The prices are high, but the precise sushi and smoked black cod will impress.
If you’re missing Japan, this restaurant is worth a visit. It’s the closest I’ve found in Auckland to Tokyo’s really high-end restaurants; the knife work is precise, the plateware elegant, and the ingredients carefully sourced and
nurtured.
I know it can be hard to get excited about what prefecture the buckwheat was harvested, which bay they dredged for the scallops, but there are moments in this meal you really do find yourself thinking “where did they get this?”
I was probably more of a “rice is rice” guy until I bit into Goku’s nigiri (the style of sushi where the slice of fish is balanced on top) and experienced their version of it. The grains were shorter, the texture firm … it made me chew a little more, but the process was strangely satisfying.
Meanwhile, the fish (five pieces, five species) tasted completely of itself, seasoned with just a paint-stroke of shoyu, the dark soy sauce barely colouring the flesh but creating fine stripes where it caught the score marks of the sushi-master’s knife.
The chef hid a smidge of wasabi in each piece, barely used any rice vinegar and packed those things tight like bullets before handing them over on the plate like a sombre quartermaster.
Goku’s manuka wood-smoked black cod miso yaki. Photo / Jason Dorday
Goku has a short menu of very expensive dishes – a clear decision to prioritise quality over affordability.
That may be why the restaurant isn’t busier – even in Remmers, there may be a limited number of people with an appetite to pay $68 for a small piece of (exceptionally good) cod on a Tuesday night.
That black cod is their signature dish. I don’t know if Nobu Matsuhisa was the first to take this fish, marinate it in sweet miso and blast it with heat but he certainly made it famous.
Nic Watt does a version of it at Masu but Goku’s iteration is even fancier, the flaky white fish fillet wrapped up in a large leaf and smoked with manuka to create an extra layer of flavour and aroma. It’s a rich mouthful and would have been better with a bowl of rice alongside it; the small fillet ended up being more than enough.
Goku has taken the space on Remuera Rd formerly occupied by Wakuwaku. Photo / Jason Dorday
The atmosphere in Goku is slightly stilted, with a delicate musical soundtrack, lots of echoey wooden surfaces and service staff who engage with you only as much as necessary.
A language barrier makes it challenging to find out more about what you’re eating beyond what’s written on the menu, and though the service was kind and quick, from time to time I would have liked somebody to chat to.
This restaurant used to be Wakuwaku and has retained the layout, including a central sushi bar where you can sit up and watch the master work. But it is all about the food, not the banter, and if you can get your head around that (and the prices) before you arrive, you’ll enjoy the experience a lot more.
You’ll enjoy their mixed tempura, though you may feel a little short-changed on the condiments. They supply a small bowl of tentsuyu for dipping on the side but none of the chilli or, crucially, salt that you’d get with this dish in Japan.
Mixed tempura from Goku on Remuera Road. Photo / Jason Dorday
The tempura itself is lovely – two pieces of prawn, two of pumpkin, and two of a combination I’ve never seen before – a shiitake mushroom with a piece of scallop tucked inside it. My brain didn’t quite know what to make of that one – with the meatiness of the mushroom and then the surprise crustacean it was almost like surf and turf.
Scallops are much rarer than those plentiful ’80s days when my uncle used to go out on the boat for an hour and return with half a sack of them; this dish is a clever way of making the most of a thin harvest.
There’s little drink service and you’re left to do your best with the leather bound winelist. No beers or cocktails are listed on it though I see there is more to choose from on the website; instead there’s a list of decent wines, charmingly designated by category titles like ‘Silky’, and an expensive sake menu that I wasn’t willing to take a chance on.
I instead ordered a glass of pinot gris and then the house chardonnay – both good without particularly complementing the seafood.
Remuera Rd’s new restaurant Goku. Photo / Jason Dorday
I was still a little peckish after that cod, so I made a belated order of “shumai”, the house-made dumplings that were perhaps a little surprising on a Japanese menu but looked like just what I needed to fill myself up before heading home.
I ended up slightly regretting the order; they were predictably beautiful constructions (you would hope so at $39 for four of them) but they were topped with sea urchin and fish roe, which would work at the right moment but were the last thing I needed after that rich fish dish.
You will order much more cleverly, I’m sure, and it’s hard to think of anybody leaving Goku disappointed in the food.
I do wonder if they need a lower-tier menu option, operating as they are in a very tight local economy.
But for anyone wanting to spend two hours imagining themselves in a rooftop hotel restaurant in Shibuya, this will be a great choice.
Address: Shop 1/D, 415 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland.
Contact: 09 218 9695, goku.co.nz, @goku_japanese_resturant
Hours: Lunch, Tuesday to Saturday, 12–2pm; dinner, Tuesday to Saturday, 5.30–10pm; closed, Monday.
From the menu: Chef’s nigiri selection (five pieces) $35; mixed tempura $36; manuka wood-smoked black cod miso yaki $65; shumai (four pieces) $39; house-made natto miso $8; steamed rice $7.
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.
According to Dining Out editor Jesse Mulligan.