I'll admit I used to be a bit afraid of Tai Ping. Mainly because the carpark is a terrifying place…read moreand you could lose your life. Really, the driving here is shocking. The shop itself though has just got better and better over the last few years and now is a really great general supermarket that has bargain prices and exotic products. There's more noodles than anyone could ever want to eat and rice, dried beans and condiments galore. The flavour pastes and fresh produce are my favourites here and there's also a smattering of foodstalls on one side that make Asian snacks; my favourite being the pancakes. I'm also partial to a bit of Plum Wine and this place has it, along with Asian beers etc. And I still just can't help but marvel over all the crazy dried funghi, fish innards and the like that are so foreign to me - I got to say it, these days Auckland has pretty much every curious food ingredient available which can only be a good thing.

Amazing variety of well, everything. Super cheap veggies & fruits, I got avocados for $0.69…read moreyesterday! The shop is massive and super tidy, you might struggle to get a park but it's definitely worth a small effort. Love it!

Japan Mart has multiple locations in Auckland. We were passing by and I decided to go in hoping to…read morefind a cheap umbrella. Luckily, we were able to buy one here. There is also a large selection of Japanese products- food and household goods.

Not all Japan Marts are the same, I found this one stocks different products to the one in…read moreAuckland's CBD, they are worth checking out, it isn't just 12kg bags of rice. This one has way more candy, a huge cracker range, rice crackers, seaweed crackers, prawn crackers, you get the gist. You can pick up all the usual, rice, the soy sauce range is impressive and there is a lot of tofu, miso and noodles. You can even buy massive bags of those little fish shaped soy sauce capsules that come with your take out sushi.

S - Mart has everything you could ever want. If you are Korean. If you aren't, they are missing a…read morefew items more suited to Western Tastes. Let's just say this isn't the type of place to come if you feel like a coke and some pringles. However, if you want to go beyond the run of the mill , branch out in to the unknown, S Mart is the place to come. It's a collection of loosely grouped shops all under the banner S- Mart - so there is an alcohol store, a convenience store and a coffee shop all seperate. Within the convenience store is the food shop Madis, which I have also reviewed - it's well worth checking out as you can get custom made sushi for 5 - 7 dollars. They have benches outside where you can sit and explore the purchase you have made, deciding whether or not Mung Bean ice cream really is for you.

S Mart! I have such fond feelings for S Mart, as for a long time it was my local dairy. It's a…read moresmall Korean supermarket, and so it stocks mostly Korean and a smattering of Japanese foods, but if that's not your thing, it does have a small "Western" foods section and a Rivermill bread stand, which is not the greatest but good if you don't want to spend $6 a loaf at the Fix down the road. As I'm not Korean, I used to like to buy something that I didn't really know what it was, which was sometimes something I found yuksville, but sometimes resulted in delightful discoveries such as the Beef BBQ wheat chips (do not contain beef). My favourite things here are canned lemon and apple sodas here for the very reasonable price of $1.10 (used to be 80cents). They are pretty friendly here, and there's also a loyalty scheme you can sign up to and eventually get some credit on your purchases.

The Tofu Shop is actually just an Asian grocery store. There's tofu there, but there's also a…read moreplethora of other ingredients and products. It's located in what people call 'Smelly Alley' - a sort of tunnel that runs between Teed Street and Kent Street that is full of Asian stores. (The 'Smelly' comes mostly from the fish shop at one end. It's pretty terrible.) The store has everything you'd ever need to cook Asian food. It's organised and easy to navigate despite the language barrier. The variety is insane - soy sauces, cookies, tonnes of sweets and snack foods, noodles, iced tea drinks. It's maybe a little daunting at first but once you get in there and find the treats, you'll be fine.

In Newmarket there is a tunnel that connects Kent Street to Teed Street, from the outset it smells…read moreand looks a bit dodgy but there is a store there that isn't half bad and you might just find something interesting inside. Despite the name, they sell more than tofu. This is a sizable Asian grocery store and if you want to cook a little more authentically, you'd find all your Asian cuisine needs here. If you don't cook, that is okay you'll find plenty of snack foods, preserved fruits and beans and a lot of iced tea. If you are vegan as I am this the only place I know of that I can buy agar agar which is a vegans alternative to gelatine. Tofu Shop is small but the selection is big, so step out of your food comfort zone and pay Tofu Shop a visit.

Even through I now live about a ten minute drive from this place, I often make a trip there for my…read moreweekly shop; it has a super range of bulk items like flour and the like including lots of organic and gluten free options, as well as the following: - a small but completely adequate range of Middle Eastern, Indian, and Japanese ingredients - spices - dried fruits (I have to stop myself buying their dried nectarines as they tend to go in about three minutes). - cereals, including their own muesli -herbal teas They also stock quite a lot of items you'll need if you're making your own cleaners or the like, such as washing soda and borax, as well as bulk bin detergent/cleaner/shampoo etc. Prices are also very good; mostly cheaper than going to one of those supermarkets. Finally, they almost always ask if you've found everything you need; don't be shy about saying if you haven't, as odds on they'll either find it for you, or offer to get it in for you. (Also, despite their address being on Dominion Rd, they don't actually have a frontage onto Dominion Road. To find them turn into Walters Road, then turn into the driveway that points to the Wendy's drive through, and they're just tucked in to your right).

