Viaduct Harbour has long been a favourite location of Aucklanders. Its idyllic waterfront views are invitation enough to wine and dine the day away. The only struggle you may face is deciding on a place to spend a long lunch that could potentially stretch into the dinner hours. As such, we have curated a list of our favourite bars and restaurants in Viaduct Harbour, from rooftop bars to all-day eateries, to add to your list for languid summer dining.
Eating & Drinking
Meet Green Door Pizza, Auckland’s deliciously authentic new pizzeria
The team behind some of Auckland’s most popular eateries has delved into a delicious new venture: pizza. Named Green Door Pizza, the new opening is the brainchild of David Lee and Oliver Simon of Gochu and Good Dog Bad Dog, along with Tom Hong (co-owner of Lee’s Newmarket eatery The Candyshop) and Oliver Rennie.
Auckland’s best Indian restaurant
Google Auckland’s best Indian restaurant and it’s no surprise that Oh Calcutta comes up #1.
It’s been my favourite for over 15 years and last night I went back after a long time (I moved out of the ‘hood and Parnell seems so far away now…). Meena, the gorgeous owner and creator of the fabulous dishes, still remembered me and our table of 5 were mightily impressed.
We started with tender tandoori lamb cutlets with little silver foils on the bone to eat them from. And onion bhajis that come in a large plate to consume by fork rather than as individual balls. Great sauces to accompany each.
Mmm oh how I love butter chicken!
Then comes the reason we are here: Oh Calcutta’s Butter Chicken is to die for. Seriously, if you are about to order your last meal before you go to meet your maker, make it Meena’s butter chicken! It’s rich, tomatoey and creamy and the tandoori spiced chicken is always tender. There is so much sauce that sopping it up with a roti or naan is my most favourite thing to do. (Note to self: never come here on a date. It’s not a good look)
On the menu is a Lamb Nawabi, but as I prefer the tender chicken pieces, I ordered it with chicken – and they are always happy to oblige. This is a mild curry with onions, tomatoes and fenugreek in a spiced coconut sauce.
We also had the Lamb Roganjosh which was pronounced the best he’d eaten. He’s been away from Auckland for about a year and reckons he forgot how good Oh Calcutta’s Roganjosh was.
Our Weight Watchers companion dined on Tandoori Chicken which she enjoyed – but was clearly robbed by not being able to sop up the copious and delicious sauces with a freshly made Roti. The other dish on the table was Chicken Tikka Masala – tender chicken pieces smoked over charcoal and finished in Meena’s classic rich tomato, onion and coriander sauce.
A bottle of wine, an extra glass and a beer and all up we paid less than $45 each and rolled out of there chewing a Minty from the cashier (trying not to wreck our dentures) and all agreed Oh Calcutta is the best curry house in Auckland – if not the world!
151 Parnell Road | Auckland | ph 09 377 9090.
An afternoon at Riverhead Pub
Whether you’ve got your own boat and want to brave the tides, you take a ferry from downtown Auckland, and cruise the upper Waitemata harbour, past the Chelsea Sugar Factory, Kauri Point, Hobsonville Airbase, Herald Island, the Poremoremo inlet and Huapai Golf Course to the Riverhead Pub, or just drive, it’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Tootling past Westhaven Marina and under the Harbour Bridge
If you don’t have your own boat, book a ferry with The Red Boats or the Riverhead Ferry which depart from downtown Auckland.
It was a bit lumpy out here so my pic is not that clear!
Meanwhile, I travelled in convoy from the Outboard Boating Club in Orakei on their family day out with my cousin and her family, and 166 more of us. Although some took their cars, which in hindsight was a great idea as the wind and swells really got up!
Cruising past the Hobsonville Airbase around Herald Island
After about an hour and 3/4 we see the Riverhead jetty where we waited our turn to stop and clamber out while our skipper went off and anchored in the muddy water and waited for the tender to pick him up
The Red Boat is docked out front
It’s BBQ time! On sunny Sunday’s the Riverhead can do 2000 covers.
