Tatsumi Modern Japanese Cuisine, Newmarket

Jane & I had heard that the highly praised Tatsumi had moved to Auckland from Christchurch due to the earthquake. Last night we decided to try them out at their location in Newmarket.

The restaurant is nicely lit, has lovely decor, music quiet in the background (there was cabaret at one point), a nice ambience and professional wait staff.

We were presented with an amuse bouche from the kitchen to start that was a nicely seared tuna with a lightly chilli-avocado puree.

We then both started with a Miso soup and the Assorted Appetizer. The assortment included six different appetisers, including a tofu and fungus salad, marinated snapper, smoked venison with blue cheese and a balsamic drizzle (this was a combination that worked surprisingly well), a fish dish that had a nice level of chilli to spice, lotus fruit that had a nice texture, and beef tataki with a balsamic jelly. These were beautifully presented, tasted nice and were well balanced in flavour.

I couldn’t go past the Soft Shell Crab salad on the mains. The crab was beautifully tender and it tasted like it was spiced with white pepper, the accompanying salad was also well seasoned with a light chilli flavour, and the tortilla provided a nice crunch. The crab was however unfortunately not very flavoursome detracting from what was otherwise a superb dish.

Jane had a beautifully presented Spicy Tuna Roll that had magnificently soft tuna however we both found the tuna to be lacking in flavour.

For dessert, Jane had an Apricot Seed BlancMange and Jelly, accompanied by Kohu Road Vanilla Ice-cream. This was a lovely dessert and Jane claimed to be the highlight of her meal.