I m not a vegan nor vegetarian. I love my meats to much. But to the true Buddhism faithfuls, a veg…read moreonly diet is the only way of life. The Buddhists are taught to refrain from taking life. So they can only ingest non animal products. I was paying my respect at the Fo Guang Shan temple. And the water drop is its own vegan cafe. I ordered the noodles and a couple of side dishes. To my surprise that it doesn't take like normal vegan food. It's not bland and it's good for you. Lol, I wish I can eat healthy like this everyday. Seriously though, if you are a vegan and you are in the area. Give the water drop a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

This is an awesome eatery that is part of the Buddhist temple in Auckland. The food is fresh,…read morehealthful, an delicious. Their daily set menu is also a really good value--you get rice plus three or four accompaniments, usually with a mix a mock meats and veggies. The environs are also beautiful, calm, and inviting. I highly recommend this place.

Fresh modern decor, flavoursome curries - taste the individual spices and "mild, medium or hot"…read more Complemented by superior customer service which was better than a number of upmarket restaurants. Great value. highly recommended with a good vegetarian selection .

Before I moved to this part of Auckland, I found this to be a convenient spot to meet with Highland…read morePark locals. It's a cafe run by Asians (of course), and has some good food and coffee for you to enjoy. There are indeed some nice bamboo decorations about, and the cabinet is filled with delicious temptations. I've noticed people enjoy eavesdropping on your conversation here, perhaps from a lack of things to do. I guess I did have a few study dates here, and that intrigued people a bit too much! haha Aside from that, I really like this place. The staff are really friendly, and don't seem at all in a hurry to usher you out the door. (even though you know you've been there 3 hours and really ought to order something else!)

I'm not a major fan of Howick so don't really frequent it that often. So I don't really get to try…read moreout all it has to offer. Having said that the Bamboo Garden Cafe was quite nice when I went there recently. I'm a fan of asian cuisine so can be quite fussy when I try a new place (new for me) that serves it. Their blackboard was great for the many options on offer and on display in cabinet too. I didn't really like the set up though. It is a vast space so could be used in a number of ways. The way they have set up the restaurant makes it look like a sidenote - you know the kinds of restaurants that are attached to like a museum or something. It just wasn't to my liking, too much like a cafeteria for my taste. They did offer a lot of vegetarian options though which was great, and expected as with most asian restaurants. They also do take aways so that is a plus.

A very random experience coming here. Maybe its just I don't get the whole culture experience…read moreoffered here. The restaurant is attached to a large Hare Krishna culture centre. The restaurant itself is spacious (empty). Minimalistic. Ample parking space. It is more like a community rather than a restaurant. There is no waitstaff. You order your food, they cook it fresh, but you will have to pick it up from the counter yourself. Self serving. I am not a big vegetarian fan so I am a bit biased. We came for the banquet deal. The portion is not as generous as I thought. Quality is acceptable. Everything is mild to spicy. Feels like something you probably get at home in India. Not the most children friendly place. No real good dishes for children. I am quite surprised by how much they charge for a plate of rice.

Four of came in for a dinner on a Thursday night…read more I ordered the Moroccan Lamb, a slow roasted lamb shank, carrot, chickpeas, sultanas, couscous, yoghurt, mint gremolata. My spouse ordered the Citron Chicken Tagine, a Ras el hanout, preserved lemon, carrot, chickpeas, apricot, couscous, yoghurt, almonds. Both meals were very yummy. The servers were attentive and polite but the ambience was still to "mall" like for me,even though we were in a mall.

Wanting to continue enjoying the company after a movie, we headed here for some drinks, which…read moremainly consisted of chocolate oriented items. I ordered the calamari because I felt that's a pretty safe item and it can be compared across restaurants. It arrived and I was slightly surprised as it was spiced and lightly sauced, not tempura-ed or breaded or fried. Once I got over that, the taste was good; granted that this was most likely a sharable dish, I'd recommend getting something else to pair with it because eating the entire thing by yourself is not the way to go. Especially when everyone else is enjoying baby churros with shot glasses of melted chocolate. Also, make sure to make your order well known. A lady at our table ordered the same drink three times and hadn't received it until we were about to go. The manager came over and served her personally, explaining that they had some new staff and apologized for the confusion. By this point, she was already over not receiving the drink, but once she sipped it, she was wishing she had received it a lot earlier.

