame seed, NOT kikkoman soy sauce, sea salt accompanied by rice cracker lobster and bits of blanced lobster
Black truffle slices with chu toro, toro (diced and sliced) and maguro with uni and freshly grated wasabi
Spanish beans tempura, with yuzu foam and grilled black cod
Ama ebi and baby ebi with veggie and fish cake with ebi + yuzu dipping sauce
Wagyu tataki with brown rice and fried nori
We had to skip the sashimi course (would have been maguro agari, anago and a temaki). I was ready to exploded at this point.
But we also had a 2 course dessert. Since dessert is reserved for a separate stomach — we had it
Yogurt ice cream with yuzu
Shunka tiramisu — dorayaki cake, green tea marscapone, chocolate craker and home made expresso ice cream that was so strong I thought it punched me in the face when I tasted it.

Comida Excepcional, el Japonés más Elegante y con cocina de calidad de Barcelona.
Esperad pagar la calidad no es barato.

Hay sitios que vas porque te apetece y te lo permite tu bolsillo y otros a los que, aunque te apetezca ir siempre, sólo puedes ir si te invita algún gentil galán o «galana». ¿Un ejemplo? ¡El Koy Shunka! Sin duda el mejor japonés de Barcelona. Yo tuve la fortuna de ser invitada por un… Por un eso… Por un gentil galán…Y doy fe de que todo que probé supo a las más gloriosa de las glorias: Sushi, sashimi, udon, tartar de atún… ¡Sí! ¡Nos pusimos las botas y lo recuerdo como si fuera ayer! ¿Por qué? Pues porque la buena comida, la buena muy buena comida, deja huella, y la del Koy Shunka… ¡La del Koy Shunka es una huella que no se borra! ¿Algún gentil galán en la red? ;-)

empfang:
freundlich, japanisch
auswahl:
kleine feine karte:
frische:
sehr gut, wenn nicht excellent
service:
sehr gut
wein:
gute weine zu etwas höheren preisen. weiss 20 euro, rot 35 euro. aber auch gute bierauswahl
empfehlenswert:
das degustationsmenue an der bar (65euro)
einrichtung:
sehr modern aber warm
preise p/​p:
3-​gang mit wein und kaffee euro 55
anmerkung:
das rest. wurde zusammen mit ferran adria «el bulli» geplant und gemacht. dadurch ist die küche japanisch experimentell geworden, gegenüber der komplett japanischen küche im mutterhaus «shunka».