Hokkaido Restaurant & Sake Bar

Address

4A/2, 71 Lunn Ave

Mt Wellington

Auckland

09 527 6688

Hokkaido is Japanese restaurant with a mix of yakitori and sushi dishes.  The staff are nice and try to be customer focused, however, because they are so buys sometimes it might take them a long time to attend the tables and customers.  To me the whole concept of yakitori restaurant is that you constantly order small portions dishes while you drink your sake but to place your 2^nd or 3^rd order in Hokkaido can be a mission if it is a busy night, so be prepared to wait for a while before someone takes your order(s).

I personally love Japanese yakitori style food but in Hokkaido restaurant they serve sushi and stir fry rice meals too.

Food and Drinks

Tuna Kushiage $7.90

On this plate, you get two pieces of bread crumbed tuna fish meat on sticks which are deep fried (they look deep fried to me anyhow).  They taste brilliant and the price is very good for what you get on this dish. 

Prawn Tempura $19.00 for 5pcs  

We ordered these as our entrée but they are pretty filling.  We nice, crunchy and well cooked. 

Squid Karage $12.50

The squid was nice and crunchy and came with some Japanese mayonnaise.  It certainly goes well with the Asahi beer.

Mix Sushi Roll 6 pieces $9.00

You can chose your sushi from a range of sushi rolls. We chose Teriyaki Chicken sushi.  One of the best sushis I have ever had. 

Eggplant $9.90

The eggplants were grilled, topped with Miso and cheese and chopped parsley.  It is very well balanced dish.

Chicken Katsu $11.50

The Chicken Katsu is similar to the German Chicken schnitzel (at least to me) with a drizzle of Japanese BBQ sauce and some salad (tiny amount).  It has to be tried as it is a signature dish.

Chicken Karage $8.50

Deep fried chicken.  I want to say “bread crumbed” but it looked more like corn flacked.  Bread crumbed or corn flacked, it was beautiful.  Well seasoned and crispy.  Japanese mayonnaise is served with this dish to complement the crispy, crunchy chickens.  

Dessert

Green Tea Ice Cream $4.90

At first I didn’t think much of this ice cream when it was ordered. However, when I tried it was a one of the best ice creams I’ve ever had.  The first think that came into my mind when we ordered this ice cream was the tasteless green tea, but the ice cream was very nice.

Banana Tempura $10

This dessert is a mix of hot and cold.  Battered and Deep fried banana’s with icy cold vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.  It’s a great mix and was my favourite dessert

Over all I enjoyed Hokkaido’s food and will go back again.

Piccolo Cafe

Address

320 Remuera Rd
Remuera
Auckland City

09 520 5997

 

Piccolo Café is located in the first floor of REMUERA plaza.  I have been to Piccolo four times so far am have no intention of returning there again.

I had two breakfast vouchers from Piccolo Café and the very first time I intended to have breakfast there was on Sunday morning but the whole plaza was closed.  The second time we got there after 11:00am and were told by the staff that breakfast is only served till 11:00am although on their menu it clearly said “Breakfast is served till 3:00pm”.  The third time, we managed to get there on time for breakfast and no matter how hard the staff tried to be nice, but it seemed they are not truly believe in customers satisfaction or good customer service.    This time we noticed that they have crossed out the note about the 3:00pm breakfast service after our complaint about it. 

Food and Drinks

Eggs Benedict $16.50

The eggs benedict portion was decent and it eggs were done nicely.  However, although we asked for spinach, but it came with mesclun salad which was a disappointment. 

 Bacon & Eggs on toast $14.50

The eggs and bacon on toast was nothing special at all.  I could made the exact same thing at home (may be even better than that).  The two pieces of toast were just two pieces of toast.  Nothing special at all about this breakfast.

Some time we go out and although the food is average, but the experience of eating out is pleasant, for example, the staff are very nice and kind, the coffee is good or even there is a nice view, but in case of Piccolo, the food was nothing “WOW”, although the staff tried to put a nice face but their attitudes were not good at all and the view was nothing spectacular either.

Carpe Diem Restaurant

Address

2/154 Harbour Village Drive
Gulf Harbour
Rodney

09 424 6250

Carpe Diem Restaurant is in Golf Harbour village with a nice relax atmosphere.   There is a warm feel to the whole place, very tidy and clean too.  The weekend we were there, a few families were dining in Carpe Diem Restaurant too. 

