Guidebook for Auckland
Food Scene
If you are hungry. That’s not a problem at Amano; the Italian/New Zealand menu has more than 40 dishes, and changes daily to make the most of local produce, including that from Hip Group’s own farm in Kumeu.
Dinner bill: Dairy: $14-$26; pasta: $13-$34; seafood: $18-$29; meat: $20-$110; sides $10-$12; desserts: $8-$14.
87 localnici recomandă
Amano
Britomart PlaceIf you are hungry. That’s not a problem at Amano; the Italian/New Zealand menu has more than 40 dishes, and changes daily to make the most of local produce, including that from Hip Group’s own farm in Kumeu.
Dinner bill: Dairy: $14-$26; pasta: $13-$34; seafood: $18-$29; meat: $20-$110; sides $10-$12; desserts: $8-$14.
The sashimi is superb, but the wider reaches of the menu are well worth exploring: try, for example, the Hokkaido scallops with kumara ginger purée, shiitake mush-rooms and caramelised black vinegar, and the deliciously sweet and smoky miso-glazed eggplant. Ask about the sake — their guy Wayne Shennen is a total expert — and leave room for dessert.
A favourite dish: lightly battered spiced-apple doughnuts with cream & bitter chocolate ganache.
29 localnici recomandă
Ebisu
116 – 118 Quay StThe sashimi is superb, but the wider reaches of the menu are well worth exploring: try, for example, the Hokkaido scallops with kumara ginger purée, shiitake mush-rooms and caramelised black vinegar, and the deliciously sweet and smoky miso-glazed eggplant. Ask about the sake — their guy Wayne Shennen is a total expert — and leave room for dessert.
A favourite dish: lightly battered spiced-apple doughnuts with cream & bitter chocolate ganache.
Middle Eastern food is astonishingly tasty and very beautiful to look at, too.
This is a menu to explore: the slow-braised goat, flavoured with cinnamon and fenugreek, is unbelievably tender; the skate dish, which includes fermented apple water, beeswax, pine oil and onion ash, is like nothing you’ll find anywhere else in town.
A favourite dish: Smoked yoghurt labna with citrus burnt ghee, date, chickpea and scorched flatbread.
What it offers: Shared-plate options / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Good seating outside / Takes large groups / Bar / Craft beer selection / Good cocktails
6 localnici recomandă
Beirut
85 Fort StMiddle Eastern food is astonishingly tasty and very beautiful to look at, too.
This is a menu to explore: the slow-braised goat, flavoured with cinnamon and fenugreek, is unbelievably tender; the skate dish, which includes fermented apple water, beeswax, pine oil and onion ash, is like nothing you’ll find anywhere else in town.
A favourite dish: Smoked yoghurt labna with citrus burnt ghee, date, chickpea and scorched flatbread.
What it offers: Shared-plate options / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Good seating outside / Takes large groups / Bar / Craft beer selection / Good cocktails
Informal, intimate cafe specializing in traditional Middle Eastern & North African dishes.
14 localnici recomandă
Ima Cuisine
53 Fort StInformal, intimate cafe specializing in traditional Middle Eastern & North African dishes.
The food here is brimming with beautifully fresh and stimulating flavours, featuring a subtle interplay of spicy, sour, sweet and umami. Check out their great teas list too.
A favourite dish: Cha ca (pan-seared fish marinated in turmeric, shrimp paste, ginger & galangal, with beans, peanuts & rice noodles).
63 localnici recomandă
Cafe Hanoi
27 Galway StThe food here is brimming with beautifully fresh and stimulating flavours, featuring a subtle interplay of spicy, sour, sweet and umami. Check out their great teas list too.
A favourite dish: Cha ca (pan-seared fish marinated in turmeric, shrimp paste, ginger & galangal, with beans, peanuts & rice noodles).
What makes it special?
The beating heart of Britomart is a stylish indoor/outdoor restaurant, serving delightful breakfasts, lunches and dinners with impeccable standards to shoppers, tourists and the businesspeople of the precinct.
A favourite dish
Organic chicken cotoletta with lemon and kale.
