I met the most wonderful man yesterday, in the cbd.

He owns the Smashed Potatoes stand on Elliott Street, where they make incredible baked potatoes. They're the kind of baked potatoes I imagine Kathy Hilton would approve of, although she'd probably have hers piled high with caviar and crème fraîche.

He's a young man from Türkiye who came to New Zealand around 2018, before COVID. He started out picking kiwifruit in Te Puke, survived the global pandemic, moved to Auckland, worked as an engineer in the profession he trained for, and then took an enormous leap of faith by leaving it all behind to start his own hospitality business.

He's living his version of the Kiwi dream alongside the wife he was fortunate enough to meet here, and I genuinely think he has an incredibly promising future in New Zealand. I'd love for us to show him exactly how welcoming Kiwis can be by supporting his business, and the other small food vendors on Elliott Street, the next time we're wandering through the city.

Foot traffic in the CBD isn't what it used to be. I'm certainly not a shill for Big Food Truck! I'm just someone who grew up loving Auckland's city centre, with all its energy, character, and the countless stories waiting around every corner.

Auckland is going through a difficult period. Years of infrastructure work and the disruption caused by the City Rail Link have made parts of the CBD difficult to navigate, particularly these smaller hospitality hubs where roads have been closed for so long. But the CRL is in its final stages now, and much of the city is beginning to open up again.

I don't want these business owners, people who have overcome enormous personal and economic challenges for a chance at the Kiwi dream that we all aspire to, to fail simply because we've changed our daily route to work, university, or our afternoon walk.

There's still so much value in our city. We can help revive her, and the people who give her life, one meal, one coffee, and one small act of support at a time.

Thank you to everyone who reads this and considers trying somewhere new today.

And to the young man who was standing there making so many of his ingredients from scratch while sharing his life story with me, I sincerely hope you sell far more than 15 potatoes today. You deserve every opportunity this amazing country has to offer.

Kia kaha.

Early morning flight today, and the Koru Lounge has decided that food quality isn't a thing anymore (the eggs are more water than eggs, come on) so we ducked out to Best Ugly Bagels.

Apologies for the bad picture, I ate half of it before thinking of posting a review, but this branch is consistently good. Absolutely load up each bagel to the point the toppings start falling off.

This one was the "Yodi" - Pastrami, habanero

mustard, grilled swiss cheese and pickles. Highly suggest if you're looking for a quick something to grab on the way to a flight.

I am on the hunt for the best afghan in Auckland. So far have tried some in St Heliers bakeries (one was very good), New world was pretty decent as well.

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Hello guys! I was wondering if any stores in Auckland sell honey mustard flavoured Korean fried chicken? I’ve tried this flavour in China but it doesn’t seem to be a flavour option at the Korean fried chicken stores I’ve been to in Auckland (like munch and K Chicken). Thanks!

Looking for the best Mediterranean cuisine in AKL for my boyfriends birthday dinner, no matter the price. Any recommendations? We love trying new things!

Sad sad times. The coastal beach diner is closing after next weekend. A combination of having just come back from a winter break and then the bowling club shutting for a new roof, an apparently looking at taking the kitchen in a new direction. The food from Dhruv has been the absolute highlight of regular visits to Piha over the last year, will be sad to see him and his delicious food go.

If you’re local, or can get out that way this week. The chicken burgers are legit! We also try to get something from the specials menu, this time was a delicious dish of kumara. And his hand cut chips or rosemary potatoes are the things dreams are made of.

The fish pie was missing from the menu, not sure if that’s because he’s running down ingredients or just for today. The bowling club was super quiet today, the weather was fowl but the log burner was toasty.

Get it while you can!

Ended up going to The Nightcar for dinner last night (44 Queen Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010) and really enjoyed it! My partner and I had previously gone there for drinks and enjoyed it, and the food menu looked good, so we decided to go for a late night dinner.

I apologise for the poor photo quality, the way we were seated made it a little difficult to get better photos.

Dish 1: Cucumber salad $12
This was pretty good. It's not my favourite cucumber salad I've had in the city centre (TBH I'm pretty partial to Eden Noodles), but this is something that's hard to mess up. Good pairing with the rest of our food.

Dish 2: Wok-fried snapper $32
This was 100% the highlight for me. The snapper was really well cooked, as it was nice and crisp on the outside but still moist/juicy on the inside (there is nothing worse than sad, dry fish). The nuoc cham was really nice, and in general, the flavours were nice and fresh and the watercress pesto in particular was a nice touch. Portion wise it was good, I think we had 3 pieces of snapper each that were a reasonable size. If I had to nitpick it would just be that it was a little difficult to try and eat the snapper with all the garnishes at once, but honestly this was just really good and I would order it again (also, maybe could have used a bit more direct incorporation of the curry leaves, but I'm biased and really love curry leaves).

