Ponsonby's Azabu does smart Japanese/Peruvian food

Azabu restaurant review

Metro Top 50 2018 restaurant Azabu in Ponsonby serves smart Japanese/Peruvian food.

Azabu’s Ponsonby Rd frontage is a mysterious letterbox-shaped window carved into a wall next to an oversized door. Open it and you enter the dimly lit dining room, which extends corridor-like on to Maidstone Lane, and the restaurant’s Roji Bar out the back. Near-touching tables amp up the rowdiness of this place, which, with ex-Ebisu host Ken Toyota at the helm, always seems to balance smartness with fun. Chef Yukio Ozeki’s shared-plates menu is legitimately fusion: a hybrid Japanese/Peruvian cuisine called Nikkei. The tuna sashimi tostada illustrates the mash-up: wasabi tartare alongside jalapeño and fish on a tostada strewn with coriander. With an ever-changing selection of Japanese whiskies and cocktails, it’s business time at the front, party out the back.

What it offers Shared-plate options / Good for vegetarians / Good for kids (kids’ menu) / Bar / Craft beer selection / Japanese whisky selection
A favourite dish Eggplant tempura with hatcho miso and spring onion.
Awards Finalist, Best Drinks List
Hours Lunch Wed-Sun, Dinner 7 days
Price $$
Seats 100
Chef Yukio Ozeki