THE SUSHI DIVA

Cocoro Presents a Japanese Feast

Angel Prawn and Cucumber Hosomaki

A Beautiful Wasabi Presentation

Bluefin Toro Sushi

New Zealand King Crab Leg Steamed Sashimi

New Zealand Cheese Selection with Rice Crackers

Soy Sauce and Ginger Vanilla Ice Cream

New Style Japanese Cuisine at Cocoro in Auckland

Unlike the boisterous MASU, Cocoro is an understated affair, and rather hidden, in an old brick building in a quiet part of Auckland. With no sushi bar, the only way to catch a glimpse of the chefs in the kitchen is through a long rectangular serving window cut into the wall, from which smartly dressed waiters pick up the plates that are ready to be presented to patrons. A large communal table sits in the center of this small place, catering to groups; intimate dining tables for couples line the walls.

Cocoro features a degustation menu for NZ $89, a nine-course meal which comes with seafood, duck, free-range chicken, and of course, dessert. Cocoro must also be known for its wasabi, for the place serves some of the sweetest tasting real wasabi I’ve ever had; it’s gritty and has the perfect texture.

I knew meringue was popular in New Zealand because of their famous pavlova dessert, but when I found out those orange-hued bits on my long serving tile were actually puffs of meringue with soy sauce, I knew this was no ordinary restaurant. Besides which, my “Angel Prawn and Cucumber Hosomaki Finger Roll Sushi” (NZ $17 for six pieces) was practically an artistic creation, the way the bites of maki were interspersed with haphazardly (yet harmoniously) placed edible flowers, alongside a miniature decorative wooden cutting board of some sort that had a mini mound of real grated wasabi on top.

Cocoro obviously takes presentation very seriously, so it came as no surprise when my single piece of farm-raised Bluefin Toro sushi (NZ $9.50 a piece) arrived on a square volcanic rock plate, or that my “New Zealand King Crab Leg Steamed Sashimi (with special crab caviar, uchiko)” came on an elaborate plate, ornate silver crab-picking tool and all.

“Left side is grilled, right side is chilled,” explained the waitress of my dish of six cut-up pieces of King Crab Leg. (In my opinion, the chilled crab had more flavor and tasted sweeter; the warm side was a bit salty.)

She also imparted that the little bowl of pink and white stuff on my plate is actual crab head meat, that it’s very popular in Japan, and that the saucer with the yellow goop is uchiko sauce, or a sauce made from crab roe. I found that to my slightly Americanized taste buds, the crab head meat tasted a bit strong, but the uchiko sauce was very heady stuff.

Of course, no New Zealand trip would be complete without a cheese plate, so I asked to try the New Zealand Cheese Selection with Rice Crackers for NZ $24. Of the five kinds, the best ones were the cream cheese marinated with sweet miso, the blue cheese, and Manuka Honey-smoked cheddar cheese, obviously an indigenous favorite.

I’m not typically a die-hard for desserts at restaurants, but who could turn down the chance to try soy sauce and ginger-flavored vanilla ice cream with sesame cracker, tempura flakes and droplets of cherry blossom puree? The magical finish came with a perfect touch—a dish of three diminutive sake ganache chocolate balls with Marlborough Flaky Sea Salt.

Cocoro may boast “New Style Japanese Cuisine,” but clearly this is a marriage made in Heaven between the old traditional way and the innovation of bold flavor twists.

Cocoro

56a Brown Street, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand

+64 9 360 0927

Ebisu, Auckland: Modern Sushi in an Old Building

Ebisu: Located in a Historic Building in Auckland

Contemporary Decor in a Century-Old Building

Seared Beef Roll with Goat Cheese and Black Truffle on Top

Ebisu's Goat Cheese Roll in Auckland

If you have the time, as I did during a short layover back in Auckland, why not take an overpriced taxi ride from the airport to Ebisu? The cab driver had tried to con me into paying an exorbitant amount until I haggled and talked it down to a slightly more reasonable total, though it was still overpriced.

Located in a historic building in Auckland’s Britomart precinct, Ebisu was actually not my original choice, but a place called Fukuko, which got a higher rating on my list of Internet-researched picks. But for some reason, Fukuko, not exactly reflective of its online review, turned out to be a tiny and casual izakaya that only served Japanese tacos and snacks. But as luck would have it, Ebisu was by the same owner, and located right down the hall on the other side of the building.

Ebisu featured a full bar and a deejay booth, and although there was no sushi bar, its menu at least showcased sashimi, sushi rolls and nigiri, as well as tempura and side dishes.

