Origami Wellington combines a Japanese-fusion restaurant with a freshly made pâtisserie on Cuba Street. The Te Aro branch opens seven days and serves through lunch and dinner, with alcohol available and tables bookable in advance. Its food identity is deliberately broad: sushi and sashimi sit beside ramen, curry, rice bowls and fried small plates, while desserts and weekend high tea give the restaurant a separate sweet side. That breadth makes it suitable for a quick bowl or a more varied shared meal.
Sushi choices range from salmon and tuna rolls to chicken teriyaki and plant-based fried-chicken versions. Dragon rolls wrap prawn tempura with avocado, crisp crumbs, chilli and teriyaki sauces, while spider rolls use soft-shell crab in the same lively style. A vegetable roll combines avocado, carrot, wakame and lettuce, and sashimi can be ordered as salmon, tuna or both. Salmon don offers a simpler presentation, placing raw salmon over seasoned sushi rice rather than wrapping it into a roll.
The hot menu travels in several directions. Chashu and miso ramen pair pork belly and egg with different broths, while spicy chicken, teriyaki, tom-yum and green-curry versions use dry noodles or more aromatic soups. Japanese curry can be matched with chicken, plant-based fried chicken or aubergine, and rice bowls include katsu, steak, spicy honey chicken and teriyaki. Small plates such as vegan gyoza, vegetable or prawn tempura, miso aubergine, beef tataki and salmon crudo help build a shared spread.
Pâtisserie is not merely an after-dinner add-on at Origami. The dessert cabinet changes with seasonal ingredients, giving regular visitors something beyond a fixed cake list. On weekends, the Wellington branch offers an Oriental High Tea made up of five sweet and four savoury chef-selected treats with an in-house tea. A vegetarian version can be booked as well. This creates two quite different reasons to visit the same Cuba Street room: Japanese-fusion dining through the day or a structured afternoon built around pastries, savouries and tea.
Address: 158 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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