Jesse decided to roll the dice to eat at Hocho. He’s so glad he did.
Westmere. What a bunch of characters. It’s been more than 10 years but I still frequently think about an article in the Herald revealing an email sent by the school to local parents, asking them
to please not take drugs at the upcoming social. It was such a perfect snapshot of middle-class parenting in the 21st century: we’re happy to spend Saturday night raising money for a new playground, but only if we can occasionally sneak out and take pingers in the bogs.
With all this disposable cash sloshing around, you might think having a couple of decent restaurants spring up was an inevitability, but there are plenty of wealthy suburbs where that hasn’t happened. There’s no equivalent of Ragtag at the Grey Lynn Shops, nor is there much to write home about in the whole of Pt Chev. The people of Westmere should be very grateful they now have at least four places to sit down for a quality dinner, and my message to them is simple: if you want these places to stick around, unroll some banknotes and support them.
Hocho is the newest arrival, taking over a spot to the right of Westmere Butcher that, as far as I know, has never really fired. Hocho was empty when we arrived and I did consider wandering over to review the buzzing E-Sarn Rocket instead, but the menu looked good here, so I decided to roll the dice. I’m so glad I did.
Hocho’s cold salmon ramen. Photo / Babiche Martens
The first thing to report is that I have found the perfect dish for Auckland’s uncomfortable hot weather. As I write, Metservice is predicting these 28C blue-sky days will soon be replaced by driving rain, so there’s a good chance you’ll barely remember wanting to cool down by the time you read this, but for the record, Hocho’s chilled ramen (literally called “The Coldest Ramen in This Universe”) is one of the city’s great summer dishes. For $26, you will be served a bowl of cold noodles topped with extraordinarily appealing delights: generous slices of raw salmon, salad vegetables, fish roe, and a “shiso granita” that both keeps the other ingredients cool and tastes great (icy, zingy, grapefruit-esque) on its own. According to the menu, it’s served with a sesame-chicken broth but it’s more about the sticky coating on the noodles, an almost mayo-like dressing that keeps you coming back for mouthful after mouthful.
Honestly, Westmere, I would wander up to Hocho for that dish alone.
Before continuing, I should point out that this is not yet a restaurant in the traditional sense. It seems to me that the chef/owner (ex-Azabu, Tobi) has spent every dollar on getting this kitchen open. You can understand the plan – make cold ramen so good that you get queues out the door then worry about things like building the bathrooms later. It’ll just require a little patience and understanding from you in these early days, when you order from the counter, glasses of water don’t seem to be a thing and the only design intervention is a tiny origami swan on which your chopsticks rest.
They also don’t serve booze so for now you’ll have to find somewhere else to preload before parent-teacher interviews, but chef Kenta tells me there is a liquor licence in the plan once he’s sorted something called a “building certificate” (I’m sure it’s fine), so for now you should think of this as the place you go when you want to eat cleanly and wake up the next day without a sake hangover.
Hocho is ‘not yet a restaurant in the traditional sense’. Photo / Babiche Martens
The sashimi plate is lovely – a small selection of four species, including hapuka, which I’ve never eaten this way before. I think of it as more of a chunky, roasty sort of fish but it really works and I think you notice the almost imperceptibly sweet fleshy flavour more when it’s sliced thin and unadorned than you do eating giant mouthfuls of the cooked stuff.
Aside from that unexpected cold ramen (there’s also a vegan version of it) the menu is mostly izakaya favourites but I feel (and perhaps the sober eating helps with this) that they are even more flavourful than usual here at Hocho. The agedashi tofu is a miracle of texture – light, deep-fried crumb and silken soy with a thickened broth which contains a surprise hit of citrus when you crunch down on little fine pieces of yuzu stirred into the mix. Even the best miso eggplant can sometimes feel a bit firm where the flesh meets the skin but here the whole bulb is halved, slathered and baked hard, every tiny fibre yielding into a sticky, savoury custard. Our final dish was a beef tataki, made with scotch fillet; that’s a fibrous cut but there was no sign of chewiness thanks to clever knifework and careful grilling.
The Miso eggplant, cold salmon ramen and Beef tataki on the menu at Japanese restaurant Hocho in Westmere. Photo / Babiche Martens
That Thai place across the road with the picnic table seating has a social chemistry about it that I’m not sure Hocho will ever match. But this is really top-tier Japanese food, the ambience will only go in one direction and if you can get behind it now, you’ll have one of Auckland’s great neighbourhood restaurants to look forward to in the future.
Address: 127 West End Rd, Westmere
Contact: 022 310 9792, hocho.co.nz
Reservations: Not accepted
From the menu: sashimi $27, cold ramen (salmon) $26, beef tataki $24, miso eggplant $18, agedashi tofu $16
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.