For my second culinary experience in Split, I opted for a more gourmet restaurant, dining at Kadena after having tried a simpler, bistro-style cuisine at Süg.

For the record the list of articles related to this trip to Croatia:

The Kadena concept

On its website, the restaurant simply describes itself as “the place where food becomes art“. The restaurant offers personalized catering and dishes created as a modern combination of traditional Mediterranean cuisine and segments of molecular gastronomy.

Needless to say, it’s a very ambitious promise, and I’m curious to see to what extent it will or won’t be kept.

The Kadena setting

Once my Uber has dropped me off at the end of a dead end, I still have a few meters to walk in a small passageway to get to the restaurant.

The restaurant is divided into two parts: first, a large terrace that can be covered in case of bad weather.

And then there’s a room inside, with a much poorer view.

It’s in this second part that I’ll be settled.

The Kadena menu

I found the menu rather rich for a restaurant with a gastronomic vocation.

In fact, you’ll find just about every component of local cuisine, along with the Italian influence, all with the added touch of sophistication that justifies the promise. But what I also notice is the condition of the card itself, stained and damaged, not in keeping with the image of the place.

For this dinner I’ll be choosing the “seafood platter” (an assortment of three cold starters) as a starter and the sea bass as a main course. Finally, for dessert I’ll have the house specialty, the Kadena.

The meal and the dishes

Let’s start with my arrival at the restaurant. I wait for a while before being taken care of. Then a butler in white gloves leads me to a table…not yet set. I’ll wait a full minute before it’s set up under my gaze.

Even though it’s the beginning of the service (the restaurant won’t really fill up until a little later) I find the room in a “bizarre” state, to say the least: tables of 4 set up for 2, some place settings with or without napkins… If not improvisation, at least unpreparedness.

I have a glass of local wine while waiting for my order to be taken. It “stings” a little more than at Süg or the hotel restaurant.

My order is finally taken with a big smile. The waiter takes the time to advise me…and when I hesitate between two dishes, always recommends the more expensive one. We’ll see how sincere all this is…

But to be honest, at this stage I feel a bit like the dog in a bowling alley.

They bring me bread and olive oil. The white-gloved service is a little too much, in my opinion.

Here, at last, is my starter: a trio of swordfish tartare with pistachio powder, tuna carpaccio and shrimp marinated in orange juice on a bed of truffle-scented goat’s curd.

The presentation is very well done, which is a good first point.

The carpaccio lacks a bit of flavor compared to the one I ate the day before, but it’s true that it’s not matured. It is somewhat “saved” by the herbs that accompany it.

The goat’s cheese and truffle combination is delicious, the shrimp adds freshness, and the orange adds an interesting sweet-savory note that quickly fades behind the truffle.

The swordfish tartare is not bad, and the pistachio enhances the taste a little.

After this globally successful starter, my apprehension begins to fade.

For the main course I’ll take a slightly more expensive wine, the first not having convinced me.

The dish arrives: a fillet of sea bass with smoked langoustines, chard and potatoes.

Here again, the presentation is very successful.

Nothing to say about the fish: the flesh is just right, the skin a little caramelized…a successful cooking. Simple but effective.

The side dish is fresh and goes perfectly with it.

A very successful dish, but it’s a simple one once you put aside the presentation efforts. But isn’t quality about achieving simple things without overdoing them?

For dessert, it’s the house signature dessert: the Kadena. It’s a chocolate soufflé with truffle ice cream, chocolate and almond crumble and apple and pear cream.

Once again, the presentation is impeccable and the promise of dessert is fulfilled. Very surprising truffle ice cream….

All in all, a fine meal. A little creativity, beautiful presentations and nothing to complain about in terms of execution. But in terms of the restaurant’s promise, I think it’s a bit oversold.

Service at Kadena

If in the end I have nothing to say about the dinner, it’s the service that gave me cause for concern. The first few moments were laborious, with a lot of waiting and unpreparedness…and then everything went smoothly with very friendly, professional and efficient staff.

On the other hand, I was once again confronted with the “end of the course syndrome”: the time between finishing my main course and finally being able to order my dessert was once again too long.

The atmosphere at Kadena

Maybe the atmosphere on the terrace was a little better, but in the part of the room where I was, it was absent. Neither good nor bad, absent. The place doesn’t really exude anything special.

Bottom line

Expectations were high for this Michelin-referenced gourmet restaurant, and I don’t think they were met. It’s creative, it’s good, but it’s missing a bit of the promise. I thought I’d see something else in terms of innovation.

The service was good, but the impression of improvisation at the beginning of the meal created a halo effect on the whole evening.

A 64 euro dinner is expensive, very expensive, for Croatia, but very acceptable for a Parisian used to paying a lot for services that are not always up to expectations. So a good experience without being exceptional. There are two things missing from this restaurant: to follow through on its promise and a bit of charm.

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