Hotel d'Urville

Definitely the best restaurant in Blenheim downtown. They have a wine list that emphasized on Marlborough wine (Of Course!). Hotel d'Urville is on par with any top class restaurant in Auckland. Their scallop entree from the Autumn menu is to die for (unfortunately it is winter now). Venison (regular) and quail (winter) entree is also very good. Their lamb on the menu is excellent but their best stuff is usually their fish special of the day. The bone-in Snapper is a treat. Price wise you will be looking for $80 per person before beverages.

Industry Zen - 2pm lunch

I am walking around aimlessly in the city and find myself hungry at 2pm. I drive past Industry Zen and recall someone recommended that to me. So I walk in and God I don't know I am in for a treat.

Their menu is really extensive, with all kinds of food from Robatayaki to full course dinner. Since it is lunch they do not offer robatayaki so I order Wagyu beef, Otoro sashimi. I also order shrimp tempura and "five styles teriyaki chicken" base on recommendation of the staff.

The Wagyu beef is to die for. It comes up with raw Wagyu beef and torched it in front of you, so you could control how cooked it is. The Wagyu beef is the best wagyu I had tasted in Auckland. The dish is quite expensive (upper 20s for 3 piece of thin beef) but it worth every penny.

I ordered two pieces of Otoro (bluefin tuna belly). It is good Otoro, melt in your mouth, and serve with fresh wasabi. Though in Otoro I usually use minimum amount of wasabi so I could taste the full extent of the taste of the fish.

The shrimp tempura is rather disappointing. It is not bad, but it has nothing differ itself from other well made tempura. To me, a well made tempura is a must for any Japanese restaurant. If they cannot make proper tempura they might as well close their store. For a place as fancy as Industry Zen I expect they come up with something that can top the normal tempura but it is not the case here.

The last dish is teriyaki chicken in 5 different styles. It is basically 5 different sauces to go with teriyaki chicken. This dish really showcase what the vision of the chef as not only the visual presentation is wonderful, but the sauces compliment the chicken very nicely. I am skeptical at first as I think teriyaki chicken are nothing but low end generic food but this chef really make wonderful variation out of the generic category.

Overall Industry Zen is a wonderful place, but the price do not come cheap. I ordered the above and 2 small sake and I pay almost $100 for this meal. Definitely worth it, but not a place I can come week. Industry Zen is definitely in for contention for the best of Japanese food in Auckland.

Tanto Japanese Dining - 18 December 2010

Tanto Japanese Dining

250 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland

09-5222300

tanto.co.nz

Tanto just opened in November, 2010 and I went there on recommendation of a friend. I went there by myself on a Saturday at 7pm. They only have 1 seat at the bar left. I ordered 2 piece of sushi, a Japanese pancake (Don Don Yaki) and Owanmushi for my dinner in addition to a desert.

The sushi is so-so. Not bad by any means, but nothing special to write home about either. They also don't have fresh wasabi.

The Don Don Yaki is a variance of Okonomiyaki - various savory stuffing wrapped in a pancake. It is a very favourful dish and it tastes good. The flavour is strong but not overwhelming. If you like the stronger flavour style of Japanese food, you would like this dish

Owanmushi is steamed egg custard with seasonal vegetables, prawn and chicken. (According to the menu). The egg is steamed really well. Very smooth surface and the egg melts in your mouth. I love steaming eggs at home and I never steam the egg as perfect as this one. The custard is also very flavourful - it is likely they added flavourful stocks instead of just water to the egg. However, I do not see much seasonal vegetables in the egg (I don't consider the broccoli "seasonal vegetables" and I am expecting the vegetables infuse with the custard) , and I only see one piece of prawn and a tiny piece of chicken in the custard. That is rather disappointing as that is billed as a "specialities" and it should be considered as a main.

Finally I opted for dessert which is poached pear. As in most Japanese restaurant, their dessert is nothing special. I believe a good poached pear is supposed to infused everything in the dish together (in this case, the pear, ice-cream and jelly) and it fails to do so here.

Overall it is not a bad meal by any means. With everything I ordered in addition to a large sake, this meal only cost me $54. Not considering the drinks one can easily walk away with less than $30 for their tab per person. With this quality of food there should be no complaint. Tanto is a restaurant where you go when you are on a budget, want to eat some well-made food, but you are not aiming to eat something fancy like Wagyu or bluefin tuna.

Yealands Riesling Marlborough 2008

A riesling bursting with apple and citrus flavour, but the wine lack complexity to make it a great wine. Still a good everyday drinking wine and good for its price range (about $20/ bottle)

Esk Valley Reserve merlot malbac cabernet sauvignon 2006

It has a very dark red color, almost purple. Its aroma is very ripe red fruit with spicy overtone and a hint of chocolate. It is a full body wine with still strong, but not undesirable tannin in the wine. The wine will benefit for another couple years of ageing for sure. The retail price is $65 but I got it at $34.

Lake Chalice Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008

It has a crimson red color and a light body. The first aroma I get is developed aroma such as pleasant bacon fat and barnyard. I also has red berry flavor with a hint of spicy overtone. It is a fruity wine with minimal amount of tannin and nice acid balance with a hint of sugar lingering. The wine is sold at glengarry for between $20-$30

Vidal Syrah Reserve 2005

dark red in color with a medium body, this wine has plum, herbs, blackcurrant, peppery and smoky aroma on the nose. On the palate it has hint of chocolate and coffee taste. A very good and complex Syrah. I bought it at $33/ bottle. The original price is $55/ bottle.