In this fortnightly series, Viva’s resident dining-out editor shares advice on where and what to eat.
Something romantic
Hey Jesse, my girlfriend and I have a dinner coming up and it’s my job to choose the restaurant. It’s not a special anniversary or anything, but probably something romantic would be
George
Hi George
This is not a dating advice column, but if it were, I would tell you to forget about fine and fancy when it comes to taking your girlfriend out. I was at a high-end place recently and though the food was good, the atmosphere was sub-crematorium. You want somewhere a little bit fun and a little bit noisy, and for that reason I’m going to send you to Parro, a really brilliant, bustling restaurant down Dominion Rd.
I visited when they first opened and things were still a bit of a WIP, but these days they are a packed house of excited diners, and you and your girlfriend will slot in nicely as a happy couple alongside small groups of friends and other lovebirds like you. Don’t be like the guy I saw, though, wandering in with his presumably long-suffering wife a few minutes after the last table had been taken. I pitied him having to tell her the bad news, then traipse up and down Dominion Rd in the rain looking for a substitute. So book ahead.
If you’re going soon, order the Brussels sprouts while they’re still in season, they are sublime. And the BBQ fish is there to stay, I think – served with a guanciale (cured pork jowl) sauce and blistered tomatoes, which was a new combination to me, and I loved it. Good luck!
Auckland’s best Peking duck
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Advertise with NZME.Hi Jesse, when we were in London we used to have a local place that did a great Peking Duck. I know there’s one around Sky City, but do you know of any other Auckland restaurants that do a good version of it?
Alan
Hi there Alan
The Sky City place is Huami, which I think does a good job – though it’ll be at the higher end in terms of cost. If you want a super authentic Peking Duck, try 108 Tastes in Newmarket. It has almost no online presence but is hugely popular with its own crowd, and I had a brilliant meal there recently in a private room with a big round table and a lazy susan.
I was lucky to have someone ordering for me because there is a mind-boggling number of beautiful dishes you can choose from – my favourites were the dusted, fried tofu cubes, the lamb hotpot and the cold rice noodles. But then the chef came in with the duck and with some ceremony cut all the meat and skin off it and served it the traditional way, with little pancakes, cucumber and sauce. He wheeled his trolley away but then returned some time later with one more surprise: he’d dusted the leftover duck bones in (I think) cornstarch and deep fried them until crunchy. They were seasoned with salt and pepper and presented to the table as a final flourish.
Have a go at 108 Tastes, Alan, but book ahead. It was absolutely packed the night we went (a Saturday) because word has obviously got around.
More Blenheim recommendations
Jesse, I enjoyed your review of Arbour in Blenheim this week – the locals will be bracing themselves to be overrun by Aucklanders! I’m down there early in ‘26 for a conference and I wondered if you had any other foodie discoveries in the area. We are pretty much left to our own devices on the first night and for one of the lunches. I will book in Arbour today.
Thank you
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Advertise with NZME.Lisa
Hi Lisa
If you think I spent my precious couple of days in Blenheim traipsing round town doing food research for people like you, well … you’d be right.
The first thing you should know is the CBD, where you are likely staying, becomes a ghost town after 8.30pm (that’s not a criticism, just a fact. Most of the new construction energy is on the western outskirts of town, and it’s likely that if you’ve visited Blenheim any time in the past 20 years, it will be exactly how you remember it). This will be particularly annoying for you if you catch the flight from Auckland that lands at 8.15pm because even the hotels close their kitchens well before 9.
If you are on that flight, book your cab early (they have a limited number of them and have to go back and forth in relays if a lot of people arrive at once) and call ahead to Cancun Eats, a really decent Mexican restaurant that seems more permissive than others about staying open by request. The staff are lovely, the drinks list is good, and the food is tasty. Also, the cost of living news doesn’t seem to have reached the Cancun kitchen because portions are massive.
For lunch, I would head out of town to one of the wineries – I’ve had brilliant meals at Wither Hills, for example. But make some time while you’re in town to go to Minghetti’s, an incredible Italian bakery which operates out of a food truck in the town centre. It does classics like authentic pannetone, or pick up some shortbread to go, for a sweet snack between speakers.
Do you have any restaurant-related questions or dining-out dilemmas? Jesse Mulligan is here to help.
Email Jesse at Viva@nzherald.co.nz and tell him what you need. Where and what do you like to eat? How much do you want to spend? If you’re visiting, where are you staying while you’re in town? Who are you eating with? Does anybody have access issues?
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