What it offers
Shared-plate options / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Good seating outside / Craft beer selection
56 localnici recomandă
Ortolana
33 Tyler StWhat makes it special?
The beating heart of Britomart is a stylish indoor/outdoor restaurant, serving delightful breakfasts, lunches and dinners with impeccable standards to shoppers, tourists and the businesspeople of the precinct.
A favourite dish
Organic chicken cotoletta with lemon and kale.
What it offers
Shared-plate options / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Good seating outside / Craft beer selection
What makes it special? Impeccably cooked Indian food served with panache in a warmly inviting bunker-like restaurant.
A favourite dish: Tandoori fish with dry korma, smoked yoghurt and pickled cucumber.
What it offers: Shared-plate options / Fixed-price meals including business lunch / Degustation option / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Private room seats 16 / Semi-private areas / Takes large groups / Bar / Good cocktails / Craft beer selection
21 localnici recomandă
Cassia
90 Fort LnWhat makes it special? Impeccably cooked Indian food served with panache in a warmly inviting bunker-like restaurant.
A favourite dish: Tandoori fish with dry korma, smoked yoghurt and pickled cucumber.
What it offers: Shared-plate options / Fixed-price meals including business lunch / Degustation option / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Private room seats 16 / Semi-private areas / Takes large groups / Bar / Good cocktails / Craft beer selection
Woodpecker Hill won Best New Restaurant award last year, Should this work? Barbecue, Texas-style, or at least pan-southern states, combined with Chinese flavours, and washed down, if that’s what you fancy, with your choice of a gazillion bourbons. Well, of course it should work. That’s what truly good restaurants do, isn’t it? Take you somewhere new and wonderful?
A favourite dish: Fourteen-hour smoked beef brisket served with green chilli, lemongrass and galangal.
What it offers: Shared-plate options / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Takes large groups / Bar / Bourbon and whisky specialists / Craft beer selection
31 localnici recomandă
Woodpecker Hill
196 Parnell RdWoodpecker Hill won Best New Restaurant award last year, Should this work? Barbecue, Texas-style, or at least pan-southern states, combined with Chinese flavours, and washed down, if that’s what you fancy, with your choice of a gazillion bourbons. Well, of course it should work. That’s what truly good restaurants do, isn’t it? Take you somewhere new and wonderful?
A favourite dish: Fourteen-hour smoked beef brisket served with green chilli, lemongrass and galangal.
What it offers: Shared-plate options / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Takes large groups / Bar / Bourbon and whisky specialists / Craft beer selection
What makes it special?
A new executive chef, new menu and new thinking about the whole place have made Euro once again one of the loveliest places to dine on the Auckland waterfront.
A favourite dish
Saffron linguine, spanner crab, little-necked clams, chilli, garlic and oregano.
What it offers
Free-range chicken and/or pork / Good seating outside / Takes large groups / Bar / Craft beer selection
24 localnici recomandă
Euro Bar and Restaurant
Shed 22 Princes WharfWhat makes it special?
A new executive chef, new menu and new thinking about the whole place have made Euro once again one of the loveliest places to dine on the Auckland waterfront.
A favourite dish
Saffron linguine, spanner crab, little-necked clams, chilli, garlic and oregano.
What it offers
Free-range chicken and/or pork / Good seating outside / Takes large groups / Bar / Craft beer selection
The best restaurant in the Wynyard Quarter by a country mile offers exquisitely cooked and presented rustic Italian-American food — and if that seems like a contradiction in terms, you really should check it out.
Executive chef Ben Bayly presents a menu of beautiful pastas and other dishes, while restaurateur Michael Dearth has organised a seductively engaging wine list and rustled up a floor crew who exude charm and bustling efficiency. A great spot for lunch, express or leisurely, and in the evening, a delightfully intimate dinner-date destination.
A favourite dish: maltagliati with duck & porcini ragu, buttercup & pickled walnuts (presented above by host Veronica Sant).
51 localnici recomandă
Baduzzi
26 Jellicoe StThe best restaurant in the Wynyard Quarter by a country mile offers exquisitely cooked and presented rustic Italian-American food — and if that seems like a contradiction in terms, you really should check it out.
