Kubick.

I have a headache.

Kubick

30 Symonds St, Auckland

So today, a few of my friends (lets call them "B1", "B2", and "B3") went out for lunch at a Korean-Japanese restaurant called Kubick. Unfortunately us postgrad commercial law students (aka fake law students) from the Business School do not really get a proper break. We do not have a weekly timetable, therefore it forces some of us to stay at uni during the break (some prefer the convenience of their own home. Whatever).

Anyway, I had a craving for Japanese food and it was close to the Business School -- I'm all for convenience, you know? (More convenient would be going to the Quad, but that's another blog post for another day). Kubick is located opposite Subway on Symonds Street, so it's not that hard to find. There's another one on Queen St too.

Kubick's menu can be located outside of the establishment (or else you can ask for a proper menu inside). The sun came out for a couple of hours, so it was great to feel the heat of the sun against my pale skin while deciding what to get for lunch. After my friends and I ordered, we attempted to find a empty, cleared table. This proved to be challenging since most of the vacated tables had plates remaining from previous customers. First thing we realised was that they were severely understaffed.

We asked if our table could be cleared and cleaned, and that took a bit longer than we anticipated. She took away the plates, but didn't "clean"/wipe our tables. Luckily I have an awesome friend (B3) who is obsessed with cleaning in general and cleaned our table for us with napkins that we had to get ourselves (that's a compliment by the way, B3).

Our food arrived rather quickly and after endless photos ("You need a birdseye shot!"), we finally got into it. I ordered the pork donkatsu ($11). B1 and B2 both ordered the teriyaki chicken don (also $11 each), and B3 ordered the teriyaki sauce noodle with chicken katsu ($12). As you can see below, this is a Korean-Japanese restaurant. While katsu is predictably Japanese, the pickled radishes are not. The rice was more Korean, rather than Japanese. The others were given miso soup, whereas I was given udon soup (which is fine by me, I could've just consumed that on its own...mmm udon).

From top to bottom: All four of our dishes side by side, my pork donkatsu, the chicken teriyaki don, and the teriyaki noodle with chicken katsu.

With Kubick, you get what you pay for. It's nothing spectacular, but it's not entirely terrible either. While I enjoyed my dish, there are some obvious improvements that could've been made to the dish. For example, the crumb on the pork katsu could've been better. The panko breadcrumb (that I assume they used, if not - blasphemy!) was not as crisp and crunchy as I normally expect with katsu, but at least it wasn't soggy, right? My friend's chicken katsu was fine though. The chicken teriyaki tasted fine, but a bit forgettable.

$11 (for my dish) is a good price to pay for the amount of food that you get to eat, but at the same time, you wouldn't want to pay anymore than that. The price range is approximately $10-20, a pretty handy price range for a student like myself.

The interior was...interesting to say the least. Small, not dainty. Perfect description, no?

Overall verdict: if you want an affordable japanese-korean meal, this option isn't too bad. While not spectacular, you won't feel entirely disappointed with your meal. Although service could be improved, it is still a nice place to go to with friends.