Japanese cuisine is much more than just sushi and maki, and Barcelona is full of places where you can sample the wide range of flavors it has to offer. If you want to travel to the Land of the Rising Sun with your stomach and without spending money on plane tickets, we recommend you take a look at the Japanese restaurants in Barcelona that we recommend below.
Shunka, the Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant
Although it may be a bit ambitious to start with the Michelin-starred restaurant on the list, Shunka is a benchmark for Japanese food in Barcelona and one of the oldest in the city, making it one of the best Japanese restaurants in Barcelona. It is located on a corner in the Gothic Quarter, next to the cathedral, in a place where, although they have a normal restaurant, you can’t miss the sushi bar where they prepare the food in front of you, which is quite a spectacle.
We always recommend sitting at the bar so you can see how they cook everything you can try. Their nigiri are famous for being so good that they don’t need sauce to eat them.
📍 Carrer dels Sagristans, 5.
Akashi Gallery, sushi bar, gallery, and tea room
Photo courtesy of Akashi Gallery
Right next door (but sharing the same address) is an authentic Japanese restaurant. Far from fusion and fantasy, Akashi Gallery has been serving authentic traditional sushi in the city for 12 years.
It is a sushi bar, a photo gallery, one of the most original tea rooms in Barcelona, and a hidden corner where you can practice Japanese-style modernity.
Here, you also come to eat sitting on the floor, so you’d better leave your tomato socks at home. You can’t leave without trying gyokuro tea and stopping by one of the origami workshops they organize.
📍 Carrer del Rosselló, 197.
Nakashita, contemporary Brazilian fusion sushi
Nakashita, in the heart of El Born, is one of the best value restaurants on our list. It also offers something extra: its menu is a fusion of Japanese and Brazilian cuisine.
As an example of a more unusual dish, we recommend their tempura oysters or their selection of fusion sushi, which you can watch being prepared live.
📍 Carrer del Rec Comtal, 15.
Sensato, the most exclusive (and difficult to book) Japanese restaurant
Editorial credit: Bas Quentin
Perhaps the most exclusive restaurant on the list, only for true lovers and foodies deeply immersed in this universe. Sensato is the experience you would expect to have in Tokyo, but it might be easier to fly to Japan to enjoy it because its bar only has room for eight people and it is not easy to get a reservation. Although it opened relatively recently, it is already on its way to becoming one of the top three Japanese restaurants in Barcelona.
Sensato’s formula is simple: a single 3-hour tasting menu consisting of a succession of sushi pieces, which may vary depending on the seasonality of the ingredients and market availability.
📍 Carrer de Septimània, 36
Ikoya Izakaya, by Hideki Matsuhisa
Source: ikoyaizakaya.com
Ikoya Izakaya is the latest venture from Michelin-starred chef Hideki Matsuhisa, a leading Japanese restaurateur in Barcelona with establishments such as Shunka, Koy Shunka, Kat Koy, Majide, and Kokoy. It is the most relaxed of the group, and its spirit allows it to rely less on sushi and more on other Japanese traditions such as fresh fish and sake.
📍 In front of the Mercat de, Av. de Francesc Cambó, 23.
Japonés Escondido, an open secret
El Japonés Escondido belongs to the Tragaluz Group and is an authentic Izacaya Bar, i.e., a Tokyo-style after-work tapas bar that is becoming very fashionable all over the world.
The bar is tucked away in the heart of the Barceloneta Old Town and has an interior designed by Lekuona (the studio responsible for most of the group’s venues), which transports you to Kyoto thanks to its Japanese tavern spirit.
📍 Carrer de Llauder, 1.
Carlota Akaneya, one of the first to make sumiyaki
Photo courtesy of Carlota Akaneya
The Carlota Akaneya restaurant was the first establishment in the country to offer sumiyaki. Sumiyaki is a traditional Japanese method of cooking meat over charcoal, and at Carlota Akaneya they can boast the jewel in the crown, grade 5 Kobe beef, the highest rating awarded by the association that issues the official certificate for this type of meat in Japan.
📍 Carrer del Pintor Fortuny, 32.
Sato i Tanaka, authentic Japanese cuisine at affordable prices
Contrary to what you might think, you don’t have to pawn your medallion to try their menu. The prices at Sato i Tanaka are affordable. Depending on what you want, of course. You can eat at lunchtime for €15. And you can also try the tasting menu for €55.
Finding a seat is another matter entirely.Its limited capacity means that anyone who wants to go without a reservation is out of luck.
Artisans of an expanding cuisine, sushi luthiers, or culinary virtuosos. Sato i Tanaka is the closest you can get to Japan without taking a plane.
📍 Carrer del Bruc, 49.
Yuku Barcelona, top-notch quality in a secret bar
What they do at Yuku is in a league of its own. The raw ingredients are of such excellent quality that it’s hard to believe such a thing exists. Their philosophy can be summed up by the concept of omakase, which means trusting and leaving the menu in the hands of the chef. This type of menu is normally served in Japanese sushiya, i.e., establishments with a bar seating 4 to 10 people.
Yuku’s proposal is crystal clear: to create a magical atmosphere inspired by Japanese culture within a closed-door space. All this makes it one of the most unique Japanese restaurants in the city.
📍 Secret location.
