Charito's Sushi and Japanese Cuisine is a go-to spot for Japanese food in Dunedin's Caversham, operating from 523 Hillside Road with a 4.8 rating on its online ordering platform. The menu runs well past the sushi counter: ten kinds of sushi roll, five rice balls, nigiri, sashimi and platters, plus donburi bowls, six ramens, yakisoba and yakiudon noodles, Japanese curry meals, poke bowls, fried rice and a full line-up of bento boxes.
Regulars gravitate to the best sellers — the salmon sushi roll, karaage chicken bento, agegyoza dumplings and crispy chicken rice ball — while mixed sushi platters and 30 to 50-piece sushi party packs handle birthdays, office lunches and flat dinners. Every bento arrives as a complete set with agegyoza, spring rolls, sushi, salad and rice, so a single order covers the whole meal.
Ordering is online-first, with pickup and delivery across a long list of Dunedin suburbs and secure payment by Visa, Mastercard or PayPal. Hours run late — until 10pm most nights and 9pm on Sundays — with doors opening from 10am Tuesday to Friday, 10:30am Saturday, noon Sunday and 11:45am Monday.
Finding good Japanese food in Dunedin usually means a trip into the city, but Caversham locals have a shortcut: Charito's Sushi and Japanese Cuisine on Hillside Road. The shop pairs a proper sushi counter with a kitchen that turns out bento boxes, ramen, donburi and curry dinners, and it backs it all up with a 4.8 rating on its online ordering platform. Whether you want a single roll for lunch or a fifty-piece party pack for a crowd, it is all made to order and available for pickup or delivery.
Sushi is the anchor. Ten rolls cover the classics and a few local favourites: teriyaki chicken, crispy chicken, salmon, cooked tuna, crispy prawn, satay chicken, cream cheese and avocado, a chilli-spiked S. Chilli, a plain vege roll and a combination roll. Alongside them sit five-piece salmon nigiri, hosomaki, inari tofu and a set of compact rice balls filled with crispy chicken, teriyaki chicken, cooked tuna, fresh salmon or vegetables — the crispy chicken version is one of the shop's top sellers. When one roll is not enough, there are mixed sushi platters, a Charito Salmon Platter of California rolls and salmon nigiri, and salmon sashimi by the nine or twelve pieces.
The wider menu is where Charito's surprises people. Starters run from agegyoza — five deep-fried dumplings with dipping sauce, and another best seller — to spring rolls, agedashi tofu, edamame, prawn and vegetarian tempura, seaweed, crispy chicken bao buns and miso soup. Donburi fans get chicken katsu and tonkatsu served with onion and egg over rice, plus a salmon don topped with sashimi, wasabi and nori.
There are six ramens, including pork, seafood and a gyoza vege version; yakisoba and yakiudon stir-fried noodles in five variations each; fried rice; kimchi dishes; satay on rice; and poke bowls topped with teriyaki chicken, teriyaki salmon, teriyaki tofu, chicken katsu or fresh salmon. Japanese curry meals come with rice and salad, with spicy takes on karaage, chicken, beef and pork for those who like heat.
The bento boxes are the ordering-in equivalent of a set lunch done properly. Every one is served with two agegyoza, two spring rolls, sushi, salad and rice, so nothing else is needed. Eleven fillings cover the field: teriyaki chicken, karaage chicken, chicken katsu, teriyaki beef, tonkatsu, teriyaki tofu, teriyaki vege, yakiniku pork, yakiniku beef, teriyaki salmon and a salmon sashimi bento. The karaage chicken bento is a top seller, while the salmon options suit anyone after something from the raw side of the menu.
For groups, the party packs do the maths for you: thirty pieces split between salmon, teriyaki chicken and vege; forty adding crispy chicken; or fifty with twenty salmon and ten each of crispy, teriyaki chicken and vege. They also happen to clear the $40 minimum for delivery orders on their own.
Everything on the menu is available through Charito's online ordering system, with pickup or delivery and secure payment by Visa, Mastercard or PayPal. Delivery reaches a long list of Dunedin suburbs, from Saint Clair and South Dunedin to Maori Hill, North East Valley and Green Island — delivery fees apply. Hours are generous: from 10am Tuesday to Friday, 10:30am Saturday, noon on Sunday and 11:45am on Monday, with the kitchen serving until 10pm most nights and 9pm on Sunday.
That combination — a neighbourhood address, late hours and a menu that runs from a single roll to a full salmon steak dinner — is why Charito's has become a standing order for so many Dunedin households. Order a bento for one, a platter to share, or a party pack for the table: it all comes out of the same Hillside Road kitchen.