e2_eats

📍Paasha Turkish Kitchen, 261 Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland 1024
☑️ Chicken Shish ($29) - BBQ sauce and Mint Yogurt
☑️ Lamb Doner ($25) - Hot chilli and Spicy Mayo
☑️ Turkish Black Tea ($4)
The food was absolutely delicious and I was very happy with the portion sizes; this is the first place I’ve been to where they are not stingy with how much HUMMUS they give! The meats were 10/10. Their sauces are incredible, for the hot chilli it was this sort of paste texture almost like hummus but it was super yummy 🤤. Also, it wasn’t just plain rice that was served, it was cooked with chickpeas giving it an extra flavour kick to the rice which I really liked.

The front takeaway store has been around for a few years. But now there is a seating/ dining area at the back and the renovations were just recently completed. The vibes are great, decor is absolutely stunning and the staff are super friendly. The owners are brothers and one of them came out to have a chat with us and explained their story - he was really nice and can see how passionate/ proud he was with the new space. He said they are 100% halal as they only use hand slaughtered meat 😀. Definitely go try and support!

If you sign up to their app, you can get $20 towards ANY dessert and a FREE dessert on your birthday! They have a very extensive dessert list - highly recommend.
☑️ Sticky Date Pudding with Ice Cream
☑️ Passionfruit Pavlova

📍Asian Wok Yum Cha Albany 华府美味, 28 Corinthian Drive, Albany, Auckland 0632. This by far the best yum cha restaurant experience I’ve ever had in Auckland!
☑️ Prawn and Pork Siu Mai - 4 pcs ($9.50)
☑️ BBQ Pork ($22)
☑️ Pan Fried Prawn Paste - 3 pcs ($10)
☑️ Pan Fried Turnip Cake - 3pcs ($8.50)
☑️ Fried Rice - Prawn ($23.80)
☑️ Coconut Jelly - 3pcs ($6.80)
☑️ Baked Egg Tart - 3pc ($9)
☑️ Pork and Preserved Egg Congee ($10)
☑️ Durian Pastry - 3 pcs ($10)
☑️ Steamed Custuard Bun - 3pcs ($10)

It honestly to me just tastes like Vanilla Coke Zero. Save ur money peeps 😅

🍚🥔🏠 Mum’s infamous boiled potato and rice ball (mixed with garlic turmeric oil and fish sauce) with pork mince stir fry, half fried egg, dried chilli and cucumbers on the side to relief spiciness from the chilli. 🌶️

📍Foodie’s strawberries are strawberrying 🍓
☑️ Sticky rice with pork belly, pork sausage and beans
☑️ Egg tarts, bread, cake
☑️ Passionfruit Mango Oolong Tea
☑️ Lychee Slushy with Cream Cheese Topping

📍Southeast Asia Food Festival

I’ve been seeing some reviews online saying the desserts are better than the hot pot itself. I don’t know if these people actually tried the hot pot because I completely disagree! The two base soups we got were Tom Yum and Malatang spicy one. I’ve never had the Tom Yum soup at hot pot before, but holy smokes it’s incredibly fkn delicious and extremely flavourful. Also, it was super easy to just order and all done through an app whenever you want, hence also extremely easy to just never stop ordering since you don’t see the total until at the end haha. But I absolutely loved this place. Please do book in advance if you don’t want to wait like 20mins for a table as they can get BUSY. Everything we got listed below:
☑️ Fresh Sliced Lamb Rolls ($15) - YES
☑️ Brown Sugar Glutinous Rice Cakes ($10) - YES, to die for!
☑️ Guangwei Sausage ($10) - YES
☑️ Cheese Fish Tofu ($8) - So freaking flavourful, YES.
☑️ Egg fried rice ($12) - YES
☑️ Dragonfruit roe shrimp paste ($16) - YES 🙌 YES
☑️ Potato ($6) - The slices are too thick so it took longer to actually cook in the hot pot but also like at one point just didn’t know if it was a potato or the radish haha.
☑️ Spicy Skewered Treasure ($12) - Nah, wouldn’t get again.
☑️ Racked chicken feet ($12) - Absolutely not, I didn’t order this. Haha
☑️ Shrimp Balls ($12) - Meh
☑️ Marinated Quail Eggs ($8) - Meh
☑️ Squid ($10) - I just don’t like squid in general.
☑️ White Radish ($6)
☑️ Lotus Root Slices ($6)
☑️ Enoki Mushroom ($15) - Yummy!

