Inside The Kōri Kakushi Martini Experience

In the meticulous world of Japanese bartending, ice is never treated as a passive chilling agent, it is an active, living ingredient that dictates the soul of a cocktail. Simultaneously, the definition of a great martini lives and dies by a single, uncompromising metric: temperature.

By fusing these two disciplines, Group Beverage Director Manja Stankovic engineered a groundbreaking signature serve that pushes the absolute boundaries of how cold a martini can go. The name translates directly: Kōri Kakushi (hidden by ice).

The Deep Freeze

• The martini is carefully assembled and poured into bespoke bottles, then housed within solid blocks of ice at -20°C until ordered, locking the spirit at an optimal, piercingly sub-zero temperature.

The Tableside Ritual

• Performed live by the bar team at Mimi Kakushi Dubai, this theatrical ritual has become a global icon in the modern martini world. Watching the bar team carve directly through the solid block of crystal ice to release the bottle mesmerizes guests, turning a simple drink into a viral, internationally celebrated spectacle.

The Custom Garnish

• Guests personalize their serve, choosing from traditional olives and lemons alongside adventurous, unexpected components like pickled daikon and baby carrots.

What began as an avant-garde concept by Manja Stankovic has evolved into a global phenomenon. Today, the Kōri Kakushi Martini stands as one of the most iconic cocktail serves in the industry. Patrons travel from across the globe specifically to Mimi Kakushi Dubai to experience a serve that guests and international peers widely celebrate as one of the coldest, most precise martinis on earth.

The Mottainai Ice Program: Operational Craft & Zero Waste

When you carve through a high-volume service of bespoke martinis night after night, you are left with massive, pristine blocks of remaining clear ice. In a standard operation, those heavy leftovers are simply left to melt away down the service well.

Rejecting that waste, we anchored our process in the Japanese philosophy of Mottainai—a deep-rooted cultural reverence that teaches nothing of true value should ever be squandered. Instead of discarding what remains, those substantial leftover blocks are given an intentional second life.

Harvesting the Remnants

• Rather than writing off residual ice as waste, our bar team captures the heavy, crystal-clear remnants generated from daily flagship production.

Carving Bespoke Shapes

• Those blocks are meticulously re-carved into custom, structural signature shapes of ice.

The Repurposed Program

• What was once destined for the drain is transformed into functional, striking design elements integrated seamlessly back into our cocktail and tasting programs.

True luxury hospitality is defined by what happens behind the scenes. By turning leftover mass into intricate, intentional design, we honor our ingredients from the initial master cut to the final, deliberate pour.

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