THE SUSHI DIVA

Sushi in the Land of the Long White Cloud

Searching for the Best Sushi...in New Zealand

There are a number of reasons why I, with my characteristic zeal, pursued the sushi in Aotearoa, or Land of the Long White Cloud, otherwise known as New Zealand.

Known for its splendid natural beauty and famous for being an extreme sports mecca, New Zealand is also a First World country—I found these factors intriguing enough, so I finally paid a visit. And of course, the food, particularly the sushi, lured me there.

Sure, there were other foods I noshed on which were not classified as Japanese fare—there were the wonderfully greasy lamb burgers as well as fatty slow roasted pork belly sandwiches which were sure unlike any I’d ever tasted in other parts of the world…the food in New Zealand tastes untainted, naked and wholesome, like the pure, untreated vegetables and raw cubes of whale sashimi in Iceland. There were also fresh king prawns, meat pies, green-lipped New Zealand mussels…the list goes on and on.

What most people don’t realize is that sushi really does vary in different parts of the world, whether it’s the types of fish, the serving style, the trading hours or the uber-unusual ingredients. So allow this blog to take you on an Epicurean journey that features some of the very best that I could cram into my calendar—as well as my mouth—in two weeks’ time.

Do look for photos of the feasting in Queenstown, a destination in which I enjoyed the best crayfish maki, and even a Venison Roll, of all things. And don’t overlook the elegance and refinement of the upmarket establishments in Auckland (a vibrant city in which a third of the country’s entire population resides, which to me meant only one thing: good eating).

In two weeks, I managed to cover some of the most eclectic sushi in both the North and South Islands, expecting (and finding) some parallels to the sushi I came across in Australia a few years ago due to New Zealand’s proximity to Oz. From the tortuous metropolis of Auckland to the quaint city with the trademark “rotten egg” smell known as Rotorua, and down to the energetic resort town named Queenstown, you will find everything from pampering service in uppity establishments to the simplicity of grabbing a pair of tongs with which to pluck individually priced pieces of sushi out of display cabinets in more casual joints.

So let’s get to it….
The Sushi Diva

MASU Japanese Robata Restaurant and Bar in Auckland

MASU of Auckland

Soft-Shell Crab Roll Wrapped in Daikon Radish

Crispy Prawn Roll with Takuan

Spicy Tuna Roll with Jalapeno Mayonnaise

Alaskan King Crab Leg with Smoked Wasabi Lime Butter

Kingfish Sashimi Salad with Yuzu Truffle Dressing

Introducing MASU of Auckland, New Zealand

After doing some research, I decided on two of the most fancy dining establishments in Auckland based on cursory reviews (and the simple fact that these restaurants had four “dollar signs” as opposed to two or three, which suggested to me that perhaps expensive equaled qualitative). These restaurants were MASU and Cocoro, the first of which is located near SkyCity Tower right next to The Grand Hotel on the fine dining row known as Federal Street. Could it have been more obvious that this one might be positively indulgent?

I was on a high, and I mean a high!—as the servers greeted me just as servers would greet you in a posh place named MASU Japanese Robata Restaurant and Bar by Executive Chef Nic Watt, which boasts a stellar list of awards and menus with heaps of extraordinary choices littered with the likes of black cod and Japanese Black Wagyu Beef, ingredients exotically named coriander (known merely as cilantro in California), silken tofu, and even honey (which is quite a common ingredient in New Zealand).

Ever longing for the best view of the action, I sat at the sushi bar and just enjoyed watching as chefs, male and female, lay yellow takuan and spears of chives in rolls they have started preparing. One chef makes dual use of white daikon radish—tightly rolling sheets of the daikon and standing them up like stalks, ready to use them as the wrap they put around my Age Watari Gani, or Fried Soft-shell Crab Roll, which they filled with chives, cucumbers and yuzu kosho mayonnaise; or shredding the daikon into a garnish to be used for sashimi dishes, all of it done with precision using one hell of a sharp knife.

The white daikon wrap around a Soft-shell Crab Roll is reminiscent of Nobu’s style, but not even Nobu applies takuan, also known as oshinko, inside his version of this roll. (Though I’ve never seen it used in a soft-shell crab roll, the pickled yellow radish surprisingly enhances the flavor of the crispy crustacean.)

I order more maki, for I am ravenous! And the Crispy Prawn with avocado, sweet soy, and takuan for NZ $12.60 (Americans currently pay about 75 cents to their dollar) sounds appealing. The Spicy Tuna Roll with jalapeno mayonnaise, avocado and chives for NZ $16.90 also did not disappoint.

Then from the Robata Grill, I chose the ultimate—the Alaskan King Crab Leg with smoked wasabi lime butter for NZ $32. The gigantic crab leg that was presented to me in a V-formation was split and piled to the hilt with chunks of fleshy white and pink crab meat, topped with a burnt-orange creamy sauce that wasn’t redolent of wasabi at all, but rather a tangy, aromatic mayonnaise, with portions burnt to a crisp, the side of minty green salad lending an acrid contrast to the heavy sweet crab. They divulge a secret—that the crab meat is actually derived from various crab legs, then piled back into the shell in fluffy formation—though that should’ve been obvious to me, given the easy manner in which the meat lifted from the shell. There was no scraping, no digging, no work, as is usually involved in hollowing out crab legs. This is because sometimes one crab leg may be less meaty than another, the waiter explained, and they do their best to create a sense of uniformity in all their servings.

Just like in Australia, for some reason yellowtail in New Zealand is also often referred to as kingfish. Thinly sliced kingfish was served in my final last dish here at MASU—Kingfish Sashimi Salad with Yuzu Truffle Dressing, the fish so diaphanous that the pieces are translucent and rip with a mere prod of my chopsticks. This dish came with a bed of refreshing greens that tasted like they were straight out of a Vietnamese restaurant (not surprising, considering Watt also opened Madame Hanoi Bar & Bistro in Australia).

The service is impeccable; my water glass was always filled to the brim from sleek decanters as I watched more chefs chop and prep and roll the night away.

“Cheers,” they say in their Kiwi accents. It’s an expression of thanks that I will keep hearing in this country for the next two weeks. It’s also one of the things I don’t need to ask them to repeat just so I can understand what is being said.

MASU

90 Federal Street, Auckland, New Zealand

+64 9 363 6278

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