Any recent recs?
I would tag @MrTaster as he is now living in NZ and might have the best insights
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I’m living in Auckland now, so I could throw out a few random suggestions.
Gloria’s in Commercial Bay for pizza al taglio and great sandwiches
Peach’s Hot Chicken in Panmure for Nashville hot chicken
Tanpopo on Anzac in CBD for ramen
Tapsi on Dominion Road/CBD for Kurdish/Persian/Arabic
Shefco on Dominion Road/CBD for Lebanese
Kebab Joint in Henderson for their special menu (shish/kofte kebabs are good too but the special dishes are great)
Also, there’s some good recommendations on r/AucklandEats
Feel free to ask more specific questions
Mr Taster
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Thanks @MrTaster any places on north island (not necessarily food) that you recommend that we see or do?
I have been mining auckland eats lol reddit is hit or miss but at least theres info there that isnt AI generated.
I will say that the seafood situation here is a bit weird. First of all you get southern hemisphere fish like trevally, gurnard, lemonfish, etc so you have to relearn your seafood. Sushi is extremely weird…it seems to have been popularized in the 90s by Koreans, not Japanese. So there aren’t really any traditional sushi bars where you sit at the counter in front of a refrigerated case. Sushi here, like it’s gimbap inspiration, is usually made ahead of time and is intended for takeaway. Lots of non-fish varieties like chicken cutlet sushi, bulgogi sushi, all larger gimbap sized. It’s quite difficult to find a traditional maki roll. Sometimes it’s not even refrigerated, just stacked up in boxes on a counter. I saw this in Brisbane as well. I’ve had one too many pieces of room temperature salmon and slimy scallop that I’ve nearly given up on it. If you want raw fish cut to order you need to find a sashimi restaurant (they will specifically be called that, and they likely will only have one kind of sushi roll as an afterthought). Or a high end Japanese restaurant.
Also, oysters are ALWAYS shucked at the oyster farm before being sent out. You will never see a whole, unshucked oyster for sale that you can shuck at home.
I don’t know why kiwis feel so comfortable playing fast and lose with their raw fish, but I’m clearly the weird one here.
NZ is not really a food destination. But therevare some pretty fantastic pies…I have to agree with the consensus that Pie Rollas on Karangahape Road is pretty great.
There’s a lot of pretty wonderful farmers markets. Clevedon market is great, and I hear that Matakana is wonderful but I have not yet been.
Kerikeri in far north also had a fantastic market worth seeing out, as well as a really good Israeli (?!) restaurant. They also grow bananas up there, but not enough to supply the whole country so they’re really a local delicacy.
That’s also a night market scheduled every night in Auckland. They tend to be the same vendors, but you can find specialties like Cook Island donuts made fresh.
Mr Taster
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Wow thanks for all this will definitely check out the farmers markets. What is the name of the night market?
It’s just an umbrella “Auckland Night Market” which appears at sites all over the city. They’re usually set up in underground car parks under large stores and they do have a feel like when you’re in Asia. A lot of smells, sounds and sights to take in. The largest one is at Pakuranga. I would try the cook island doughnuts… they’re not very sweet but they have a really nice pillowy but somewhat dense texture which I’ve never had before. Maybe like if memory foam were edible? They fry them fresh and slide them off a wooden dowel into a bag.
Also I assume you’re in LA? I wouldn’t seek out Mexican, Chinese, Korean, etc. since LA does all these things better but there’s a couple of surprisingly good taco places (and oddly nearly all of them sell beef birria and nothing else…!) We found a really lovely Korean takeaway called “Cooktop” which makes a really good selection of homemade banchan (to rival the shop in Koreatown in terms of variety) and also has a really nice selection of homemade kimchi (including an “extra spicy” cabbage).
I would definitely recommend a really nice outing at the Catalina Bay farmers market. You can take a 30 minute ferry from the main terminal near Britomart and it drops you off right at the market. You can drive too but the ferry ride is particularly pleasant on a nice day. If you’re lucky you’ll see a bungee jumper toss themselves off the Harbour Bridge as you go under.
Mr Taster
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One more thing. Hobbiton is well worth visiting, but I’d pass on the lunch. The food looked beautiful, set up in a thematic tent with festive bunting, but the food itself was expensive and mediocre.
They do dinners inside the Green Dragon Inn which I’d still consider, simply because you get so little time there at the end of your tour (you get about 15 minutes to drink a beer before being shuffled onto the bus by your tour guide) and having a full dinner there would be a treat just for the ambiance. (I believe the dining room is closed off to regular tours). They do evening lantern tours as well, though if you’ve never been I don’t know whether you’d be able to appreciate the full splendor of the gardens that way.
EDIT-- it looks like the evening banquet tour includes a daytime tour, then dinner in the dining room, followed by a lantern tour. This sounds like the best alternative if you’re only going to go once. Evening Banquet Tour - Hobbiton™ Movie Set Tours
Mr Taster
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Great rec for hobbiton!
This place just popped up on my radar. Looks pretty great.
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We went to kk Malaysian and kingi (sustainable seafood).
Also hit up cazador for lunch would definitely return there for dinner they do a lot of wild gsme and house cured meats.
Dining in Auckland has been pretty great so far.
Lots of variety.
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I’ve heard Advieh in Commercial Bay has some of the best middle eastern food in NZ. I’ve been meaning to try it.
I did go to Ahi with @sinosoul when he visited here but it was really hit or miss. Some dishes were great, others were a total bust. I’d avoid it.
Mr Taster
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Also I’ve heard Waku Waku in Remuera is quite a good high end Japanese restaurant. I’ve only been to his lower end restaurants Tsuru Tsuru (udon) and Katsu Katsu, but I’d love to give Waku Waku a go.
I’m not as flexible with my dining as I was during the old Chowhound glory days, as I’ve got a 5 year old now and am exhausted by 8pm 
Mr Taster
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Haha I feel you we just bring our kid to all the restaurants we go to!
Had adiveh and ahi bookmarked but maybe I’ll skip ahi when I return.
I think I’m skipping Japanese since we get so much back in LA and we might stop there depending on conditions.
Will report back!
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Have you checked out dominion road @MrTaster? There seems to be a lot of restaurants on that stretch skewing highly Asian.
We stopped at Cazador which does a great takeaway lunch.
Haven’t been to Cazador but I’ll put it on my list.
Before we moved to Auckland, I assumed if we lived there we’d be traveling to Dominion Road all the time like when we lived off Fairfax and drove the 45 minutes to sgv for dinner. (It’s about 30 minute drive from where we live now) .
The reality is that while dominion Rd is most certainly a central hub, there’s a really nice diversity of traditional restaurants all over the city and there are loads of “good enough” Chinese restaurants 5-10 minutes from home. As such we haven’t explored dominion Rd as much as we’d like. A bunch are in Panmure and if you had out to the suburbs east and south of pakuranga (Howick area) you’ll find mini malls that would not be out of place in Monterey park.
I haven’t had any Chinese food on dominion Rd that would equal the quality or excitement of sgv. However I do really like the Kurdish Iraqi restaurant Tapsi (though the Moroccan tagine was disappointing) and the Lebanese hole in the wall Shefco, both on southern part of dominion Rd. Also if you make it to Henderson, the unassuming Kebab Joint has several very good regional specialty dishes on the opposite side of the menu that the kebabs are on. The kofta is good and generous portion but the specialty dishes are really interesting (Dizi stew served in traditional earthenware with a pestle, and chicken karahi were both great). Ignore the “best shwaerma”…I haven’t had it but heard it’s not great.
Mr Taster
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