Eyes Above The Waves

Saturday 3 September 2016

Auckland Food 2016

Here are some places I like at the moment, valuing not just quality but also interest and value for money.

• Uncle Man's on Karangahape Road (Malaysian). Best roti in the city in my opinion. Just a little bit better than Selera and Papa Rich.
• Cafe Abyssinia in Mt Roskill. The only Ethiopian food in Auckland that I know of.
• Kairali in Royal Oak. Good cheap South Indian food.
• Jade Town on Dominion Road. Uyghur food, i.e., far-western Chinese. Get there early, around 6pm, or their specials are sold out.
• Hog Heaven in Newmarket. The pulled pork sandwich is delicious. Go there soon because there's not much traffic and I fear it has not long to live.
• Momotea in Newmarket and elsewhere. Decent food but their real attraction is their Taiwanese-style drinks and desserts. I like the black sesame milkshake and the "Momo Redbean Ice", perhaps the only time I've found a dessert to be bigger than it looks on the menu.
• Viet Kitchen on Dominion Road. The pork-and-prawn pancake is delicious.
• Hansan in Newmarket and elsewhere. Nominally also Vietnamese, but a different style that I've been told is more Cambodian. I think the food's generally less good than Viet Kitchen but it has milkshakes and desserts which I greatly enjoy, especially the coconut-banana-sago pudding.
• Tombo in Newmarket, Korean-Japanese. The lunch boxes are good, and the dinner buffet is great, if a little overpriced.
• Smile Dessert in Somerville. High-end Chinese dessert restaurant which also sells light meals. I like the walnut and black sesame soup.
• Dae Bak in the city. Great value Korean BBQ buffet ($20 lunch, $22 dinner). A bit less variety than Gangnam Style in Takapuna, but cheaper, easier to get to, and a less cringe-worthy name.