Driving to Albany from my place sometimes feels like a drive all the way from Auckland to Hamilton 😅. I feel like new stores just keep popping up in Albany like once a week - I swear everything is out there now haha. But this spot has been on my to visit place for a while now, so was super excited to come here. Plus, I was kinda getting bored of Meet Fresh and the lack of dessert spots in CBD and surrounding suburbs. And boy did it not disappoint! The drinks and dessert options here at a freaking HOT POT place were insane and prices for the portion sizes were just too good to be true.
☑️ Chinese Bayberry Snow Mountain Ice ($19.80) - I honestly thought that this was just ice. But was super surprised that when we started making a hole at the top, there were so many things stuffed inside such as jelly, popping balls, a few bayberries, etc. Honestly, it was the first time in my life I’ve ever even heard of a bayberry haha.
☑️ Homemade Plum Juice ($6)
☑️ Durian Milk Cap Miss You Coconut ($12.90)

I’m very fussy in terms of the type of sushi I like to eat. I haven’t found any sushi in Auckland that is as good and affordable as the ones in Wellington. But Matsu Sushi in the mall’s food court is pretty close. Absolutely love the spicy sauces, the texture on the rice is just like how I like - super soft and their chicken kebabs are all really tasty.

Out of all the different Vietnamese places I’ve tried so far, they by far to me make the best Vermicelli Noodles Salad. For a dish that’s most commonly known to be light, the flavours are so loud and I absolutely love it. $16.50 for the amount of noodles and meat you get is crazy. If you love spice, definitely recommend eating with the fresh red chillies, you will be crying for the entire day but it’s worth it!
☑️ Lemongrass Chicken
☑️ Hanoi Pork

📍Elliott Street, Wilson Parking
A new Italian food truck literally just opened not too long ago, hence why you probs might not be able to even find them on Google yet. They make the dough and frying all fresh in front of you, which is amazing. In simple words, it’s basically a wrapped pizza/ pizza as a cone. Super simple concept: deep fried dough with fresh and delicious ingredients. Great for eating while working too! The owners were super nice, they provided me six 30% off discount cards to share with my colleagues. Go support if you are in the area! :)
☑️ Margherita $17.50
☑️ Frittaly $19

☑️ Chicken Biryani ($17) - One of the best biryani I’ve tried in Auckland. Dare I say even better than Paradise?
☑️ Butter Chicken; Indian Style ($23) - This was super tasty, but it really didn’t seem like Indian style. At first, we thought we had accidentally gotten the Kiwi style one as it was on the sweeter side. Paradise’s one is really just unbeatable at this point haha.
☑️ Dessert:

The pasta was super delicious and portion size was very generous. And the amount of cheese was insane! All of us that ordered the pasta had to stop after eating half of it. It’s just one of those situations where you know you could smash through the whole thing, but should you? HAHA. Like, will we be able to continue functioning and not slowly slip into a food coma?

☑️ Pasta w/ ham, parmesan, mushroom & baby spinach ($24)
☑️ Toasted Bagel w/ cream cheese, pesto, baby spinach & fresh tomatoes ($15)
☑️ Frappe Chocolate ($11.50)
☑️ Orange Juice ($5.50)
☑️ Tea ($5)

[AD/ GIFT]
SATURDAY BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH 11am - 1pm