The staff are very polite and helpful.  They were quick to get our orders and the food came out in a very reasonable time. 

The only thing I should point out in regards to Carpe Diem Restaurant and their dishes is that they are overpriced.  

Food and Drinks

Garlic Bread and dips $9.50

The garlic bread was a pizza base like garlic bread served with three different types of dip.  Mayo and garlic, hummus and crushed capers were the dips.  You couldn’t go wrong with the garlic bread and any of the dips as they all went well with the garlic bread. (no photos) 

Meat Lovers Pizza $13.00 (Small) 

Beautiful, thin pizza base, with a homemade feel to it.  What is really like about the meat lovers pizza was that it had nice pieces of lean beef  not mince meat.  Other topping on Meat lovers pizza included, bacon, salami, ham, mozzarella cheese and I picked aioli as the sauce of my choice which I thought went with the pizza pretty well.  

Hawaiian Pizza $10.00 (Small)

The Hawaiian pizza topping (like any other Hawaiian pizza) includes Ham cubes and chunks of pineapple and of course mozzarella cheese.  Then again the pizza base was thin and crisp, nicely done. 

Fish & Chips $12.00

The fish n Chips came out steaming hot (the way it should be). Batter Terakihi, crispy, crunchy chips, lemon wedges, tart sauce with some green salad on the side. 

One of the problems with fish n chips is saltiness.  A lot of fish n chips that I have tied, were too salty, but Carpe Diem’s fish n chips was perfect and not too salty at all.

Eggs Benedict $16.50

The eggs Benedict comes on crunchy toasted English muffins.  The eggs where cooked perfectly.  By that I mean, the egg whites were nice and firm and the eggs yolks were runny (the way I like my eggs Benedict to be).  The hollandaise sauce was made to perfection. 

Pizza Fresco

Address

Cnr Tahgihua St & Countdown Access Lane

AKL CBD

Auckland

09 368 1818

I’ve been to this pizzeria a few time so far.  You can dine in or take away pizzas and they serve wine and beer too, that is not all, they are even BYO.  For those who are looking for Halal food (Muslims), Pizza Fresco offers halal food too.

The staff are very nice and helpful there and you have the convenience of buying soft drinks and/or your garlic bread from the supermarket right opposite the pizza shop if you are taking it your pizzas away.

Food and Drinks

Spudletts $6.50  (Side dish)

The Spudletts are like round bite size hash browns served with citrus garlic aioli.  If you are dining in and want to try the Spudletts, be careful because they will be very very hot (I burnt my mouth a couple of times with them).  They taste beautiful with the aioli.   

Potato Wedges $6.50 (side dish)

Nice crisp potato wedges served with sour cream and sweet chili sauce.  Then again, be very careful if you are ordering them while dinning in, they are very hot.

Paris Chicken Cranberry and Brie (Large side) $18.50

Thin and crispy pizza base with real pieces of chicken breast, cranberry sauce with fresh cranberry topped with brie cheese.  This pizza have a sweet taste and I really like it because of that since I like sweet food.  Paris Chicken and Cranberry is one of my favorite pizzas.

Jordan (Large) $18.50

As per the menu, it has Middle Eastern spiced sausage, roasted peppers, jalapenos, hot Thai Chili sauce, topped with basil pesto sauce and black pepper.  This is one of the spiciest pizzas I have ever had and although it burns when eaten, but still is very tasty.  However, if you can’t handle hot/spicy food, I don’t recommend you having this pizza.

Icon Cafe

Address

236 Orakei Rd
Remuera
Auckland City

09 524 5847

We went to Icon Café on the weekend (Sunday 29 of April 2012) for breakfast.  I enjoyed the outside tables, specially the timber bench and seats.  It has a view of the sea and the Sky Tower.  There was on one to great up when we walked in and we could pick any available table inside or outside.  The food came out in a reasonable time and we enjoyed the whole atmosphere there. 

Food and Drinks

Chicken and tomato omelette $6.00

You can have up to three choices to go into your omelette.  We picked: Chicken, tomato and capsicum which I thought was a good combination.  The size of the omelette was huge and was accompanied with some salad.  I found the omelette a bit tasteless (no salt or pepper) but I guess not having any salt is better than been too salty as salt can always be added later.

French toast $6.00

The portion of the French Toast dish was ginormous too.   Big pieces of French baguette and a whole fried banana with bacon.  The bacon was cooked very well and it was no too salty. I thought not only the size of this dish was decent, but also the taste was great too.  

