Don’t let the big burst of lobster salad catch you unawares as you bite into a crisp zucchini flower ($12/2) at Ikura Canterbury. They were my meal highlight at this tiny new Japanese fusion restaurant in Canterbury, though spurting bright orange liquid down your clothes would be a disastrous start to any meal. You can eat the same lobster salad in a slightly less explosive way in another fusion entry: the lobster crunch roll ($20). Arranged down a long slate platter, this 8-piece uramaki places the lobster salad with crisp fried onions on the top of the crab meat, cucumber, avocado and egg omelette inside-out roll. It’s a tasty whole-of-mouth experience that only needs a little wasabi to cut through the creaminess.
Topped with writhing bonito and lashings of tonkatsu and mayonnaise, takoyaki ($10/6) are a straight-up version of the popular fried octopus balls. We shared the deluxe sushi and sashimi combination ($65) that arrived in a cloud of smoke on a segmented wooden board. This fun presentation saw us pick across fresh tuna, kingfish and salmon as both sashimi and nigiri, and a pair of dressed Pacific oysters. The final wooden square contained a saucy scallop nigiri and a Japanese sweet prawn nigiri: fight over them as you will. Servings felt like good value for money. With the restaurant currently awaiting a liquor licence — why do they take so long — I enjoyed my meal with green tea ($3.50) with a hot water top-up offered. You will find Liquormart Canterbury a few doors down the road, and easy parking at night in the Council carpark adjacent to Aldi.