Mains: (5 mains to choose from)
☑️ Pistachio & Strawberry French Toast (pistachio whipped cream, strawberry ice cream and chocolate sauce) - As soon I laid my eyes upon this dreamy, wonderful, pink, barbie land, magical and jaw-dropping plate, it was already a 100/100. Honestly love the creativity and the fun and joy this brings. Omg don’t get me started on the taste. That pistachio in the French toast and that pistachio cream, it was incredible.
☑️ Sweet and Spicy Chicken Waffles (fried chicken, savoury cheese waffle with Asian slaw). Damn that fried chicken is gorgeous! Absolutely loved the spice on it. I honestly hate slaws but I swear I don’t know what they added to this but is great and compliments the chicken so well. However, I personally am not a big fan of waffles with like bacon and chicken. And so found the pairing a bit strange. Like the waffle on its own with some chocolate or whatever will be GREAT and the spicy fried chicken on its own with the slaw is GREAT. But this is just me :)
☑️ Shashouka Eggs (tomatoes, onion, capsicum, feta and sourdough) Yea, these were good. Just typical tomato with eggs.
☑️ Creamy Mushroom (onion, cream and sourdough) Massive fan of creamy mushroom so this was really tasty. And loved the bread.
☑️ Veg Spicy Noodles (mixed vegetables, cream and spicy sauce) I liked that udon type of noodles were used, was super yummy. I think personally I would have liked a bit more spice and some lemon, still not sure what it needed. Don’t take this the wrong way, it was great. But my mum does a similar version with like chicken and she uses coconut cream/ milk instead and fish sauce which is freaking delicious (not being biased just coz she’s my mum). So I was always doing that comparison on my mind the whole time I was eating this, so it lacked something in comparison in the taste department. But the person I went with said “Stop comparison, it’s delicious”.

Bottomless Drinks (unlimited drinks!). We got the non-alcoholic versions of these and they were great!
☑️ Orange Fizz
☑️ Gonic
☑️ Glaze Glow: mango, infused vodka, lime
☑️ Call Me Rose: rose infused soda

founder Byron McLean has elevated hot chocolate to a whole other level. He has such a unique life story, going from the corporate world (ex-Xero) to now a Chocolatier. He really is prime example of “you can do/ become anything”! But honestly the dairy free and halal friendly toasted marshmallow fluff hot chocolates are absolutely top tier and just freaking delicious! I’ve tried the below flavours and ALL highly recommend. I don’t drink coffee and hate Tiramasu in general but the Tiramisu one was goooooddd.
☑️ Black Forrest flavour
☑️ Tiramisu
☑️ Chocolate

Paskatsu Nz has now taken over the spot, that beloved “The Kimchi Project” was on Lorne street and they seem to be killing it right now. I guess it’s literally in the name, but they offer a fusion of pasta and Japanese-style tonkatsu. I honestly think it’s a genius idea! Like majority of the world population loves pasta and who doesn’t like Japanese food? (I guess unless you’re vegan? 😅) In terms of the waiting time, it was probs 15-20mins waiting time which was fine and pretty standard. The food was freaking delicious and portion sizes were huge! They have a great selection of fun cocktails but I think they also need mocktails on the menu asap! I’m also loving this new wave of food spots opening up in Auckland providing fusion of different cuisines, cultures and flavours. We definitely need more of this! Getting bored of just seeing these boujee fine-dining type expensive restaurants doing typical French and whatever fusions. I want to see more Asian fusions spots and more Asian influence on food that are ‘affordable’ and Paskatsu has done a brilliant job.
☑️ Mega Paskatsu (feeds 2 people) - $50
☑️ Individial plates with different pasta options! - approx $29

.nz Been kinda craving Vietnamese food lately, not sure why 🤤
☑️ Bun: Viet Noodle Salad - Lemongrass Chicken ($17.50)
☑️ Vietnamese Iced Coffee ($6.50)
☑️ Lunch special: Banh Mi and Rice Paper Rolls ($17)

📍 Oh My Croffle, 6 Chancery Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010.

Croffles are hybrid of a croissant and a waffle. All delicious!
☑️ Choco Twinkle Croffle: milk chocolate, white truffle, pretzels and gold sugar sprinkles.
☑️ Lotus Biscoff Croffle: lotus biscoff cream, lotus biscof and biscuits crumb.
☑️ Green Tea Lover Croffle ($10): matcha cream, matcha biscuits crumb and choco truffle and matcha dust.
☑️ Piggy Bar: O.M.C Mascapone, syrup, and crumb.
☑️ Lotus Biscoff Sundae ($12.50): full size croffle and 2 scoops of ice cream with toppings.

