Ministry of Foodies Review
Cuisine: Japanese
Average price per person: 60€
Environment: 8.5/10
Food: 8.5/10
Service: 8/10
Other: Gluten-free options, Vegetarian options
Website: Instagram
Doki Doki is a Japanese restaurant, popular among sushi lovers. While Madrid has several Japanese restaurants, It focuses on high-quality ingredients and simple but elegant flavors.
We visited on a Saturday for lunch.
Location/Environment
The restaurant is situated close to Retiro park. It has a simple and elegant design with wood and white tones that radiate a calm and comfortable environment without any pretentiousness.
The sushi is being prepared by the staff in the counter and you can see the fresh cuts of various fish types on display.
Doki Doki Menu
The menu has several sections, including appetizers, hot dishes, and the majority of the sushi options, including uramaki, nigiri, and sashimi. There are also a few dessert options and a wine list.
Service
The staff is polite and able to provide recommendations. Some of them needed to confer with the kitchen staff regarding allergens but overall the service was good. During the peak lunch hour, there was some delay between dishes without significantly impacting the pace of the meal, but still obvious.
Doki Doki Food
As a starter we got spicy Edamame which was not actually spicy. Decent without being particularly special.
The gyozas with wagyu oxtail were also not my favorite. The filling was almost room temperature bordering cold and while you could tell the ingredients were high quality it made the texture weird.
We ordered the seafood tempura with a gluten-free batter. For a gluten-free batter, this was not bad, particularly the octopus and the softshell crab. I assume the regular version would be even better.
The sushi is really the star of the restaurant. First, we ordered spicy tuna and spicy scallop which were both delicious. The tuna particularly was fresh and juicy, almost as good to eat on its own as it was with the tasty spicy mayo.
Next the nigiris, beginning with hamachi which was fresh and slightly acidic.
The langoustine comes with citric Japanese mayo. The langoustine was slightly torched which gave the mayo a great smokiness. A fantastic dish.
The one with sea urchin was recommended by the staff. On its own, the uni was very salty and fishy, but the combination with the seaweed and rice was perfectly balanced. Almost like a salty, creamy sauce for the rice.
The tuna O-toro with the white truffle and mushroom cream was probably one of my favorite bites. The truffle gave its distinct aroma and the server used a torch to lightly flambee the top. A must try option.
Finally, the Chutoro, the belly part of the bluefin tuna, was fatty and very flavorful.
We opted for no dessert as we had plans to go to another place for some donuts, but Doki Doki does offer dessert options.
Doki Doki – Conclusion
Doki Doki is an elegant option for Japanese cuisine that has a strong value for money proposition. Its ingredients are extremely fresh and the sushi options are delicious. Nevertheless the remaining dishes were average and definitely not at the level of the sushi. I would still recommend it as a nice place for an elegant meal or even for a casual mid-week lunch when craving some good quality sushi.