Cocoro (3)

56a Brown St, Ponsonby. Ph 360-0927, cocoro.co.nz.
Lunch & dinner Tuesday-Saturday.

Best Asian Restaurant * Top Ten Restaurant 2013 * Winner: Best Drinks List * Runner-up: Best Smart-Dining Restaurant * Highly Commended: Best Chef (Makoto Tokuyama)

Chef Makoto Tokuyama has been a revelation and an inspiration in this city. His restaurant Cocoro is modern Japanese: in a lovely room with traditional Japanese notes that doesn’t insist on being all bamboo and blossom branches, he serves beautiful, beautiful food. No forests of shredded vegetable tangles; instead, tempura as light as air; sashimi presented as precious little slabs of joy; all manner of concoctions to surprise and delight, and one of the very best steaks you’ll find in town, too. The best way to sample these culinary pleasures is with the “omotenashi”, or six-course degustation menu, but if you’re not up for that, don’t worry — it’s all good. The sake list is outstanding and the wine list is pretty good, too. There are several other restaurants in town now chasing hard for Cocoro’s crown as best Asian restaurant, but Tokuyama keeps this place ahead of the game. Superb. $$$$

5 Spoons

A favourite dish: Mushiomono: Queensland spanner crab chawanmushi (custard) with yuzu, Akaroa salmon caviar and ichiban-dashi jus.

Degustation options / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork