Kanka Cocina is part steakhouse, part bodegón and very much a home. Meat takes center stage, with unusual cuts and pieces that arrive at the table with fire as their ally. But there is much more around the grill: recipes with a homemade spirit, furniture that looks like it has a story to tell and a plant-filled terrace. There is something about the atmosphere that invites you to take your time and linger over the sobremesa.
From the outside, you wouldn’t necessarily guess what’s happening behind the doors. Located on Avenida Dorrego, the façade is easy to overlook, but once inside, a warm space filled with objects that seem to have come from a classic Buenos Aires home gives the restaurant a sort of Mercado de Pulgas feel, thanks in part to the flea market right next door. There are pieces of furniture from different eras, decorative objects, wooden tables and old-fashioned-looking tableware that complete the feeling of eating in someone’s home. Nothing feels overly calculated and, precisely because of that, the whole place feels welcoming and lived-in.
Kanka CocinaRestaurante
The open kitchen adds movement to the dining room and offers a glimpse of some of the work that goes into the dishes, while upstairs there is a terrace surrounded by greenery, more relaxed and removed from the bustle of the avenue. It’s one of those places that feels very different from what you imagine when you walk past the door to what you discover once you’re inside.
The restaurant is open from breakfast through dinner, with a menu that moves between the steakhouse, contemporary bodegón and home cooking. It’s the kind of place where you might walk in thinking only about eating meat and end up discovering that there’s much more to the menu.
Kanka CocinaRestaurante
Kanka’s story also helps explain this mix. The restaurant opened in 2021, founded by Mariana Hernández and Hernán Méndez: she is a cook from Tucumán, while he is a butcher and the person behind PIAF, a project specializing in carefully selected meats. The duo found common ground between two trades: knowledge of meat and cooking. From there came an idea that runs throughout the menu, which they call “cuts and cooking methods”: getting to know each piece, understanding its structure and deciding the best way to cook it over the fire.
A steakhouse that goes beyond the usual cuts
Here, the menu deserves some time. There are grass-fed cuts, dry-aged pieces and less familiar options, selected according to the animal’s origin, the amount of fat, the bone and the characteristics of each piece.
Among the highlights are the T-bone, combining tenderloin and strip steak; the tomahawk, with its characteristic long bone; the ribeye, dry-aged in-house, as well as skirt steak, arañita, short ribs, marucha and beef and pork picanha. There are also lesser-known cuts, such as El Secreto, a firm-textured cut reminiscent of flank steak.
Kanka CocinaRestaurante
One of the most interesting things we discovered during our visit is that at Kanka, the cuts aren’t chosen simply to make the menu more extensive, but as part of a specific approach to each one. The team studies the structure of the meat and determines which cooking method works best for each piece. Those destined for aging go through a dry-aging process under controlled temperature and humidity, which concentrates the flavors and changes the texture.
The fire also plays its part. The grill uses quebracho colorado and espinillo wood, a combination chosen for its intensity and long burn time, but also for the aromas it gives the meat.
To start, we tried the provoleta, golden on the outside and creamy inside, with that intense, slightly smoky flavor it picks up from the fire. It arrived perfectly melted, with crispy edges and a texture that made us want to cut another piece. Then we went for the skirt steak, cooked just right, tender and flavorful, served with carrots with beetroot hummus and Provençal-style mushrooms. Delicious. For dessert, we went for the homemade almendrado, a simple but comforting and well-executed ending.
Kanka CocinaRestaurante
Beyond the grill: a menu worth exploring
Although meat is at the heart of the concept, Kanka isn’t a traditional steakhouse where everything revolves around asado. The menu opens up to bodegón classics and family recipes.
Starters include potato tortilla with prawns and goat cheese, mbejú with mushrooms, avocado and a griddled egg, and warm camembert with roasted pears. Then come dishes such as potato pie with braised ossobuco, revuelto gramajo and milanesa a caballo.
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Kanka CocinaRestaurante
There are also sandwiches, including one of the cook’s most personal touches: the Tucumán-style beef milanesa sandwich, made with bread baked in-house. Mariana’s cooking also draws on memories of the lunches she shared with her grandmother, who was of Syrian descent, an influence that appears in some of the recipes and comes together with flavors from Tucumán.
The side dishes follow the same logic: mashed potatoes with mushrooms, roasted vegetables, Provençal-style mushrooms and carrots with beetroot hummus. Many of the ingredients change with the seasons, and much of the preparation is done in-house.
Kanka CocinaRestaurante
From morning to night
The restaurant is open all day, starting with breakfast, coffee and pastries. There are toast with cultured butter, jam and homemade dulce de leche, scrambled eggs with avocado and crispy bacon, and a bagel with cured beef tenderloin. The brunch includes a savory option or French toast, yogurt, pastries of the day, juice, vermouth and coffee or tea. Even the coffee selection includes some less common options, such as carob and mistol coffee.
Kanka CocinaRestaurante
At lunchtime, there are daily-changing set menus, while in the afternoon the restaurant shifts gears again: from 6:30 to 9pm, happy hour features vermouth, beer and wine by the glass, accompanied by options such as Swiss chard fritters, grilled pizza and revuelto gramajo.
A table to linger over
The wine list follows the same philosophy. The selection, developed alongside sommelier Beltrán Crucci, focuses on small wineries, independent projects and bottles from different regions of Argentina. There are whites, reds, rosés, orange wines and sparkling wines, as well as several options by the glass.
After our visit, it’s clear that Kanka isn’t trying to be just a steakhouse with good cuts. Meat is the starting point, but around it you’ll find family recipes, seasonal produce, wines from small producers and an atmosphere that avoids any sense of formality.
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Kanka CocinaRestaurante
There’s something deliberately everyday about the concept: you can come for a cut of meat you’ve never tried, sit down for a vermouth on the terrace, stop by for a weekday lunch or come back for a dish that reminds you of home cooking.
And perhaps that’s the key. Between dry-aged cuts, embers, family recipes and bodegón dishes, the experience ends up feeling less like a contemporary steakhouse and more like a neighborhood home you’re happy to return to.
Kanka Cocina
Av. Dorrego 1681, Palermo.
Wednesday to Monday, 9am to midnight. Closed Tuesdays.
Dining and Cooking