Christchurch guide
The best Japanese food in Christchurch
Christchurch does Japanese well, and does a lot of it — a proper spread from the sushi counters and donburi to ramen, charcoal yakitori, teppanyaki with a show, and the odd genuine one-off you won't find in another city.
24 of them across the city — clustered through the Central City and its precincts (The Welder, Riverside, Little High), out through Addington and Riccarton, and over the hill in Lyttelton. Sit-down rooms, quick sushi and takeaway donburi alike.
The precinct spots keep the precinct's hours, and the small rooms fill on weekends — worth a booking for the sit-down places, and getting in early at the counters before the fresh sushi runs low.
Venue data checked weekly · Updated August 2026
The picks
- 01Bar Yoku · Restaurant · Central City
The Welder's Japanese drawcard — a yakitori bar grilling skewers over charcoal, with sake and a tight run of izakaya plates.
- 02Koji Japanese Buffet Christchurch · Restaurant · Addington
A made-to-order Japanese 'table buffet' on Lincoln Road — tapas-sized dishes brought to you, order again as you go, across three price tiers.
- 03Tanoshi Christchurch · Restaurant · Central City
A central Japanese restaurant doing the familiar favourites well — sushi, rice bowls and grilled plates.
- 04Kinji Japanese Restaurant · Restaurant · Bishopdale
A small Bryndwr Japanese doing sashimi and sushi properly, with a chef's omakase platter if you preorder — around fifty a head and worth the forward planning.
- 05KUMO Japanese Cuisine · Restaurant · Addington
A Japanese restaurant in Addington doing the authentic stuff — sushi, sashimi and Japanese plates done with care.
- 06SUPER · Restaurant · Lyttelton
Japanese-Māori fusion in Lyttelton — a genuinely original menu built on fresh, quality ingredients, with a sharp cocktail and wine program alongside.
- 07Mugen Sushi (Moorhouse) · Restaurant · Addington
Christchurch's pick-your-own sushi spot on Moorhouse — grab what you fancy off the line, plus hot food and barista coffee.
- 08Tony's Teppan Yaki Japanese Restaurant · Restaurant · Woolston
Teppanyaki done with theatre — chefs cooking on hot iron griddles right in front of you, plus contemporary sushi like the Lava Roll.
- 09Tomi Japanese Restaurant · Restaurant · St Albans
A Japanese restaurant in Edgeware Village — seasonal, fresh ingredients across set menus, sake tastings and casual takeaway.
- 10SASUKE Riccarton · Restaurant · Riccarton
Ramen is the anchor at this Riccarton izakaya — black sesame tantanmen, Hokkaido miso with chashu — alongside small plates and aburi nigiri off the Akaroa…
+ 14 more on the map below ↓
Keep exploring
Common questions
- What's the best Japanese food in Christchurch?
- A few to start with: Bar Yoku, Koji Japanese Buffet Christchurch, Tanoshi Christchurch, Kinji Japanese Restaurant, KUMO Japanese Cuisine. The city covers most of the map — sushi counters and donburi, ramen, yakitori and izakaya small plates, teppanyaki with the theatre, and a couple of genuine one-offs.
- Where do you go for ramen, teppanyaki or a proper izakaya?
- For ramen, Ippin at Northlands does proper bowls. For izakaya, Bar Yoku grills yakitori over charcoal at The Welder, with Imōto running Japanese-leaning small plates alongside. And Tony's in Woolston is the one for teppanyaki cooked at the table.
- Anywhere a bit different?
- A few worth knowing: SUPER in Lyttelton does a Japanese-Māori fusion you won't find anywhere else, Nikkei at Riverside plays the Peruvian-Japanese angle, and Okonomi Juju in Merivale is built around Osaka-style okonomiyaki.