The new 30-seat restaurant inside Auckland’s JW Marriott hotel provides a blend of Japanese tradition and culinary skill using the best local and international produce.
Many of us will recall the showmanship and spectacle common among known teppanyaki offerings, but you’ll find no egg pieces flipped into your waiting bowl here.
Everything is done with the precise consideration of the best fine dining establishments and reverence for the authentic Japanese ‘Omakase’ (or, ‘trust the chef’ menu approach) and teppanyaki techniques involved.
It is still an incredibly engaging night out, more of an experience than simply a meal, with each dish prepared and cooked on the sizzling plates front of you.
In a dining room tucked down a quiet hallway, guests are seated at four sleek, marble-lined teppan grills that offer a direct view to the ‘open kitchen’ action. It’s the kind of place that feels like you’re getting a private dining experience, even when the place is full.
The menu is designed to deliver epicurean delights, from locally-sourced seafood to the meat and fish prepared in the dry-aging fridges that take pride of place along one wall. Each element is gently enhanced, rather than transformed, using traditional methods of flame and heat.
We enjoyed a 10-course offering with wine and sake matches that provoked surprise and delight from our group.
The highlight has to have been the premium cuts of wagyu sourced from New Zealand, Australia and Japan, but it was the in-between plates that impressed just as much.
It is hard to go past the A5 Wagyu Yaki-shabu served with kina sauce and Mt Cook salmon caviar, but our tastebuds equally recall the Chawanmushi savoury egg custard with truffle cream and even the spicy watermelon gazpacho. Even a simple rice ball is elevated by resting over charcoals for a period.
Kureta has been developed by an experienced team behind the scenes and Chef de Cuisine Akihiro Nakamura leading the food offering.
“I am really looking forward to bringing this vision to life and working to create an interactive and modern Japanese experience for guests,” Chef Akihiro Nakamura, said of the opening.
“We know that guests are looking for authentic, artisanal, and experience-driven dining – and that’s exactly what Kureta will offer by bringing together the southern oceans and volcanic lands of New Zealand with the precision and elegance of Japanese culinary tradition.”
The beverage selection is equally palate-expanding, with a thoughtful curation of aperitifs, sake and wine, largely originating from Japan.
Kureta is open Tuesday to Saturday evenings within Auckland’s JW Marriott hotel.
