Kurētā: Dinner at the Chef's Elbow

At Kurētā in the JW Marriott Auckland, chef Akihiro “Aki” Nakamura serves a 10-course omakase so close you can hear the knife.

Kurētā's guests sit around a long marble counter while Aki and his team work the teppan and the cutting board an arm’s length away. Every fillet is sliced and every rack carved within half a metre of your plate.

Aki is comfortable at that distance. Born in Gifu, he started cooking in Tokyo at 18 and spent 13 years training in Japanese fine dining before moving to New Zealand in 2008, where he made his name at Katsura. He has been at Kurētā for a year, and the room suits him. “I always worked in very small, fine-dining Japanese restaurants,” he says.

What keeps him here in New Zealand is the seafood. “It’s very good for everything,” he says of the local catch. “Sashimi, deep-fried, everything.”

The Immersive 10 Course Omakase (we got the sake and wine match too) follows the traditional Japanese sequence. A fish tartare with kūmara and miso mousse opens the night, followed by chef’s choice sashimi with bluefin tuna.

For me, the marinated kingfish was amazing, and the dry-aged red snapper was just as delicious. The fish hangs in a glass-fronted dry ager by the counter, so you can see what’s coming before it reaches the board.

A chawanmushi gets the luxe treatment with cream cheese, smoked cheddar and truffle oil. Then comes the chef’s special: straw-smoked, dry-aged West Coast spring lamb with yuzu kosho chimichurri and sansho, its racks carved at the counter.

The main is aged Japanese wagyu katsu finished with kina. Grade 5 wagyu, crumbed and topped with sea urchin, was the dish of the night.

It’s unusual to finish an omakase with sushi, but here it works. After a yuzu sake sorbet comes three rounds of nigiri: aged beef, market fish and a hand roll, each shaped in front of you. With the chef right there, it felt like a bit of a moment. They prepare everything in front of you all night, and the attention to detail and the ingredients are remarkable.

Dessert is a sakura panna cotta with rhubarb jam and a salted sakura flower, paired with sake. It’s a gentle finish to a night that’s all about precision.

BOOK AT KURETA.CO.NZ