Blue Kanu — Restaurant in South Island

We had a reservation for later on in the night, however our activity ended early and we dropped by to see if we could have an earlier table or otherwise could wait in the bar. The hostess immediately accomodated us and gave us a nice table right by the window.

For drinks we ordered the lychee cocktail and a beer. The cocktail was amazing, definitely on the sweet side but had a strong, fresh lychee flavour. Definitely a 5/5. Also the garnish looked amazing and beautifully crafted with a flower and fresh lychees on top. Loved the attention to detail.

The food is designed to be shared, also something I love as you get to try lots of different things. We had the Calamari, korean chicken, salmon poke and duck nachos and the chocolate fudge dessert with sesame ice cream.

All the starters tasted great with very interesting flavours mixed together, where nothing was too overpowering. All the food however is definitely on the sweet side of the taste pallette. Maybe it was just our choice of food but it would've been nice to have some variation as well. Fault lies with us however for not asking.

The service was good. Friendly waiters that were quick to take our orders. You could tell however who had been working there for a while and who hadn't. With a cuisine this special its always great to get your dish explained. The waitresses that were working that night did so perfectly, however the gentleman didn't explain, so that would be something to work on. They were still super nice though and did a good job.

Now to the negative points of the night.

The dessert was not great. Way too sweet and the flavours did not work well together. We shared 1 dessert between the 3 of us and send half of it back.

The acoustics. Although I understand that this is something you can't really do anything about I still want to mention it. It's incredibly loud in the restaurant, with music and chatter mixing in a room that doesn't have great acoustics. It was hard to have a conversation as we had to talk quite loudly to each other to make ourselves understood and had to lean in really close to hear what the person in front of me was saying. Taking dow the music a notch might've helped. What didn't help was the obnoxious bartender, slamming down his shakers and shouting at guest.

Which brings me to my last and final point. My friend, we get it. Youre an amazing bartender, however you do not need to constantly make noice for us to notice that. It's usually enough to just make great cocktails. We've all seen a double- shake before. No need to announce it by banging your shakers onto the bar top. We're here to eat good food, drink good drinks and have good conversation. Not to get a headache. He also insisted on greeting every guest that came through loudly by yelling " RESERVATIONS? GREAT HOSTESS WILL BE RIGHT THERE!". I understand that its your way of trying to make everyone feel welcome in the restaurant, it made us feel very unwelcome however and honestly it was the reason why we didn't have more drinks and decided to leave early. Maybe that's your way of ensuring double sittings for the tables, but then it will also end in reviews like this. And we've all been to restaurants before. We see the hostess standing there. We know where to go, no need to yell. (Could've been misinterpreted by us as well but the rest of the staff seemed to be annoyed by this as well)

Overall a very pleasent experience food- and drinkwise, with nice and friendly waiters/waitresses. However not the best...

My partner and I came to Blue Kanu for our Valentine’s Day date night, and we had such an amazing experience that I felt compelled to leave my first review. My partners sister gave us a giftcard for this restaurant because the cuisine is right up our alley and she loved it when visiting last, and our already high expectations were blown out of the water! We are definitely foodies and spent a lot of time figuring out what we could order and stay under our budget of $200, and every single thing we tried was amazing but we were bummed we couldn’t try it all. However, that problem was solved when the amazing gentlemen’s party celebrating a 70th birthday decided to pay for our entire bill! It truly made our already amazing night that much better, and we got to come back the next night and try everything we didn’t get to the first time since we still had our giftcard!!! I’m going to rank each dish below from our favorite to least favorite, but just know that even the bottom choices were still amazing.

Appetizers: Slow braised pork ribs. Cooked to PERFECTION and the FLAVOR. Just wow. Fried calamari. Unlike any calamari we have ever tried before. Such unique flavors and texture, we were both saying “mmmm” after every bite Goat bao buns. Again, just such a great flavor and texture. We had never tried goat before and this beat any expectations. Tuna poke nachos. We are big sushi people and thought these were delicious. Perfect balance of chip-to-meat-to-sauce ratio. Bahn mi sliders. These were great and the meat was cooked really well, but they could have used about 5x as many pickled veggies to add some acidity!

We also tried the fry bread which was delicious, but I didn’t feel like it should be ranked among the other dishes since at the end of the day, it’s just bread. (Amazing bread though, let me tell you)

Mains (“Big Kahunas”) Vietnamese shaking beef. SO tender and juicy. Could eat this everyday. Braised pork belly. YUMMMMM. So much flavor. Lamb jungle curry. Delicious, and made great leftovers. Might have been even better the second time. Sticky duck. Great too, just not as great as the others!!!

Three cheers to the chefs! Amazing restaurant and can’t wait to come...

You know that feeling when a restaurant just gets it right? Blue Kanu is one of those rare gems that makes your taste buds dance while wrapping you in cozy candlelit warmth. Let me tell you why…

First, a little secret…that lemon water isn't just for sipping. After devouring their sticky ribs or saucy bao buns, dipping your fingers in it feels like a mini spa moment. Such a simple touch that shows how much they care about the dining experience.

The food? Oh my. The Tuna Poke Nachos ($32.50) are everything, that perfect crunch giving way to buttery fresh tuna. I dream about them. And the Slow Braised Pork Ribs ($32.50)? So tender they practically sigh off the bone. But the real showstopper is the Lamb Jungle Curry ($42.50) it's like a flavor explosion that starts with aromatic spices and finishes with the richest, most tender lamb.

When that Fijian Seafood Curry ($44.50) arrives, the aroma alone is intoxicating. One bite and you're transported, creamy coconut, plump seafood, just the right kick of spice. And the Singapore Noodles ($38.50)? Massive doesn't begin to describe it. We always order it "for the table" but secretly wish we didn't have to share.

What I love most is how each dish feels like a carefully crafted love letter to Asian flavors. Even the Korean Fried Chicken ($25.50) so crisp you can hear the crunch, with sauce on the side for control freaks like me who want every piece perfect, kids also love it.

Sure, the dumplings ($22.50) are good, but when everything else is extraordinary, "good" just doesn't cut it. That's my only quibble in what's otherwise a near perfect experience.

Sitting there in the flickering candlelight, no WiFi to distract, sharing incredible food with people I love this is what dining out should feel like. Blue Kanu doesn't just serve food, they create memories. And isn't that why we...