Ozeki on Tory
My beau and I have walked down Tory Street just about every day this week, as we’ve made our way to the Paramount for the wonderful World Cinema Showcase. Strolling along one evening, the transformation of this former backstreet suddenly hit me, a revelation I put down to the portacabin now resident on the building site of Il Casino apartments.
Of course the Tory Street precinct has been on the rise for years, building up around the bastions of Moore Wilson’s, Caffe L’affare and Brooklyn Bread & Bagels. By late 2012 when Il Casino apartments are completed along with its three-storey glass-fronted restaurant, I expect Tory Street will already be well past the point of critical mass. It’s blink-and-you-miss it round here.
In the upper reaches of Tory – just beyond ‘Havana Lane’ – Ozeki Japanese restaurant opened in February. It’s right on the edge of the CBD, although in Wellington this means it’s still only a five-minute walk from Courtenay Place. You’ll make it in three if you’re hungry.
This out-of-the-way location no doubt accounts for Ozeki’s sumo-sized premises. You could fit Miyabi Sushi in here about ten times over, and it seats a good hundred bods without bumping elbows. This is an optimistic outfit in the current economic climate, but the place was doing a reassuringly decent trade when we visited last Thursday.
The cavernous ground floor space has been stripped back to its bare bones and competently painted and polished. The mechanical bits are still on show – vents, cable trays and suchlike – but the obligatory samurai sword and red lanterns do a good job of diverting your gaze. All things considered it’s an A for ambience, a clue to the nous of the owner – he’s come from Hede, the popular Japanese restaurant at the bottom end of Cuba.
Fans of Japanese food will find many familiar items on the menu here. We made a beeline for our favourites, starting with takoyaki, deep fried octopus balls rolled in papery bonito flakes. While the texture was too squelchy, they tasted good, and the same can be said of the gyoza. Although the filling was tasty, these potsticker dumplings hadn’t stuck to the pot, and had soggy bottoms instead of chewy, golden ones. Some welcome crunch came with the karaage chicken, little nibbles in a thin, crispy coating, and rather addictive when dipped in their sauce.
We also enjoyed a plate of sushi and sashimi, which featured a range of fresh fish. As for the meal sets – a main dish accompanied by rice, miso and salad – there were more options than we’ve seen elsewhere in town, all keenly priced at $15–20. At the recommendation of our waiter we branched out into the yakiniku set, lightly smoky and sweet chicken that made a nice change from intensely flavoured teriyaki.
On the one hand cheap and tasty, and the other a bit slinky and flash, Ozeki’s main challenge will be attracting foot traffic. But it looks like Tory Street is totally up for that.
$60 for two excluding drinks; BYO; 161 Tory Street, tel 897-0818; Ozeki’s website is under construction.
- By Sarah, 5 comments
- Posted 27 April 2011
5 comments
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I went here on a Friday night after work with some colleagues, and whilst I found the pricing to be excellent, the food was so so and the service very slow and very poor; despite it being busy, I really don't think waiting 45 minutes for food to be brought out over a 15 minute window to various seats at the table to be good enough.
By Stu, 9 June 2011
We had an office dinner here on Friday. The food was priced well and generally good. However the service was extremely slow. We arrived at 7, staff took our orders at 7.45ish, and meals started arriving almost an hour and a half later, served over a 20 min period. The noise level was unbearable in the room we were in - some sound-absorbing decor wouldn't go amiss. I would probably eat here again in a small party of 2-4 but do not recommend it for large groups.
By Rena, 9 July 2011
I've only gone there (regularly) for lunch and am addicted.
The service is fast and the food is wonderful. I'm no critic but my taste buds and I go way back and we know what we like and we like Ozeki, very much.
By Sola, 10 July 2011
I came across Ozeki on my journey to find some quality, reasonably priced Japanese food in Wellington. I had been around many of the "Japanese" joints in the city, only to find that what they served was pseudo-Japanese food made by every other ethnicity other than Japanese.
At the time, I had a specific craving: karaage (fried chicken). I hit up all the restaurants in central Wellington, only to find that it wasn't on the menu (Keeping in mind that this dish is pretty much the kumara chips of Japan).
Finally, I found what I was looking for on the menu of Ozeki. I was stoked.
Now for the review...
I went in for a quick lunch, just after 1pm. The place was pretty empty, 3 tables including myself. I ordered the set E, which consisted of teriyaki chicken, edamame beans, miso soup, rice and karaage.
My meal came out very quickly, less than 15 minutes, however I definitely would not have minded to wait a little longer if that meant that my karaage/chicken would have been cooked properly. It wasn't just pink, it was actually raw in the middle.
The edamame beans were far to salty, the handful of rice was over-cooked, the miso soup was too watery and the teriyaki chicken was below average.
Considering the volume of the meal, $16 is fairly reasonable, that is, if the chicken was cooked properly.
I would like to give this place a second chance, perhaps try their takoyaki or gyoza, however, I doubt that I will be going here again anytime soon.
2.5/5 for me.
Also, the staff seemed very indifferent to the fact that I was served uncooked chicken and instead asked if I was interested in dessert... not happy.
By Yota, 26 September 2011
Went to Ozeki today for lunch. First visit. Love Japanese food and this was ok. Got a "set" lunch $16 for miso, noodles, tempura, sushimi and sushi. Very, very quiet and the service was pretty unfriendly, despite the lack of patrons. All in all food ok and good value for money but not sure I will be back. Might be better at night?
By Catherine, 14 February 2012