Rikka, Freeman's Bay

Japanese food is a bit of a closed book to me. I've long suspected that it's once of those cuisines where as you go up the scale in price, it's average (to a Western palate) until you get right to the very top, where it's astounding. Burgundy is a good comparison from a wine perspective - if you're going to bother with it at all, pay a decent amount for it and really get to grips with it.

So at one end of the Japanese scale, New Zealand has St Pierre's Sushi, an appalling affront to everything good about food. St Pierre's outlets can be found everywhere good food is not, and generally serve shockingly bad sushi of many varieties. I last ate at St Pierre's in February 2009, and since then have not been able to touch Japanese food. The memory of that slimy, greasy scrap of salmon stuck to a huge wodge of utterly vile vinegary rice was just too much.

This has all changed now though. I returned from honeymoon a few weeks back, and to kick off our first weekend together in Auckland as husband and wife, the missus and I headed to Rikka. I chose this place for two reasons: firstly as I needed to erase that awful memory from my mind and return to this cuisine on good terms. Secondly as I had a terrible craving for sake. Rikka has 'SAKE BAR' written outside in big letters, so it seemed like a good bet.

It's a really pleasant place to be, Rikka. The all-wood interior is warmly lit, welcoming and comfortable, and on the Friday evening we were there it was lively enough without being overbearing. The staff are excellent, knowledgeable, courteous and attentive. The views across Victoria Park Market are remarkable in the setting sun. All of this is secondary though: the food's the thing here.

After a preparatory Asahi and a peruse of the menu, I decided to do away with structure and just order whatever we felt like, and so it went something like this:

The first round kicked off with some steamed pork dim sum, fat, slightly wobbly and flavoursome, with a soy dipping sauce so good it was almost drunk straight from the dish. Also on the table was some crispy fried chicken, strips of breast meat delicately battered and fried, with similarly good sauces to dunk in. A gently warmed flask of sake worked beautifully alongside.

The second round was the sashimi round. I love good sashimi, much more than sushi (all that rice? Dull), and this was Good Sashimi. The first batch was the salmon, divided into two small piles denoting slightly different cuts. Fresh, firm and gleaming it was, and expertly presented, and my word was it ever good. There's a purity to the flavour of really fresh, well handled fish that defies explanation, and this was about as good as I've had.

Until the second batch of sashimi, that is. I'd spotted the magical word 'Toro' on the specials board, and I'd recognised this as the super-premium tuna belly sashimi that I'd only ever heard spoken about in hushed, reverent tones, and subsequently ordered four pieces. There are a few food experiences that really stick in my mind: my first properly cooked veal cut (in France), a stunning seafood pasta dish (in Sardinia), my first rare steak (England), and oysters fresh out of the sea (France again) to name a few. This ranks with those - a flavour so delicate it was almost ethereal, a persistent, lifted 'sea' character, a clear tuna flavour but much, much more refined than I've ever experienced before. We sipped our sake in silence, gazing into the middle distance with unfocused eyes.

The end of the sake jolted us into awareness again, and with the arrival of the third round came another bottle, chilled this time. The round in question consisted of a 'Triple Delight' of teryaki; salmon, chicken and beef, presented on their own little pedestals within a miniature garden arrangement. Amazing stuff. To be honest, they were all amazing, as were the tempura vegetables we'd ordered as an accompaniment, but after the Toro everything else was an afterthought.

After this, a bottle of frozen sake served as dessert, the slush entertainingly worked out of the bottle with a chopstick, and after a couple of excellent Japanese coffees we were on our way. We will be going back, that's for sure, and I wholly recommend you do the same, whether that Toro's on the menu or not.

It's been a week now, and I can still remember each and every flavour, clear and distinct. This was by far the best meal I've had in Auckland, without a shadow of a doubt.

Sake Bar Rikka
19 Drake Street
Freemans Bay
Auckland

+64 (0) 9 377 8239