Taikin Teppanyaki and Takoyaki Bar is a Japanese restaurant at Shop 16, Strand Arcade, 233/237 Queen Street in the Auckland CBD, rated 4.6 on Google. The name gives away the game: teppanyaki and takoyaki.
Teppanyaki is a meal with a view of the kitchen: the chef cooks on a flat iron griddle right in front of you, so a counter seat is the one regulars ask for. Takoyaki, the Osakan street snack, are crisp rounds of batter with a soft, almost molten middle, flipped in their moulds and usually finished with sauce and bonito flakes. The good ones are eaten within minutes of leaving the griddle, so they rarely travel well. As at any grill counter, steady turnover and fresh batter are the signs worth looking for.
Set inside the Strand Arcade in the midtown stretch of Queen Street, Taikin puts that griddle-side ritual within easy reach of the CBD's workers and shoppers.