Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price Point: Mains from $20 - $35+
Now located at Level one, The Crossing, Cookai Japanese Restaurant Sushi Train and Bar is now back in the heart of the city. Offering customers the chance to enjoy authentic Japanese food in a welcoming environment. With more than 100 items to choose from, the sushi train is great for everyone.
Enjoy authentic Japanese food in a family-friendly and welcoming environment. Cookai’s menu offers Japanese favourites from king prawn tempura and spicy tuna rolls to soft shell crab and a vast array of sushi and sashimi.
Fresh and seasonal ingredients are sourced locally or directly from Japan, making the most out of nature’s bounty. Traditional Japanese cooking techniques are used to bring out the natural flavours of each ingredient used for a truly flavoursome and authentic feast.
If you’re not sure what to choose, Cookai’s friendly staff are on hand to help you navigate the menu. Set menus are ideal for larger groups and a range of Japanese drinks is available to compliment your meal. Tuesday nights are 'All you can eat' for just $39 per person. The restaurant is fully licensed.
Thinking about your next function? Make sure to get in touch with the friendly staff at Cookai to see what they can offer you.
Map
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Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar
Level 1, The Crossing, 166 Cashel Street
Christchurch
Open Hours:
Sunday to Wednesday 11:00am – 08:00pm
Thursday to Saturday 11:00am – 09:00pm
Phone: 03 343 2860
Website: www.cookai.co.nz
Sample Menu *may not be current
Click on menu to enlarge.
Reviews
Danica - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 1 December 2019
My husband, daughter and I loved cookai! Such a fun way of dining and they both told me it was their new fave restaurant. We have already recommended to friends and will definitely be back.
Danica - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 1 December 2019
Food was amazing- too hard to choose one favorite. The soft shell crab and the pork belly were highlights as were the pork ribs. I would definitely recommend and we will be returning for sure!
Louise Main - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 15 October 2017
The dinning experience at Cookkai on the 17th oct, was pleasant , we were warmly greeted and seated, the waiting staff were attentive.
The food was well presented and quite nice and fresh i have experienced better quality at other japanese restaurants.
robert gwillim - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 17 October 2017
Just beautiful! Excellent food!
Linda Robinson - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 13 October 2017
fantastic fresh/tasty food
Angela Paterson - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 15 October 2017
Great service and very yummy food, recommend the ribs!!
Sammy Nicholls - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 14 October 2017
Good & quick service. Good food.
Happy to return
James Connolly - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 11 October 2017
Always lovely to dine @ Cookai. Was a very quiet Thursday night, dined at 7.30. Scallop skewers, softshell crab, slow roasted pork belly & octopus balls all fantastic. Tried tiramisu for desert also excellent. Cheers Cookai.
Kay Faulls - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 12 October 2017
Great experience. Food was delicious, and great service.
Francoise Hurt - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 8 October 2017
The place filled up pretty quickly as it opened for dinner time. No wonder why! The food was great and portions are more than enough to fill. Try the soft shell crab and their tempura options! Although there were only two ladies taking orders/ serving the food (and note that it has been busy early on) they still manage to smile and provide great service.
Ruth Miguel-Garcia - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 8 October 2017
Four of us dined and shared everything, great variety of food and tastes.
Maria Dawson - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 4 October 2017
Perfectly presented food and service. The food was absolutely beautiful. We will definitely highly recommend Cookai Japanese Restaurant to our friends.
Richard Leete - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 7 October 2017
Excellent food, friendly & helpfully service!
Joanne Ho - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 6 October 2017
Very nice! Delicious food. Good service
Christer John Juyad - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 4 October 2017
The food came out quickly and was decent sized! The soft shell crab was very delicious! We enjoyed our visit!
Sandy Cheung - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 1 October 2017
Very good taste
Jie Liu - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 30 September 2017
Quality food and service
Paul Numan - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 29 September 2017
Delicious food and good service! Definitely will come back again! Love it
Grace Yong Chen Chen - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 27 September 2017
really enjoyabl evening, thankyou
Ian Gibson - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 23 September 2017
Our first time at Cookai and it was a lovely experience. Friendly, helpful staff made us feel welcome, great food choice and our selections were excellent. Will definitely be going back.
Jan Suckling - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 24 September 2017
The food was delicious and very prompt service. Staff were busy but friendly, and accommodating with cutlery for one member of our table. Very satisfied with the price at fifty percent off. I would definitely return.
Josephine Clark - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 22 September 2017
Fantastic Japanese food. Great place to take the kids.
Lisa De Vries - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 22 September 2017
Great time good food. Was a little cold in the restaurant though, luckily we were sitting next to a heater so they put it on for us. Would definitely go back
Anneka Martin - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 21 September 2017
The meal was lovely, nice flavours but they were a bit on the small side. Good friendly service.