3.7 stars food was pretty good not amazing. Got the…read moreboysenberry tea cake and that was the best food we had. Coffee was also pretty good pretty standard and got the job done. Staff were nice and atmosphere was light and welcoming.

Nice cafe close to the Auckland. Botanic gardens. We arrived just as the kitchen had closed but…read morewere still able to order from the ready to eat deli items. Food was good and fresh and value for money. Good service and great coffee as well.

This place is made for those animal loving tree hugging lovely kinds of people…read more Kitchenette uses all and only organic, free range, gm free produce and products which makes for a clear conscious when indulging at this eatery. This is mostly a burger shack - though shack isn't fancy enough of a word. It's aesthetic is incredibly contemporary and modern which makes it feel like a really clean space. They make some major burgers here though - the classics like the cranberry chicken and the more exciting kwi flyer and special havoc burger. It takes ages to make your mind up it is all so exciting in there. I love love that they have more than one option for the vegetarians out there! hardly any burger place has more than one or two. This place has four, and they were all original versions too. Very impressed. You can dine in (outside seating too which is nice) or you can take away.

The best eggs Benedict I have ever had. And I've had a lot. So consistent every single time. Not to…read moremuch hollandaise sauce. I get a bacon one and ask for it crispy and they are quick with bringing it out even though I ask for it to be cooked a little bit longer. I love this place.

You don't go to Legend noodle house for the ambiance, nor do you go for the décor. It's actually…read moreprobably not even somewhere you want to sit in and eat (except to try the complimentary green tea). Legend Noodle house is all about the Singapore Noodles. I'm not sure what goes into these noodles (I'm not sure I really want to know either) but they are greasy, hang over curing, perfection. A takeaway serving could feed you for the rest of the week. They are in the traditional style with prawns, chicken, beef and LOADS of bean sprouts. I've only once strayed and tried something else on the menu. It was good, but not nearly as good as the noodles. I actually can't vouch for anything else on the menu (except maybe the won ton soup which is ok). But the Singapore noodles are suberb!

Wonton noodles are good here. The other stuff we've tried is ok too. Reasonable prices and run by…read morea nice old couple.

We were looking for a place to eat on the way out of Auckland. It's been awhile since I've had…read moreMalaysian and I'm always a sucker for a good laksa. A quick search brought up Gu Xiang Malaysian Restaurant. It's in a random small strip mall that also has a few restaurants and a Eastern Fresh grocery store. We dropped in on a Wednesday (around noon) for lunch. The place has plenty of tables and it was about half full. Completely full of Asian clientele. The servers speak Cantonese and English. Service is good here; just catch the waitress attention and you can get refills on your tea and water. The menu is massive; appetizers, noodles, noodle soup, fried rice, nasi lemak, dishes on rice, pork/beef, chicken, tofu, fish (market price), prawns, squid, vegetables (seasonal price) and others. All the meat and vegetable dishes are very pricey. - 2x Roti canai (#116) ($3.00 NZD each) - thought these come with a curry sauce dip but nope. You just get the roti canai. These were greasy but had some sweet tones to it that I wasn't expecting. Order this with the chicken curry ($12.90 NZD) instead. - Loo mai gai (#9) ($5.00 NZD) - this was pretty glutinous and had a thick, sweet oyster like sauce. We were intrigued by the photo of it on the wall. Just average. - Curry laksa with chicken curry (#21A) ($13.90 NZD) - the broth was creamy but not very spicy. I'm pretty picky with my laksa; this was better than I expected it to be. They throw in two types of noodles (thin vermicelli and yellow lo mein), tofu puffs and bean sprouts. Get it! - Seafood noodle (#20C) ($11.80 NZD) - the broth is sweet and tasted like wonton soup broth. You get yellow noodles, mix of seafood, bok choy and bean sprouts. Definitely a Chinese influenced dish. Pretty mediocre, nothing special in my books. - Hainese chicken on rice (#31) ($11.80 NZD) - the chicken was hot and tender. Came with delicious side of rice, a vegetable soup and chili garlic sauce. Simple but satisfying. Stick with the Malaysian dishes. Good portion sizes. 3.5 stars.

Great chicken laksa, very authentic Malaysian food for the soul together with the rest of the menu.read more