Bouzu, Japanese-style tapas in a gastro pub
Editorial credit Bouzu
If you’re curious about what Japanese-style tapas are like, this is the place to find out. Izakaya is the name given to Japanese gastro pubs, where people go to enjoy an after-work drink or simply to drink. Following this philosophy, they serve local tapas such as salmon and mushrooms steamed with seaweed, octopus bomba, and vegetable tartare.
📍 Carrer Ronda de Sant Antoni, 26.
Ikibana Sarrià, Japanese and Brazilian cuisine
Courtesy of Ikibana Sarrià
If you’re interested in fusion cuisine, Ikibana offers an interesting combination of Japanese and Brazilian cuisine. Its ornate and cheerful appearance might suggest that it focuses solely on the latter, but what it lacks in zen, it more than makes up for in quality. Here you can try gyozas with beef and cilantro, foie gras and truffle nigiri, or tuna maki with jalapeño.
📍 Carrer del Dr. Fleming, 11.
Monster Sushi / Robata, Japanese flavor with a Western touch
They belong to the same brand and perfectly combine the most Japanese flavor with a Western touch. The sushi at both places is incredible, needless to say. Their artisanal desserts are also not to be outdone, guaranteeing flavor and the best finishing touch to a great experience of intercultural fusion in the kitchen.
📍 Sushi: Plaça de Gal·la Placídia, 25.
📍 Robata: Carrer d’Enric Granados, 55.
Suto, the intimate experience
How does a restaurant with only 16 seats earn a Michelin star? You’ll have to visit to find out. An intimate restaurant that feels like a private home, where it’s obviously difficult to find a seat, with just a bar and a few tables. In the kitchen is Yoshikazu Suto, who has extensive experience in renowned kitchens such as Azurmendi, Quique Dacosta, Enigma, and Disfrutar.
The idea is an omakase, where the chef prepares what he considers to be the best for each customer at that moment. However, there is always a menu where you will find, for example, dishes such as Tamaki of tuna belly with caviar, Nambanzuke (mackerel marinated in seven Japanese spices) or a sequence of nigiri.
📍 C. de Violant d’Hongria Reina d’Aragó, 134, Sants-Montjuïc
💸 Tasting menu €98
Alapar, the Mediterranean izakaya
Source: Alapar
The fast pace of modern life forces us to summarize complex concepts, and yes, Alapar is a Mediterranean izakaya because it is a Japanese tapas bar with owners in the kitchen and front of house and Mediterranean touches in some of the dishes. But a restaurant is a complex machine, and what we liked about Alapar was that it was just that, a restaurant with a capital R, where every detail is carefully considered because it exudes the love that Vicky Macarone and Jaume Marambio have put into every corner. It’s easy to remember how they sanded the wood that now gives the place a Japanese touch with their own hands (and the help of Vicky’s father).
The same wood frames the sushi bar that presides over Alapar, where Jaume prepares the nigiri one by one , using the hypnotic technique of crushing the rice balls with his wet fingers. Seven movements each time to leave the rice ready to be crowned with, for example, toro and ponzu or eel and teriyaki sauce.
The charm of the menu, which makes it an izakaya, is the cadence between classic or contemporary nigiri alternating with Mediterranean-style “tapas,” such as grilled portobello mushrooms with black pepper miso sauce and ceps or the surf and turf of pork with scallops and pork broth with a tremendous maki of peu de porc. Keep an eye out for two things: their sakes and their tuna tartare and wasabi emulsion Mushipan, which is listed as a bite on the menu, but we could easily eat seven of them.
📍 C/ Lleida 5, 08004 Barcelona
💸 Tasting menu €89
Soluna, the apprentices of Koy Shunka
Restaurants produce great chefs and great loves, and in this case, both. Tappei Nii and Diana Chen met while working at Koy Shunka, and from there they took a relationship and knowledge that helped them open Soluna. A sober establishment with an open kitchen, bar, wooden furniture, and classic Japanese cuisine expressed through two tasting menus.
The Soluna (nine courses, €69) and the Festival (ten courses, €108) share the kokotxa “pizza,” the “dobin-mushi” crayfish, and the appetizers, and allow you to add an extra serving of Wagyu A-5, the best there is, to your dishes. A luxurious Japanese restaurant.
📍Carrer de Casanova, 157, Eixample, 08036 Barcelona
💸 Tasting menu €89 and €108
Jara Sushi
How nice it is not to have to choose and to have someone take you by the hand, especially when it comes to sitting down to eat. At Jara, the restaurant owned by brothers Jonathan and Robby in Putxet, the concept of omakase (“leave it to the chef”) is taken to the highest level. Forget conventional Japanese restaurants; here, the show takes place at a 14-seat bar that doubles as a stage. Jonathan, trained in London, wields his knife with precision on fish from Spanish and Japanese markets, while Robby guides the experience with a sake list curated by Xavi Nolla. Don’t miss their sashimi tasting to understand the nuances of Arrom tuna or their dishes with Montseny wasabi. It is possibly the best-kept (and most honest) secret of high-end sushi in the city.
📍Location: Carrer de l’Avenir, 45 🗓️ Dates: Tuesday to Saturday (Omakase menu dinners) 💸 Tickets: Omakase menu €85