It’s non stop sizzling – except for a quick photo
Live music starts at 2pm on Sundays at the Riverhead Pub which is one of the coolest places to spend an afternoon. In 2010 new owners Stephen and Paula bought the pub which was in receivership and frequented by a rather shady clientele. They had been sailing the world for 9 years in a boat they had built themselves before becoming landlubbers. It’s been such a successful venture, they haven’t had time to look back!
If you come by car (or hog) this is the pub entrance
There are several bars, nooks of restaurants, outdoor seating – it’s huge!
The Riverhead is the 2nd pub in New Zealand to have applied for a liquor license and Stephen and Paula have done a ton of research and printed out century-old newspaper articles mentioning the pub and its sometimes dodgy past!
Andy whips up a chocolate martini with a flirty smile
Quirky decor and historic documents as art adorn the walls providing an insight into this pub’s skulduggerous history
This boar watches over one of the dining rooms
Gardens sprawl all the way down the water – and kids are discouraged from playing in them!
We set off just on high tide where the upper harbour was nice and calm. It was a different story heading into the wider harbour with an extreme wind warning in force, swells and gusts of up to 40 knots!
Home time
Next time we have visitors from out of town, we’ll be bringing them here for sure.
Al Brown’s Depot is worth pulling into
Al Brown's Depot
If you slip down Federal Street between the Sky City’s valet parking entrance and Sky Grand’s entrance you’ll see a raft of new restaurants and bars spear headed by celebrity chefs and bursting with happy diners. It’s easy to miss though if you’re not a regular to the casino or one of the inner city commuters who hot foot it down Federal. Buses line the street like a train at any given time and a taxi rank stretches for at least half of it. But when they “move that bus” (Auckland Council please make it permanently so!) the big reveal is quite simply fabulous.
Today I lunched at Al Brown’s Depot. He opened his doors at the same time Luke Dallow opened Hummingbird (read our opening night review here) next door and Sean Connolly opened The Grill just on the other side of the Sky Grand’s new entrance. Like Hummingbird there is outdoor seating for those brave enough to sit amongst the bus fumes, but we decided on a table next to a new window that has been blasted through the Sky Grand wall to reveal their swanky lobby.
Just slide these suckers off the shell in one
Nick (from somewhere in the north of England by the sounds) was our waiter and after hearing about the Depot’s most popular dishes until a little pool of drool collected on the table in front of me, we let him come up with a selection of small plates and one main for us to share. I was also keen to try the wine on tap. Yes, pinot noir out of keg from Mt Edward in Central Otago’s Gibbston Valley. It was 17.5˚ (which I find quite suitable for a red) and is done especially because Al is a mate. It pays to be mates with Al, who was sitting behind me, because he’s been selling barrels of it. That and Spy Valley sauvignon blanc and Mt Edward rose, also on tap but chilled like beer.
While poring over the menu a little plate of complimentary and deliciously smooth babaganoush arrived with flat bread. But it was the raw seafood bar that grabbed my attention.
The fabulous warm peach and proscuitto salad
I’ve never seen tuatua just sitting on ice like oysters before. Let alone tasted them. The only way I’ve eaten tuatua (after doing the hip swivel in the sand at low tide) is to throw them on the barbie in their shells with a little white wine when they pop open. But no. Here they come raw and shucked with a little vinagarette to drip on and “schloopp”. That’s the sound you make when you suck them off the shell. (NB: Not first date fodder). The texture is tougher than an oyster, but the flavour mild, like a scallop maybe? You’ll have to try them and decide for yourself. $2.50 each.
A plate of raw salmon sliced thinly was our next dish with wasabi mayo, $15. Nice but not as wow as the rest of what was about to come.
These tiny fish burgers are FAB
The plate of the day for me was the white peach and proscuitto salad. It was a surprise and I have already tried to emulate it at home putting peach slices on the bbq. This was sublime: warm charred peach slices, salty proscuitto, rocket, toasted macadamia nuts and tart blue cheese with a cab sav dressing. I think it’s only a special so you’d better get there quick.