I don’t know if it was the goat cheese topping that appealed to me, but a Seared Beef Roll with avocado, spring onion, black truffle, tobiko and goat cheese sounded really good. I am not unfamiliar with the pairing of sushi rice or meat with cheese; I have had bluefin tuna sashimi with Burrata cheese, which was delectable. I have loved almost all the Philadelphia Rolls ever served—you can’t really go wrong with combining cream cheese with raw or smoked salmon—and I have loved eel and avocado rolls with cream cheese added inside them, which you will see once in a while.

I have also had items at sushi bars paired with cheese that turned out to be not so delectable, like a Crab Mozzarella appetizer, or “The Cheese Roll” at a few generic sushi places that try hard to be Americanized. But goat cheese? Had to try it.

The creation was a tasty one, and the goat cheese was definitely the highlight, but the roll was a bit dry—a problem solved when I requested extra truffle oil on the side. Ebisu also features tasty real wasabi, which quizzically mixed well with the truffle oil.

Ebisu

116-118 Quay Street, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
+64 9 300 5271

Sushi To Go at Sushi Gallery of Rotorua, New Zealand

Sushi Gallery of Rotorua, New Zealand

Sushi Gallery: "Japanese Takeaway" Style

Sushi Priced from NZ $.90 to NZ $2.50

Get Here Early for the Best Selection

Fill a Box with Your Favorite Sushi

Sushi Gallery of Rotorua, New Zealand

When in Rotorua, stop by Sushi Gallery, where a friendly Korean owner and sushi master takes pride in filling display cases six days a week with everything from Teriyaki Salmon Inari to Chicken Tender Sushi wrapped with a band of seaweed—all sold by the piece. You can pick up a pair of tongs and a flimsy clear box and grab a single piece, or fill up the entire container if you so desire. The box is so flimsy, it doesn’t even snap shut—a piece of scotch tape is used to seal it when you take it to the counter to pay for it. There’s also a “Party Pack” available if you want to fill up a large round platter and take that to go (these, thankfully, look like they come with a snap-on lid).

The sushi prices here seem to range from NZ $.90 for a piece of Teriyaki Chicken Roll to NZ $2.50 for Salmon Nigiri. The most unusual item? Probably the Spring Roll sushi for NZ $1.90 (two tiny spring rolls sitting on a block of sushi rice, held together, apparently, by the ribbon of seaweed that encircles it all). It is such a work of novelty that I want to laugh and coo at its cuteness at the same time.

A smaller heated display case offers six different types of snacks, most of them fried-looking, from crab nuggets on skewers for NZ $1.50 to onigiri for NZ $3.50. There are also prawn dumplings and shrimp shumai.

“Ginger wasabi?” the owner asks as you pay. “Soy sauce?” The soy sauce comes in little squeezable fish-shaped containers with mini red caps that unscrew. (I infer that the ones I’ve seen with the green caps are the low sodium soy sauces.)

I decline the powder wasabi, the ginger and the soy sauce, but assent to the “honey sauce” and Japanese mayonnaise. He squeezes the mayonnaise onto the Deep Fried Crab Stick sushi I chose, then dribbles some kind of honey syrup into one corner of the box before taping it shut. (Later, I dip the Spring Roll sushi into the honey sauce, which goes perfectly with it. The honey sauce, in my opinion, actually goes well with everything.) I’m given a bowl of miso soup, a napkin, a pair of chopsticks, then it’s time to leave the tiny shop—most customers that sidle in, I notice, take their sushi to go, for there aren’t any tables inside. (The sign does say “Sushi Gallery: Japanese Takeaway.”) Outside, there are a couple of wooden tables at which to sit.

I love the “Pineapple Avocado Cream Cheese Roll” for NZ $1.50 and the “Deep Fried Crab Stick Sushi” for NZ $1.90, because they are unusual. I love them all, actually, because this is a fun, inexpensive way to try multiple types of sushi, though you do have to get here early for the best picks from the fullest display cases. The first time I went in happened to be right before closing time. The owner looked aghast when he saw that I was taking photos of near-empty cases, the arrangements were wonky and a few pieces were tipped on their sides. “Come earlier next time,” he said, embarrassed.

Like Melbourne, Rotorua maintains the strangest “trading hours” for restaurants that I’ve ever seen—open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

I went in at 9:20 a.m. on a different day and the owner was still in the middle of the displaying process, lining up each row of sushi and putting up the corresponding name and price signs. Rotorua is a slow-paced town, where one feels relaxed, never in a rush, for everything, it seems, is within walking distance or a short bus ride away. People are friendly in this laid-back, touristy atmosphere, where time seems to stop.

Outside the restaurant, you might catch a whiff of air that’s tinged with the scent of sulfur, thanks to the city’s geothermal activity, which seeps from cracks in the streets (though the smell is only extremely noticeable when you visit a thermal park).

Sushi Gallery

1230 Tutanekai Street, Rotorua, New Zealand

+64 7 348 2828