Whether you’re a New Zealand local or just passing through, eating in Auckland is a treat. Local chefs draw on the exceptional produce around them and their own roots to create food with flair.

Here, we venture to four neighbourhoods to discover some of the best restaurants in Auckland.

Britomart’s local flavours

Britomart is a bustling neighbourhood set along the harbour’s edge. As the country’s largest heritage urban renewal project, it's brimming with former teahouses and offices that now host some of the city’s best restaurants.

Chef Jo Pearson has been integral to shaping the local food scene. In 2021, she opened Alma, where her Andalusian-inspired cuisine transports diners to culinary heights – and keeps them coming back. Expect food made with integrity, flair and plenty of fire.

Another profoundly creative influence is chef Michael Meredith, who’s been putting the Pacific on a plate for decades. A champion of sustainable produce and flavours influenced by his Samoan heritage, he says the focus at his restaurant Mr Morris is “to create a place where the food is exciting, where the atmosphere is relaxed and every guest feels genuinely welcomed”. He carries this ethos through to Metita, named after his mother, just up the road.

For Chinese cuisine served in moody surrounds, head a little closer into the CBD to try Ghost Street and The Nightcar. If you seek harbour views, head to Advieh for chef Gareth Stewart’s take on Middle Eastern flavours, or to the classically inclined Origine – a Kiwi bistro with a French soul – by celebrity chef Ben Bayly.

He’s also behind Ahi, which means ‘fire’ in Te Reo Māori. Here, he serves sustainable Aotearoa on a plate, with organic vegetables from the garden. He also includes wild-caught kaimoana (seafood) and tia (deer). The menu is an education in local produce and culture. 

The pick of Ponsonby

Once the bohemian heart of Auckland, Ponsonby’s historical villas now sit alongside a range of fashionable boutiques – and some of the best food Auckland has to offer.

A recent addition to this inner-city suburb is Matt Lambert’s aptly named restaurant Return. After earning a Michelin star at The Musket Room in Manhattan, the local chef has returned home with a 10-course degustation at NZ$225. Individual plates of ‘fish and chips’, Ōra King salmon and Awatoru wild venison show a deep connection to place.

A 10-minute walk down the road is Beau, where care and community take centre stage. The food is full of flavour and style but devoid of pretension – think roast lamb, brown butter gnocchi and braised short rib. Their deli next door commands quite the morning coffee queue, too.

Every suburb needs a mainstay and Prego is Ponsonby’s. Serving the community for 40 years, it’s endured the power lunches of the 1980s and retains a loyal following for its classic Italian food and al fresco ambience.

A quiet achiever off the main strip, Cocoro has become a firm favourite, serving refined Japanese cuisine to locals and travellers who seek out chef Makoto Tokuyama’s award-winning cuisine.

Visit K’ Road for more-than-OK food

Karangahape Road – or, as it’s commonly known K’ Road – is a hospitality and retail strip home to some of Auckland’s best independently owned and operated bars and restaurants, wedged in alongside studios, galleries and boutiques.

Hopping from bar-restaurant to bistro is the best way to experience what K’ Road has to offer. Start with the goat cheese and spinach dumplings at Otto, segue to Apéro for Leslie Hottiaux’s award-winning food and Mo Koski’s stellar wine list, then pitch up at Gemmayze Street for fetteh and a glass of cabernet sauvignon from Lebanon’s Bekka Valley. 

At Italian hotspot Coco’s Cantina, you’ll be welcomed like whānau (family) and afforded the kind of manaakitanga (hospitality) that makes you feel like you’re home. This was exactly what owner Renee Coulter's (Ngāti Kahu) intended when she established the restaurant 17 years ago.

“Karangahape Road’s owner-operators follow their own vision and that freedom shows up in everything – the menus, drinks, music and collabs,” she says. “There’s a strong sense of community, with operators who genuinely care about what’s happening across the strip and back each other.”

Adding to the flavour profile, you’ll find pan-Latin bistro Tempero nearby, as well as Bar Magda, where chef Carlo Buenaventura taps into his Filipino roots. If your desires are freshly made pasta and wine from Aotearoa and Italy, petite Pici in the 1920s St Kevin’s Arcade is the place to be.

The dining edge on Eden Terrace

Less than a 15-minute stroll from K’ Road stand two restaurants that create innovative fine dining in their own remarkable ways. The French Café has enlightened diners’ tastebuds since 1981. Acclaimed chef Sid Sahrawat, who bought the restaurant in 2018, honours its classic origins while fulfilling his own creative vision.

“We want to preserve the old-school French techniques and be forward thinking, while ensuring people have an amazing experience that’s accessible,” he says.

Almost next door to The French Café is Lillius, opened by Fraser and Shannon McCarthy in 2017. At this inventive and inviting spot, explore the à la carte menu, trust chef Fraser to choose for you, or visit on Sunday – when menu options are added and you can BYO wine.