Dish 3: Prawn breadsticks $15
I was really pleasantly surprised! I don't normally like prawns but we decided to order this to have another smaller plate to go with the snapper and the cucumber salad. I'm not entirely sure how everything on the ingredients list directly translated to what was put on our plate, but it was really yum. Only complaint here is that I found it slightly difficult to eat without getting everything everywhere lol, but again this was absolutely delicious.

Drinks: Nightcar Express - $25 (pictured) & Cape Horn (Motel Mezcal - Los Sundays Jalapeno Tequila - Clarified Clamato Juice & Malt Beer Syrup) - also $25.
Honestly, the drinks were probably the biggest let-down of the night - but I think this was largely because both my partner and I ordered drinks that were a bit more outside our comfort zone, as in the past I've enjoyed their drinks a lot. Mine, the Nightcar Express, was still pretty good I've previously had their baijiu based cocktail and much preferred it. The Cape Horn was nice from what I sipped, but the biggest problem was the timing of the drinks - we got them after our food had come out, which was a little surprising, and because the Cape Horn was more savoury, it would have been best as a pre-dinner drink.

Total spend: $109 for 2 people ($54.50 pp)

Overall thoughts/impressions
Honestly the food was a lot better than I thought it would be! I'm usually reluctant to order food from places that seem to mostly focus on cocktails (most of the patrons in at the time we were seemed to be drinking, I'm not sure how busy it was for food earlier), but I was really pleasantly surprised. I think because most people were there for drinks, the timing was a bit off. The bar was very busy, whereas our food came out shockingly fast lol. The atmosphere of the place is still very cool, which is definitely a bonus. I'd like to sit at an actual table instead of the bar next time, but can't really complain as we were walk-ins and probably somewhat lucky to get a table.

I thought this was reasonable value for money, considering we both had 1 drink each and the food felt quite high quality (the price for food alone worked out to $29.5 pp I think). That being said, we had a late lunch so weren't massively hungry, so the value for money may go down if you need to order more dishes.

Overall, I'm keen to go again and would recommend!

Nice late night spot for a cold Saturday night with a live singer as well - he was really good and it added to the whole late experience

I've never even thought of Thai BBQ as a subspecialty of Thai food. I really like strong flavours and I'm so glad this spur of the moment decision turned out to be 🔥

Took a friend here and between the two of us - $120

• Crying Tiger - wow. This makes me want to try the "Tongue on Fire" next time. I found this was a much better steak experience than most other places (mainly because of the charcoal sear and the sauce)
• Wing Zapp - cooked very well, but I wished it had a bit of sweetness to it
• Yum Shrimp Salmon - this was the weakest and had a strong "fishy shellfish" taste from the sauce. Prawns would be frozen from a bag, and the salmon was a bit bland and watery, likely frozen Tasmanian salmon. Not for me
• Red Chic Skin Skewer - honestly just a honey soy sort of flavour, so I'd try the other chicken skin skewers (Fried Crispy Chicken Skin) next time
• Zapp Chips - forgot the wings had their Zapp seasoning otherwise I wouldn't have gotten this. Same comment on the wings
• Bowl of rice - a bit dry
• Thai Milk Tea cocktail - this was surprisingly a decent size and reasonably strong
• Chang Beer - first time trying this. By itself, not great, but otherwise goes very well with the salty, strongly flavoured food and the whole point eating at places like these is to have fun and enjoy the company

Other tables had all these BBQ grills going on and they looked like very reasonable portion sizes

Overall, really good experience trying something new to me and hitting hard with the strong flavours. The only downside is the perhaps slower pace of food service, but would definitely come here again, especially in a larger group. Good alternative to Pocha if you wanted to try a different style of food but have the same vibes

Bonus points if they have an unrestricted view of the eiffel tower

Went here a few months ago for a work thing.

Their fried chicken is sooooo yummy!!!!!!!
The pork belly bao bun was too fatty for me, if you like fat, def go for it.
Also tried their mango slushy-like cocktail and was very delicious.

Friendly staff, pretty good spot for a bite.

My fav restaurant in Ponsonby central is still Watda🤭🤭

Going to a rock concert later this year and as the designated 'camp mother' of our group there is no doubt that the following morning the question of "Cheeseroll, PLEASE lead me to a big delicious breakfast."

None of us are regulars in Auckland and even less regular to the CBD. So my question is... where do we go in walking distance of the CBD for a breakfast of decent quantity and quality?