Spice route cantina makes amazing Indian-Mexican fusion food out of their food truck located at📍Puhinui Road, Papatoetoe, AKL 2025. Thank you for reaching out to me on Instagram and inviting me to come and try your food for FREE! Had a great experience and the staff were lovely 🙂

☑️ Punjabi Birria Taco ($17.50 for two tacos):
a) Butter chicken, mozzarella cheese, coriander, chopped chilli and butter sauce.
b) Masala beef, mozzarella cheese, coriander, chopped chilli and beef broth.
- I’m still very new to the taco world and so still haven’t really racked up much experience yet; my experience is limited to Taco Bell, BrokeBoyTaco and Taco Medic. But omg these tacos are freaking delicious, love the spice level (I think I would have preferred a bit more spice but I know for people that can’t handle spice very well might struggle a teeny bit haha), love the soft shell, the portion size was great (lots of meat inside them), and just overall flavour/ taste was top tier. In my opinion, definitely prefer this over BrokeBoyTaco.

☑️ Basmati Burrito Bowl ($19): Basmati rice, salads, pickles, choice of protein (i.e. Chana Masala, Butter Chicken, Desi Chicken Curry, Lamb Curry, and Shahi Paneer) and guacamole.
- This was a 10/10 for me. I got the lamb curry and this was absolutely delicious! Would 100% order this again!

☑️ Sides ($9): Guacamole
- This tasted so fresh and delicious. Also, came with chips which I did not expect but it was the perfect side which compliments the curry, spice and richness.

☑️ Roti Taco ($9 each): Fish pakora, lettuce, chimichurri and lime. This was a big miss for me and would give it a 2/10. The flavours together didn’t work at all and had a strange taste (for example, the fish tasted fishy and the chimichurri didn’t complement the fish).

.nz It’s been awhile since I’ve come here and it was my first time dining in here, as I normally takeaway instead. FYI for all, takeaway and dining prices are different - like $3-$6 approx difference. But the food was absolutely incredible. I didn’t know the butter chicken they put out on display near the counters tasted SOO different to the butter chicken you order from the menu. The menu butter chicken is way more delicious.

Super delicious Vietnamese food!
☑️ Bun Thit Nuong/ LemonGrass Pork (noodle, vegetable, cucumber, pickled carrot, peanut and sauce) - ($18)
☑️ Mix Berry Smoothie - ($11)

Catfe Mao·猫 This was mine and my little nephew’s first time visiting a cat cafe and it was such a fun experience. [Note: The cats are up for adoption, if anyone is interested please contact them 🙂]

☑️ Adults - $25, includes a free drink so I got the Brown Sugar Bubble Tea - super delicious and purrrfect by the way (1 hour max - you have to book in advance online)
☑️ Children under 8 years old - $18, includes a free drink

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so MANY cats in one place before; I just lost count at some point as more just kept coming out from somewhere every few mins or I would spot them sleeping in their little corner all hidden away or camouflaged to whatever they are sleeping on haha! And honestly like there were a few that looked so identical to me - same size and same fur colour. I could be way off but I think there were at least 50 cats, probably more. And omg all the cats were super cute, friendly and all have gorgeous eyes. You can see the staff really put a lot of effort into keeping the place clean and taking care of the cats. For one, all the cats are VERY WELL FED - they freaking massive! Like in human size literally these fellows would be like 4XL and omg their furs are honestly like super light, fluffy and insanely soft. Also, there’s a room at the back, labelled “staff only” but it’s actually a room for the cats to go through from the little cat door at the bottom if they feel like they just want a “break” from humans - this was quite thoughtful actually and just super funny to me HAHA. Then, there is the whole preparation part before going inside the cat area which is wearing these massive socks over our shoes, sanitising our hands and making sure to read and sign off on rules such as not touching the cats tail, etc). And, the staff are just extremely kind and lovely. 10/10 experience!

New Korean fried chicken spot in the food court! It’s very yummy and tasty!
☑️ Half and Half: Soy Garlic Fried Chicken and Korean Spicy Fried Chicken - Would give it a solid 9/10 for both flavours! But wish the soy garlic was a bit more ‘garlicy, and the other one just a tad more spicy and would have been 10/10 for both 😀

Japanese Sashimi Bar Ajimi