Hikari Sushi Bar

Love the ramen here! And the prawn tempura. We live in QT and this is our fave Japanese restaurant. They have a sushi bar and can also order from the menu. We tried the spicy seafood udon and the chef’s sushi/sashimi platter but found ourselves too full to finish the sushi (after eating ramen). Great selection of food, drinks and sake. 😅 Highly recommended.

We were really impressed at the sushi on offer. There were a wide variety of sushi rolls and nigiri to choose from. We settled for a few sushi and nigiri as appetiser while waiting for our ramen. The sushi was large and flavourful. The tonkotsu ramen broth was good, but the seafood ramen was lacking in depth, hence the 4 star.

Two of us dined at Hikari, we wanted some authentic "easy food" like we would get in Tokyo or Osaka. We reserved in advance, on arrival the staff had reserved the best table in the restaurant for us. After talking with the waitress, we were so impressed - we cook a little Japanese at home and she knew more about the cooking process and ingredients than we did. It was clear she had outstanding menu knowledge. And along with the young man she was working with were so bright, friendly and kind. We ordered the Chicken Katsu, Miso Ramen, Pork Gyoza, Salmon Sashimi, seaweed salad and a huge 500ml glass of Asahi. The food was simply amazing, fresh and authentic and not modified for local I could see the chef preparing the Sashimi fresh rather than pre-prepared. I could see the fine grade of Panko on the Katsu on the chicken, thin but juicy (that is how it should be), which only skilled chefs can produce. The salmon was cut in the correct direction along the fillet, making it melt in my mouth as we ate with the genuine wasabi - again not so common. They catered to our preferences leaving some ingredients out that we preferred not to eat. What we loved: the Japanese staff, who were so knowledgeable at service and skilled in preparation of food. Professional chefs, there was no pre-prepared food we could see. You know they are focussed when the chef is watching your reaction as you take the first bite of his sashimi. They even hand make to order their sushi, which I have never seen anywhere else in nz. The quality of food was outstanding, having been to Queenstown many times we believe we have discovered a hidden gem. We have eaten at top Japanese restaurants and can say there are few Japanese restaurants in nz putting put food as authentic as you will find here. Our bill for all of that food and drink came to $92.50, very good for two mains, three sides and their largest beer. We discovered they do Unagi (eel) don, so we will be back tomorrow