Eggs Benedict $

The Eggs Benedicts were served on big plats, but the amount of food on the plat was not that big. In fact the plate looked half empty.  The eggs were so small, however, it tasted good.  The egg yolks we golden yellow, yellower than other eggs and I thought maybe they are free-range eggs, but there was nothing on the menu indicating that the eggs are free-range.  All and all, apart from the portion of this dish the rest was great.   

Sawadee Restaurant 

Address

42a Ponsonby Road
Ponsonby
Auckland

09 376 0320

Sawadee is a Thai restaurant located in Ponsonby, Auckland.  I was there for lunch on Friday 4^th of May 2012.  Sawadee is a B.Y.O. and they do take away too.  The staff are very nice and accommodating and the restaurant has an interesting environment with the sound of water from the water feature.  

There were seven of us and we had only 45min to spare for lunch and we explained that to the waitress, she made sure that our food was served as quickly as possible. It took about 10 minutes only from when we all placed our orders till the food appeared on our table, which I thought was great knowing our circumstance.  

What’s interesting in Sawadee is that, you pay only $3.00 for rice, but you will be served as much rice as you can eat.  The waitresses come around as you finish you rice and top up your rice if you want more. 

Food and Drinks

Panang Neau $21.70 Rice $3.00

As you may know, I like spicy food and for me this dish would leave a nice tingling feel on your tongue.

This dish is a very nice creamy beef curry made of, beef (obviously), coconut milk, bamboo shoots, Panang curry sauce, potatoes and peanuts.  I loved the creamy rich texture of this curry and the taste was wonderful.  I truly enjoyed this dish. 

TOM YAM GOONG – Hot $8.50

Traditional hot and sour soup served with prawns and mushrooms.  If you are not use to hot food, I don’t suggest you ordering this soup but if you are up for a bit of spice then this soup is great for cold winter days and nights and to open blocked nostrils.

GAI LEUNG - Warm $17.90

Chicken breast stir fried with yellow curry, onion, capsicum and cashew nuts.  This dish is one of the best Thai curries I have ever tried.  It is a nice creamy curry and the roasted cashew nuts are the highlight of this dish for me. 

GAI PAD PUG - Mild $17.20

Stir fried chicken with seasonal vegetables which is served with rice.  It is curry those ever one can take since it is not hot but I personally would like it to be more spicy.  I like the fact that this curry was not runny.

NEAU NAM MAN HOI - Mild $17.20

Strips of scotch fillet with fresh vegetables in an oyster sauce.  This beef dish goes well with either rice or noodles.  Well cooked scotch fillet striped are even nice on their own.  I love Thai food and Sawadee’s one of the best.

Coffee Club (Manauka City Shopping Center)

Address

Westfield Manukau City

Cnr Great South and Wiri Station Road

Manukau City

09 262 0261

Went for shopping in Westfield Manukau Shopping Centre and ended up having breakfast in Coffee Club there.

Coffee Club is a chain store/coffee shop which I found a bit overpriced.   

Food and Drinks

Eggs Benedict $16.50

The eggs benedict portion was decent and it eggs were done perfectly. By that I mean, the egg yolks were runny but at the same time not too runny.  The hollandaise souse was very tasty.  The bacon was cooked well, not too dry and not too soft. 

French toast $9.00 extra Bacon and Banana $6.70

The portion of the French toast dish was good.  However, pieces of toast dipped in eggs and fried were used, which I found very average and nothing fancy about them.   The bacon was cooked very well and it was no too salty.  The bananas were just two pieces of banana, then again, nothing fancy about them, but some effort had gone to sprinkling some icing sugar on the dish as a mean of decoration.  Overall, there was nothing special about Coffee Club’s French Toast.

Beef Burger $15.50 extra chips $4.10

Coffee Club’s burgers are different from all the fast food burgers I’ve had and it is not only the taste but also the look and presentation of the burger.   The bread buns are not round like the normal burger buns, instead they are square shaped.  Everything on the burger tasted very nice and fresh.  

The chips was very tasty too, I like thick and crispy chips that came with the burger.  However the burger does not come with aioli or tomato sauce, but when I asked the staff for some tomato sauce they gave me plenty.  

The nice thick, juicy beef paddy and the salad plus the bread buns makes it a bit hard to take bites off the burger so I recommend to have some cutlery handy.