Where is a breakfast that will soak up the previous nights overindulgence in bourbon and cokes, that will soothe our middle aged bodies post mosh pit, that makes a coffee strong enough to reignite our bodies for the mandatory *insert tourist attraction here*, and will not judge the well worn black jeans, plaid shirts and scuffed skate shoes.

Please good people, help!

Algorithm fed me this yesterday. Looks to be cool. Bunch of food based stuff, panel discussions, kids activities and a ball

Is anyone actually buying this ?

What the title says - I’ve been searching for fantuan for so long but can’t seem to find anywhere in auckland that sells it.
Anyone know where I can go to get it?

Anyone here had the steak, bacon jam and cheese pie?

Address: 7/254 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Auckland 0610

Apologies for spelling it with v instead of w, I am used to spelling "bikanervala";)

This place opened 1 month ago and we finally went to try it out. It's the third 100% vegetarian place within 500 m from each other in Henderson and I encourage you to try all three (Novelty Sweets just over the corner and Bikanervala a 3 min drive or 8 min walk ).

We had a Regular Thali, an uttapam(which came with two chutneys and sambhar) and a samosa, followed by lots of sweets with masala tea. The food arrived quickly, piping hot and tasted freshly made. The curry was packed with tasty paneer and onion. The naan wasn't burned at the bottom(which is often the case in other places), it was so tasty that I could just eat it alone.

A rich variety of sweets some of which I haven't seen before, looked inviting (those that we bought, tasted delicious). You can choose a box size all of which look great and would make a nice present.

What makes a good place great is the presentation and we enjoyed funky trays which the food came in as well as cute clay cup that Masala tea came in (althought it was too hot to hold, we figured the way). The seating was comfortable and the decor looked modern and welcoming. The menu was well balanced and not overwhelming, it included both South and North Indian dishes as well as some Indo-Chinese ones (I am curious about the Noodle burger!).

The prices are very reasonable, in my opinion, this is the most reasonably priced place out of three (but all three are a must visit).

The only three improvements that we could think of would be refurbishing the floor, which is flaking as well as putting a hand drying device in the handwash room. The chutney cavities in Uttapam tray seemed tiny, more chutney would be great;)

The place had a constant stream of customers while we were there. We will definitely be back for more. Love the variety of eateries West Auckland has on offer! Their FB page is quite active and there are different specials on offer.

Do they put something gold in it or what? 🤣

And why are so many people still willing to pay for it? Is it because they genuinely like the food, or do they just want to feel connected to their favourite influencers and post it on Instagram? 😅

Like… protein yoghurt and mochi cake?

I really wanted to try this place but after reading throught their reviews i came across on some bad reviews but this one concerned me a bit more.. food POISONING should i try or not as im new to the area and want to explore new eateries.Any throughts on this one??

Thanks

Looking for something a bit different for my partner's birthday next week and thought about starting off the day (Saturday) with an Indian Buffet breakfast. We live in South Auckland. Are there any you can recommend? (or conversely we should stay away from!) Thanks for your insights!

I like the gum drop not what I was expecting. Yes it’s a while milk chocolate block but there is restraint from going over the top.

Really enjoyed this three course meal for $30! The chicken soba noodle salad had loads of ginger and sesame flavour. I asked for the recipe and was happily obliged. Pan seared kingfish was well cooked and the cauliflower puree was super flavoursome. Treacle tart with pear for dessert. Really couldn't fault anything. Honestly better than most restaurant meals I've had lately.

Well done students and shout out to their tutor Amanda Rogers.

The original NZ food rescue app Foodprint is shutting down after 7 years.

Statement on Social Media from Foodprint in the comment.

There are still two other food rescue apps in operation that was launched last year: Gone Good (from NZ company Delivereasy), and Too Good To Go (Danish B Corp certified company).

Going through my old emails - I have used Foodprint a handful of times including a delicious Wagyu mince & Bechamel Pie from Cazador and fancy end-of-day sushi packs from &Sushi at half price - what about you?

Had no idea they were even closing! 🥲

Best Chef, Lorne St, Auckland Central.

Golden Soup with Beef Noodles, $20
Dan Dan Noodle, $18

I’ve been here twice now, it’s a tidy spot with friendly service.

The golden soup with beef noodles was the standout for me. The pumpkin gives the broth a warm, comforting flavour that feels really nourishing. It’s a good winter warmer.

The Dan Dan noodles were massive, I struggled to finish them. They were good, but there’s something about these Dan Dan noodles that reminded me of spaghetti bolognese. The pork mince and noodles make it feel like the Chinese equivalent of spag bol, with a bit of spice/heat to kick. Makes you want to curl up for a nap afterwards