If you’ll spend $200 on a concert ticket, why not spend the same on a world-class meal?
The first thing to tell you about Kazuya is that in 2016 I came to eat here and had a choice between the five-course menu for $65 or the seven-course menu for $100.
Part of this is an indication that New Zealand diners have finally learnt fine food is worth paying for. But I think mostly it reflects the costs of doing business. Food costs are up, rent is up, insurance is up. Labour costs are up too, though these guys are partly insulated there, given that chef Kazuya Yamauchi himself heads up the kitchen and his wife works the floor (their 10-year-old son keeps himself busy with homework and games upstairs, though it can surely only be a matter of time before he finds a tea towel in his Christmas stocking).
Anyway, has your salary gone up by 250% in the past nine years? If not, you might be starting to understand how, for normal people, restaurants have increasingly become out of reach. The only thing that has kept up with dining inflation is concert ticket inflation, and I’ll say the same thing to you now that I said more than a decade ago: if you’re willing to spend $200 on an Ed Sheeran ticket you shouldn’t feel bad about spending the same amount on a world class meal (and, of course, the latter will be much more nutritious).
Kazuya is the least talked about of Auckland’s top restaurants, and you can’t tell what’s going on in there by walking past because the dining room has no windows. Having heard nothing for several years, I booked a table hoping for proof of life, and found an almost perfect restaurant, operated with the sort of kind efficiency that characterises the owners’ home country of Japan. It was filled with Japanese diners when I visited, and I wonder if it’s these expats who keep the wheels of commerce turning.
There’s no à la carte option; the main difference between the five- and seven-course menu is the inclusion of Kazuya’s impressive signature dish “Textures”, in which he cuts, carves and grates 30 different vegetable varieties onto each plate. Each piece of produce is tiny, which must make the green grocer rub his chin when he sees the order sheet. What does the chef do on a busy night? Call up his supplier and advise that he’s going to need an entire carrot?
My wife, who treats her first drink choice as a question of theological importance, was torn between a New Zealand Methode and a sparkling sake. We were so glad we went for the latter which, aside from being competitively priced, was a perfect aperitif to a night of Japanese eating.
Is it Japanese eating, though? Well, sort of. Kazuya made his name at a big Italian restaurant in Tokyo and so there is a real European influence throughout, but once a cuisine has gone through the lens of Japan, it becomes a beautiful third thing (see curry, pizza, hamburgers).
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Advertise with NZME.The meal begins and ends with a parallel experience that showcases the imagination of the guy in the kitchen. First, a sphere of golden kumara soup - yes, sphere of soup - arrives on an ornate spoon. You put the whole thing in your mouth and it explodes into liquid form. Your final mouthful of the night is just as interesting - a petit fours that turns into popping candy as you suck it, the physical reaction so intense you can hear the crackling in your mouth.
Kazuya’s bread course is one of Auckland’s best - stretchy, crusty “mochi” baguette with premium olive oil, butter, salt and honey. Sashimi was delicate and wonderful - a scallop mousse at the bottom of the small pile adding richness, while a swoosh of sesame puree gave flavour. They were using trevally and, when we visited, a special sliver or two of paua.
Another seafood dish arrives in a tall triangular glass - fragments of plump prawn with a “carrot and orange caramel”, some almond fragments then a seafood foam on top. The “main” courses of the degustation were more familiar: a good risotto with a small, rendered portion of pork belly, and a piece of eye fillet sliced artfully over vegetables. Poured over with a dark jus, it was red-pink inside with big roasty flavours on the surface and is probably the city’s most decadent way to increase your iron count. Finally, a strawberry dessert with yoghurt mousse was light, seasonal and wonderful.
Anything to improve? The music is a little tinny - a combo perhaps of a big wooden room and an insufficient sound system. As with a lot of New Zealand restaurants, the cheese course is a little mean portion-wise. Having been to another fine dining restaurant recently, where it felt like you were at someone’s fun dinner party, I’ve decided that Kazuya’s quiet refinement may not suit everyone for every occasion.
“Has the menu changed much over the years?” I asked the maitre d’ towards the end.
“It changes every season,” she replied.
Perhaps, at Kazuya, time is circular rather than linear. In any case, it is a restaurant any serious Auckland food lover should have in their orbit.
Kazuya
Cuisine: Japanese-European
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Advertise with NZME.Address: 193 Symonds St, central Auckland, 09 377 8537
Drinks: Fully licensed
Reservations: Accepted
From the menu: Tasting menu $160pp
Rating: 18/20
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.
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