If you plan on having a Japanese dinner, head to Parnell and go to Gion Japanese Restaurant for a Kyoto-style meal.
Here’s the thing - not all Japanese food is created equal.
Broadly speaking, Japanese food is divided into two styles, Kanto and Kansai.
Kanto is Japan’s major eastern region, home to Tokyo and six other prefectures while Kansai in the west is where Kyoto, Osaka and five more prefectures are.
When you sit down for a meal at a restaurant during your travels across Japan, you can see and taste the difference in the two styles of cuisine.
Here in Auckland, Kanto-style Japanese food is more common, but at Gion, owner and chef Akira Kugue who hails from Kyoto, is passionate about sharing the love of the Kansai taste.
Chef Akira says in general, Tokyo-style food is richer, saltier and more heavily seasoned while dishes from Kyoto were milder, sweeter and taps more on the natural flavours.
Kyoto’s Gion district, which Akira has named his restaurant after, is famous for imperial palaces, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses.
Traditions like kaiseki dining, which consist of precise dishes and geishas, are still being practiced there today.
At Gion Parnell, Akira will - when specially arranged - serve a Kansai-style omakase meal, meaning diners will leave it to him and he will select, prepare, and serve the dishes as he sees fit.
Back in Kyoto, Akira worked as a sushi chef for four years after leaving school, but at age 24 decided to move first to Australia and then to New Zealand in 1996.
Here, he ran the Seamart sushi bar and Auckland Fish Market at the Viaduct where he also ran classes teaching sushi and tempura cooking.
Akira and his wife Eliza Leung decided to dive into the restaurant business in 2006, and opened Gion at 197 Parnell Road, before moving across the road to the current site 168 Parnell Road a few years later.
“People always think there’s only one-style of Japanese cuisine, but that is not true. It has been my dream from the time I started Gion to share the difference and authentic, more traditional flavours from my hometown,” he said.
Gion Parnell is also designed in the style of dining venues in Kyoto, which uses more red, brown and gold as opposed to the preferred black and white in Tokyo.
Akira said he drew inspiration for the design from top restaurants in Kyoto. He wanted Gion to be a venue where diners would be transported to the heart of Kyoto.
Attention is especially paid to the sashimi at Gion, because Akira said often people judge how good a Japanese restaurant is by how well they do their sashimi.
Akira would carve a whole snapper and thinly slice other shellfish and seafood for his premium sashimi platter.
Awaiting diners is an array of tantalising delicacies such as grilled crayfish tail, wagyu beef and sushi that combines the freshest of seafood with seasoned rice.
The tempura prawn, vegetables and fish is another dish not to be missed, fried in light batter, it has a vibrant crunch.
Akira is more than happy to share his culture and the ancient Japanese culinary artform, and encourages customers to take their time and interact with him and the staff.
“I would love customers who dine here to soak it all in, from the food which we prepare from our hearts, the traditions, to how we have designed the restaurant,” Akira said.
Gion Japanese Restaurant
1/168 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland
09 379 3344