Jo Oorschot - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 21 September 2017
10/10 amazing food & service! I highly recommend this place. We left very satisfied!! I will DEFINITELY be coming back.
Jeany Abines - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 17 September 2017
Delicious food and super-attentive service - love the place!
Rachel Hayes Montejo - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 16 September 2017
Great food! Enjoy so much
Siriluck Tesana - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 16 September 2017
Food is great and service is fast. Staff is very accommodating and friendly. Plus the ambience is very cool. Looking forward for my next visit.
Maffy Coates - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 15 September 2017
Love the tempura sushi and
Salmon kebab! Amazing food
and attentive service. Love this place !!
Vicki King - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 14 September 2017
Food was good and staff very pleasant .
The restaurant was cold which makes it very unpleasant for a dining experience.
Reiana Tainui - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 12 September 2017
Wow... what an experience. Very clean, neat, cosy little Japanese establishment. Will definitely recommend this to all my friends. Tucked away in a quiet street, I wish I knew about Cookai before. Good food, cooked to perfection.
Warm , lovely staff
Meryl-Sue Baatjes - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 12 September 2017
Best Japanese will definitely be back!
Christine Freeth - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 6 September 2017
The contents of this review have not been published as it breaches our review guidelines.
Georgia Greening - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 10 September 2017
Beautiful fresh ingredients. All brought out in a quick succession. A great experience for the teenage son and myself. Loved the soft shell crabs and octopus balls (Takoyaki).
Shane Buckner - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 8 September 2017
Fantastic fast service and the food was Devine!
Leanne Hodder - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 7 September 2017
Food was delicious, will be going back again!!
Bridgette Mcivor - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 3 September 2017
Great food! Great service! We liked everything, will definitely be back.
Julia zhu - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 6 September 2017
Beautiful food and service. Would definitely go back again.!
Linda Robinson - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 26 August 2017
We had an excellent meal at Cookai on Father's Day, the food was very fresh, tasted great and was cooked and presented beautifully. The service was very good and we didn't have to wait too long before the food arrived despite the restaurant being fairly busy. We love Cookai and look forward to dining here again soon. Great food and great value for money, especially with first table!
Karen Law - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 3 September 2017
Delicious, first time dining here and will definitely return. We had quite a few dishes, some I was not familiar with. Found out that I love soft shell crab and octopus balls! The tiramisu was divine.
Maria Dawson - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 1 September 2017
some japanese restaurants are pretentious providing small dishes for high prices and cater to poncy people - this is nothing like that - presentation was excellent.
Kevin Clancy - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 31 August 2017
We had a very enjoyable meal. We ordered the $90 shared meal for two.
It was delicious and substantial.
The wait staff were very pleasant and courteous.
Olive Ualesi - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 29 August 2017
The contents of this review have not been published as it breaches our review guidelines.
Gary edwards - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 26 August 2017
We were anxious because of a number of negative public reviews but were well pleased with our meal and the experience.
The food options include a gluten free menu and a wide range of authentic Japanese food. All four of our party have wide experience of Japanese cuisine and agreed the food was excellent value for money. It also has the advantage of being a BYO Restaurant which means a quality Gewurtztraminer was well matched.
We had three starters and four mains for sharing and all were served in a timely well balanced manner.
It was busy when we arrived and we were the last to leave.
Altogether a pleasant dining experience.
JOHN SCOTT - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 27 August 2017
The food was fairly average.
Tanya Tunnicliffe Harris - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 24 August 2017
Fresh and tasty.
Diane Mann - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 25 August 2017
The food was soooooooo good i will definitely be going back !! I recommend the chicken wings and the tempura sushi rolls yum !
Jane Edens - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 24 August 2017
nice food !
Jimmy Hsu - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 22 August 2017
food is nice and good service as well.
Jennifer Hsiao - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 23 August 2017
I was delighted to come back to this restaurant again after a while, and had a very warm welcome from the waitress. The menu was extensive and had all the authentic Japanese dishes. Takoyaki balls are the must have from small dish menu. Yakitori assortment is a great dish to order if you want to experience the traditional char- grilled BBQ from Japan! The deep fried tempera are crunchy and great tasting. Topped it up with a delicious grilled eel rice to finish the main meal and had a green tea ice cream for dessert! Overall the quality of the food was excellent, and I would come back for more authentic Japanese dinner again!
Charles Harsono - dined at Cookai Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Train and Bar on 20 August 2017
Overview
58 reviews
My husband, daughter and I loved cookai! Such a fun way of dining and they both told me it was their new fave restaurant. We have already recommended to friends and will definitely be back.