Address: 104d Customs Street West
Phone: (09) 307 0936
What do you say about a place where the plain oysters come draped over a plastic bonsai tree, where the tiny squares of beef tataki are displayed on a platter about half a metre long and where they offer three differently coloured Himalayan salt rocks for grating at the table?
Pretentious? Tacky?
Oddly, Industry Zen is neither (well, okay, perhaps a bit flakey if you are going to be austere). It is just fun and gets away with its excesses of presentation and its hyperbolic menu because the food is, mostly, very good.
I have some sympathy with the person who on being told he was being taken to a Japanese restaurant groaned: "Oh, excellent. Seaweed, tofu and raw fish." But the stand-out dishes from the large variety we sampled were the meat offerings. Our grilled lamb racks were superb, so much so that we decided to have the salmon cooked in the same way and that was equally good.
The reason we had so many dishes is that this is essentially a provider of bites, described in that confusing international way as tapas. They come in several categories from "fresh and raw", through Samurai wraps (whatever that may mean) to salad tapas, power tapas, teppan tapas and the great robata grills.
We dived into most categories and had some unexpected pleasures. One of us, who finds the idea of eating cephalopods inexplicable, found herself enjoying the fried squid legs, which came described as a spider wrap.
The rather good joke of serving two skewers of beef described as a battle between wagyu and New Zealand meat had the punchline of both being excellent. Inevitably, not everything is totally successful. The pork cutlets were not bad, it's just that we have had better and the crispy prawn croquettes went a little flabby.
The simpler things were outstanding and we all enjoyed the terrific fresh oysters and wonderful pickles. Knowing where to stop is something of a problem and we did treat ourselves to a modest second round of ordering before deciding the desserts deserved at least some attention.
The Zen brulee turned out to be a good version of the French classic, even if it did come decked out in some sort of trellis and the green tea icecream, which they had the wit to describe as a cliche, was good although the condensed milk garnish seemed more in the tradition of Ohakune than Osaka.
All this frolic is provided in attractive and roomy surroundings graced with a screen playing Japanese movies until it is whisked away to allow the chefs to greet the customers in rather intimidating style.
After a bad start, in which I thought I might die before being offered a drink, the service was good with the food arriving piping hot.
If it's your birthday it might be as well to keep quiet about it unless you have a taste for sculling sake from a large shallow dish, surrounded by shouting waiters.
Eating here is all about show business and we enjoyed the show.
Rating out of 10
Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Ambience: 9
Our meal: $182.50 for plenty of food, three desserts, two beers and five glasses of wine.
Our wine: The Carrick Riesling and Seresin Pinot Gris, from a good list with a reasonable selection by the glass, held their own with the food. There is lots of sake on offer, of course, and beer including Sapporo.
Verdict: It may be unforgivably retro to describe somewhere as funky but that label fits. Lively, entertaining and good food too.