This place is absolutely fantastic. Very cost effective, huge range of different products, items of…read moregood quality. Given supply issues still impacting supermarkets you can 9 out of 10 times find an equivalent here. Big range of herbs, spices, ingredients, both local and imported. Staff are friendly. The ambiance is enhanced by the huge variation of people who shop here. Broad cross section of the community. I would hazard a guess, if you know this place you will come back repeatedly. If you don't know this place pay it a visit.

The CBD location of the Royal Save Mart family is a great Korean supermarket for inner city…read moredwellers without a car. Unlike the small colony of Korean supermarkets on the North Shore, this Royal Save Mart packs a punch for the size of store and location. They have a very respectable selection of Korean (and some Japanese) imported dry goods, snacks, drinks and frozen foods. They offer a range of frozen Korean style meat cuts from a butcher on the Shore and also carry a range of Kimchi both imported from Korea as well as some locally made stuff. Now you may be thinking that the local stuff is fresher and should taste better. However, as Kimchi is fermented cabbage this is a bit irrelevant and the more important factor is the use of Korean chiles and fish sauce (which most NZ made Kimchi does not contain). Royal Save Mart's Kimchi selection is very reasonably priced especially when you buy the larger pack sizes. Above all the Royal Save Mart has a little food corner that is open until about 5 or 6pm. I haven't been able to sample the food myself as I never visit this store when it is open (I don't work in the city). However, the women that run the food corner also have a whole fridge of fresh made Korean side dishes (panchan) that are so reasonably priced and so damn delicious that I would imagine the mains are just as delectable. These women are from the deep south of Korea which is known to have the tastiest recipes in all of the land. Compared to the 3 other Auckland Korean supermarkets I've been to, this one has the best and varied selection of side dishes. If you want to impress your friends by cooking Korean food, you can buy the side dishes from these ladies and make 'cheats bibimibop' (pic uploaded). Only downside is a real lack of parking, but its in the CBD so get over it and enjoy!

This is a fruit and vegetable and Asian grocery store. It is big and the prices are usually pretty…read morecompetitive too. They sell a lot of more tropical fruits that the supermarkets do not, due largely to the fact that a large proportion of the Asian population shop here and these more unusual fruits are what they know and love. This therefore makes getting your fruit and vegetables more exciting. They also seem to have extremely large kumara here, absolutely huge. That aside, great store. They also stock Asian grocery items like noodles, miso, cookies, drinks, dried fruits, crackers and so on. Other things like Swiss chocolate, honey, Danny's pita bread, coconut butter and fortune cookies can be found here too. The staff are really polite, the quality of the produce is good and so are the prices. There is lots of parking on site too which is great because parking in Newmarket can be a bit of a hassle so if you're passing through give it a go.

This is a great Asian grocery shop, stocking a good range of fresh produce, and a lot of grocery…read moreitems. They also have a small, very reasonably priced meat section! I've taken to shopping here over Countdown for all my fresh fruit and veg - the prices are much better, and everything tastes great. Yesterday I bought apples almost as big as my head! I also buy stuff like coconut cream, curry pastes, canned vegetables and other stuff from here at good prices, and they have some drink fridges in the back with a weird and wonderful range of different Asian drinks. The staff here are always friendly and efficient, and the store itself is clean and well stocked.

Someone just asked me about my experience with their (Online order) holiday hampers, so here it…read moreis. At the time there was nowhere to leave a review (still not, on their website). This time last year I ordered their hamper for a couple in Palmerston, they both had Covid. After a week of no delivery, I tried to email them, no response. Managed to find their ph no, no answer, left multiple messages, no response. After another week I emailed saying I was going to reverse the visa transaction, got a call back within hours. They said they had lost it, they would give me a partial credit for the trouble, and deliver. I didnt like the tone of the caller! Neither hamper or credit arrived. Dont give them your money, untrustworthy

Sometimes when I go to Farro I get all daydreamy and imagine all the food I would buy for those…read moreamazing dinner parties I'll have when I'm a grownup . Then I'm brought back to earth when I realise how much it all costs . On a more realistic note come here for a sandwich they have fillings and combinations that are so mouthwatering you won't be sorry . I keep wishing for this crab salad combination I had a while ago . I even brought some crab to try to recreate it at home . Yes some things here are expensive ,but when you're after that special ingredient you cant go wrong at Farro . Parking here is awful so I recommend coming early in the morning .