Executive chef Ben Bayly presents a menu of beautiful pastas and other dishes, while restaurateur Michael Dearth has organised a seductively engaging wine list and rustled up a floor crew who exude charm and bustling efficiency. A great spot for lunch, express or leisurely, and in the evening, a delightfully intimate dinner-date destination.
A favourite dish: maltagliati with duck & porcini ragu, buttercup & pickled walnuts (presented above by host Veronica Sant).
Joint Runner-up, Best Fine-dining Restaurant / Joint Runner-up, Best Chef: Ben Bayly / Finalist, Best Service
The dishes are invariably a marvel of flavours, textures and colourful beauty on the plate. Proprietor Michael Dearth is one of the world’s great wine and food enthusiasts, and the place itself manages the rare feat of being both sophisticated and a touch informal in its comforts. That’s very appealing.
It’s lovely to sit outside in the elegant St Patrick’s Square, although the refitted bar is also an extremely tempting place in which to hunker down. There’s a mature magnolia outside the windows of the dining room — another grace note on a really lovely experience.
21 localnici recomandă
The Grove Restaurant
Wyndham StreetJoint Runner-up, Best Fine-dining Restaurant / Joint Runner-up, Best Chef: Ben Bayly / Finalist, Best Service
The dishes are invariably a marvel of flavours, textures and colourful beauty on the plate. Proprietor Michael Dearth is one of the world’s great wine and food enthusiasts, and the place itself manages the rare feat of being both sophisticated and a touch informal in its comforts. That’s very appealing.
It’s lovely to sit outside in the elegant St Patrick’s Square, although the refitted bar is also an extremely tempting place in which to hunker down. There’s a mature magnolia outside the windows of the dining room — another grace note on a really lovely experience.
Drinks & Nightlife
Quirky, landmark bar known for shareable teapot cocktails & diverse live music events.
30 localnici recomandă
Cassette Nine
Quirky, landmark bar known for shareable teapot cocktails & diverse live music events.
Located on Auckland's Princes Wharf, Lenin is identified as New Zealand's premium vodka bar. As the name suggests, a Russian-communism theme runs through the bar and a portrait of the man himself sits high on the wall. The bar is stocked with premium vodka (as well as other drinks) and splits the bar into two very distinct sides. One side is for the dance floor where you can look into the neighbouring Minus Five bar the other side is seating. Whatever the night Lenin Bar is always pumping with activity.
Lenin
139 Quay StLocated on Auckland's Princes Wharf, Lenin is identified as New Zealand's premium vodka bar. As the name suggests, a Russian-communism theme runs through the bar and a portrait of the man himself sits high on the wall. The bar is stocked with premium vodka (as well as other drinks) and splits the bar into two very distinct sides. One side is for the dance floor where you can look into the neighbouring Minus Five bar the other side is seating. Whatever the night Lenin Bar is always pumping with activity.
A bar and lounge with a luxe Hollywood vibe, the Roxy is an ideal spot for after work drinks or to while away the evening enjoying top local and international DJs.
The Roxy's best kept secret is their rooftop deck, which offers stunning views of the midtown city skyline. That combined with the smart fit out, table service and top-notch drinks make it a great place to check out in the city this winter.
Split level, the upstairs deck and mezzanine provide the ideal spot for lounging. Dance the night away on the lower level dance floor with tunes from top local and international DJs, or book a plush booth on the mezzanine from 10pm.
29 localnici recomandă
Roxy
7 Fort LnA bar and lounge with a luxe Hollywood vibe, the Roxy is an ideal spot for after work drinks or to while away the evening enjoying top local and international DJs.
The Roxy's best kept secret is their rooftop deck, which offers stunning views of the midtown city skyline. That combined with the smart fit out, table service and top-notch drinks make it a great place to check out in the city this winter.
Split level, the upstairs deck and mezzanine provide the ideal spot for lounging. Dance the night away on the lower level dance floor with tunes from top local and international DJs, or book a plush booth on the mezzanine from 10pm.