Next was also fab and I’d already read Tweets about it: Turbot Sliders, 4 for $15. This light fish is similar to flounder, lightly egged and pan fried, served with aoli in tiny burger buns that are a little sweet. But we still weren’t done.
Slow cooked pork and potato skins
A swig of my tumbler of pinot and the 6-hour cooked pork hock which fell off the bone served with crispy skin, grated apple and a parsnip puree arrived. This is a main dish ($29) and would be great to share with a wine for two.
I’d almost forgotten that we also ordered the potato skins – most likely deep fried, they were that delicious, with shaved chevrago cheese and dusted with porcini powder giving it a truffle taste, $10.
Done and dusted and heading home for a lie down! I’m going back with my Bloke as soon we can 🙂
Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar, 86 Federal Street. Ph 09 363 7048. But you can’t make a booking, so just call if you’ve left your wallet!
Chewing the fat with Annabel Langbein
New Zealand’s first proper international celebrity chef is just a down-to-earth girl who loves cooking.
With multiple cook books, TV shows in nearly 80 countries and a groovy gold blouse over skinny jeans, she opened the Taste of New Zealand festival at Auckland’s Victoria Park and reckons New Zealand is the premiere food basket of the world.
A quick break from book signing
But Annabel Langbein insists she’s not a chef she’s a cook. What’s the diff, I asked? A cook is “more about home craft, nourishing people around you. Not about high performance culinary gymnastics. More love, resourcefulness, expedience and nurture.” Got it.
She’s a bit Nigella Lawson and a bit Rachel Hunter and has more time for people than her PA can handle. Her book signing session was like lining up to meet Santa and unless I physically man-handled her out of the tent, I wasn’t going to get my interview. I man-handled and got 8 minutes during which time she jumped up to say hi to friends, but still managed to keep her train of thought on my very intelligent questions.
Actually we just chatted really about her “overnight” success which has taken 20 years, but after 3 minutes I thought I’d better ask her one of the questions I had prepared earlier or I’ll have nothing to blog about.
Outside of New Zealand, her favourite destination for cooking is southern Italy for its peasant traditions. “For me it’s authenticity and integrity in food. No industrial food chain.” (There, that gets the travel side of this blog in.)
Her latest book comes hot on the heels of the TV series (that made kiwis sit up and take notice) and the incredibly successful Free Range Cook book based from her bach (crib?) in Wanaka.
Free Range in the City
This new one is Free Range in the City. I keep thinking Sex in the City – and I’m sure Annabel and Nigella would make an excellent TV series together. But I digress. This book (which I bought and had her sign like one of the groupies lined up earlier) has a whopping 220 recipes for city living – for those of us who don’t have acres of fresh produce in our gardens and maybe even have fussy kids to navigate around and lunchboxes to fill.
How long did it take you to develop the 220 recipes, I asked intelligently. “I could have got up this morning and made three new ones,” she replied. Hmmm, writing that down.
The lady clearly has talent. Recipes roll out of her head like a poet with a pen or a singer in a shower. Her kids have no family favourites to draw on because each meal has a new twist. And yes, she likes family cooking. When her kids were young and nutritious nightmares (my words, not hers!) fridge fillings saved her. That way, she says, you can add sauces and extra garnishes to dishes for the adults without having to cook 5 different dinners.
A big fan of farmers markets and artisan food stores like Nosh and Farrow, she loves poking about for new products – like blueberry sorbet from Omaha, she said waving in the general direction of their tent, down here at Taste.
So you have until 9.30pm Sunday October 22 to get along, sample, sip and savour and get amongst some of the best cuisine on offer at restaurants around Auckland all in one venue. Take about $30-$50 to buy $1 crowns. Then choose which mini plates you want to try. Prices range from 8 – 12 crowns per plate.
See annabel-langbein.com for more insight and a few online recipes.