Auckland Restaurants

  1. Agnes Curran

    Beyond the compact courtyard, Agnes Curran café embodies the kind of homely comforts that encourage staying a while. An obviously homemade melting moment or lamington with tea or coffee tastes better surrounded by vintage-style kitchen gear and pottery. Quiches, pies and filled baguettes mean you can stay on for lunch.

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  2. Alleluya

    Like the funky uncle of the K Rd community, Alleluya has been serving up great grub seasoned with humour for a decade. Take a table out in the arcade and toy with the avocado and croutons in your '80s Mixed Salad. Views over Myers Park are equally delicious, and you can drop in for drinks Thursday to Saturday when it stays open late.

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  3. Antoines Restaurant

    Ring the doorbell of this villa-style restaurant to alert the white-waistcoated waiters of your arrival. The last word in old-fashioned fine dining, Antoines gives a nod to its venerable standing by offering a supplementary 'nostalgia' menu, featuring favourites from its early days in the '70s.

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  4. Bonita

    Share a plate of tasty morsels, with a great glass of wine. Then do it all over again. And again. It's about casual and communal dining of consecutive macho-flavoured dishes at Bonita. The blackboard is scrawled with specials and the distressed walls carry shelves stacked with Spanish produce.

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  5. Brazil

    Boho Brazil café's exposed plumbing and peeling paint would make Terry Gilliam proud. Serious coffee drinkers are also proud of Brazil's home-roast brew from beans prepared in the basement. Filled bagels and great breakfasts are served amongst electro-industrial soundscapes and aromas of steaming coffee.

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  7. Café Melba

    Old school through and through, this dim and moody café has businessfolk clustered at its teeny tables both inside and out on Vulcan Lane. At breakfast, there is Eggs Benedict done three ways: veg, regular and with salmon. Or dip your spoon in delectable stewed fruit or porridge. Later at lunch, the menu moves to bagels and curries.

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  8. Canton Cafe

    Constant queues out Canton Cafe's door are certainly no reflection of this cheap-and-cheerful restaurant's pace. More a sign of the popularity of this BYO-wine place's excellent Chinese dishes, which you'll have done and dusted within 30 minutes. Next!

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  9. Dizengoff

    This super-stylish shoebox serves one of the great breakfasts in Auckland to a mixed crowd of business and bohemian types, locals and visitors. The menu is kosher-friendly with mouthwatering scrambled eggs and great coffee. Linger over the best stack of reading material in the city if you tire of eavesdropping and people-watching.

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  10. Esplanade Restaurant

    The fairly conservative restaurant menu (lamb shanks and char-grilled salmon) is in contrast to the outrageously good location: a corner commanding harbour views. The hotel's Mecca café (breakfast, lunch and dinner) offers a more casual alternative, with more menu options than the restaurant, including egg-based and sweet dishes for brekky or brunch.

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  11. Euro

    The oft-lauded Euro holds a few surprises. Its sleek and sparse dining space belies its buzzy atmosphere and adventurous path taken by the kitchen. Euro's menu makes forays into molecular gastronomy, with mains featuring foams, wafers, jellies and jams. Made from superior local produce, the tastes and textures achieved are a true dining-out treat.

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  13. Fish

    Slide sideways into a high-backed booth in sexy surrounds (décor and waiters included). Your choice of fish comes battered, crumbed or grilled. And your potatoes come chipped, au gratin or (shock, horror) skipped altogether - substituted with rice. Fish is assured and accomplished.

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  14. Fridge

    Tables are scarce at this bulging deli, where produce takes priority. Snaffle a chair and join regulars here, on first-name terms, who come time and again for take-home goodies or to indulge in homemade goodies in situ . Fridge's cakes are worth writing home about.

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  15. Iguacu

    This always-popular multilevel bar and restaurant complex offers smart, casual dining. A European and Pacific-Rim menu is meat heavy, with a smattering of seafood. The relaxed, potted-palm atrium-like atmosphere heats up on Sunday after with live blues and jazz.

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  16. Java Room

    Java Room is full of delicious contradictions: its dishes are subtle yet complex, with Asian accents served in elegant Euro surrounds. You'd think the bill would amount to more, considering the exceptionally good taste exhibited in both the food and the décor here.

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  17. Logos

    Space Age meets New Age at Logos café. With low-slung lightbulbs downstairs and themed rooms upstairs (brought to you by the colour blue, green and one Mid-East-inspired). The mostly veg menu sneaks in some chicken and seafood, but offers lots of animal-free dishes. It's all healthy, including the wine-list.

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  19. Manuka

    Bowl in off Devonport's main street for bumper breakfasts and pizza cooked how it should be - fuelled by wood. Snaffle the corner window booth to watch the passing traffic or hover over a sprawling weekend paper; there's a place for everyone at Manuka.

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  20. Mekong Neua

    Linen-dressed tables carry superb regional dishes that aren't shy to get spicy. Turn up the heat with the Laos-style country-veg curry or keep it mellow with lemon-scented prawns delicately dabbed with garlic, ginger and chilli.

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  21. Mentatz

    Japanese and Korean faves for homesick students dominate the long menu here, where the atmosphere is low-key and friendly and the bill ends up small. Try the spicy cold Ramen, which is true to its description or some shiokara ('squid marinated in its own guts'), which is proof of how good a little guts can be.

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  22. Monsoon

    Monsoon is a low-key local. Come with a rabble of friends or on your lonesome for zingy curries and saucy mains. Bring your own booze, or take your dinner away with you: Monsoon does BYO and takeaway.

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  23. O'Connell Street Bistro

    The delightful O'Connell Street Bistro is a grown-up treat, with elegant décor and truly wonderful food and wine. Its 12 tables satisfy lunchtime powerbrokers and dinnertime daters. The Eurocentric menu leans heavily on the duck, salmon and lamb side of things.

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  25. Oh Calcutta

    Arguably the country's best Indian (they will argue), Oh Calcutta ventures beyond the familiar butter chicken into exotic and ebullient menu territory. Try the sweet chilli duck, fish tikka (spiced and smoked) or something from the tandoor.

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  26. Rocco

    Raise a glass to Rocco. Here, your glass will likely be filled with a heady mix from the cocktail list, and you'll be toasting the flamboyant and friendly service that brings you exceptionally fine Spanish-accented fare. Fahbulous dahling .

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  27. Satya

    Sometimes you just need a home-cooked meal, and sometimes it's even better when it doesn't actually come from your home. Satya's simple, spicy South Indian food is lighter than most Indian, and offers lots of veg and vegan dishes. Satya is a popular local haunt.

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  28. Sheinkin

    Sheinkin stands out amongst the other eggs-and-coffee joints in Auckland's CBD due to its stellar Israeli-inspired food, quality coffee and unhurried atmosphere. They do a fabulous tasting plate, soups and salads and there is plenty of glossy reading material to peruse while you wait for your bagel.

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  29. Soul Bar & Bistro

    Eating seafood by the water is a must in Auckland and this modernist gastrodome boasts an unbeatable Viaduct Harbour location and some of the best seafood in town. Despite its large size, it really packs them in, even mid-afternoon, and the whip-smart service keeps things moving at a brisk pace. Come for the life-changing whitebait fritters and the great local wines.

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