Foodie Afternoon

Our next activity was an afternoon foodie tour of Auckland -- I found this website and signed us up.  Our guide, Ander, is an American woman who recently graduated from Auckland University, and works as both the company's marketing director and occasional tour guide.

The tour was great, as was Ander.  It was just us and a mom/son from Delaware.  The son (Noah) is doing a gap year before starting college at Denison U. and the mom was over visiting for nine days or so (the dad was touring UVA with the younger sister).

We made six stops, walking all over Auckland.  At each, we tasted some food, and Ander talked about the restaurant/shoppe and the owners, as well as other info on the Auckland food scene (which, after a weekend, we are quite impressed by), as well as life in NZ.

Our first stop was at a dessert place, Miann.  We each had a macaroon, which were good.  The store is owned by a couple who loved  macaroons and could not find good ones in Auckland.  So, they started the pastry shop (it's far more than just macaroons).  The counter of desserts/pastries is mouth-watering to look at.

We then headed out to Al's Deli, where we tasted their plateau bites, described on the menu as "delicious boneless Buttermilk Chicken, covered in secret spices."  "Delicious" is the right word to describe the little chicken bites, about the the size of McNuggets, but much better tasting.

We also had fried pickles, which were actually NOT pickle spears as I'm used to, but instead thin slices.  The beer tasting was also quite good.

From there we hiked up the hill toward Albert Park to Scarecrow, an organic food store/restaurant that also sells flowers.  According to its website, Scarecrow is an urban farmers market.  Cool trendy people hang out there, but we were allowed in anyhow.  Apparently money still works in these types of places.

We tasted the organic peanut butter, which Ander claimed was the best in the world.  It was pretty good.  We also had some special type of honey, Manuka, which only comes from flowers (and, obviously bees) found in New Zealand.  We found it to be tasty, even though we are not big honey people (we call each other "honey" but that about the extent of our honey consumption).  The store/restauratn was neat, and worth a stop (actually, just do the foodie tour, if you are in Auckland).

Not only was the food good, but we had fun wandering the streets, shopping arcades, and alleyways of Auckland as we followed Ander from store to store.  The summer time weather was perfect -- mid-70s, sunny (even though rain was predicted for the entire weekend), and the outdoor cafes and shoppes were quite lively.  Crowded is not the right word -- but there were plenty of people out and about.

Our fourth stop was at the No. 1 Pancake restaurant, a Korean Pancake place where you order from the sidewalk, pick up, and eat at a table next to the street.  It is near the universities (UA and AUT -- Auckland University of Technology), so it is quite popular with students.

We enjoyed the potato and cheese pancake, as well as another kind (sorry, can't remember the type).

From there we headed to Giapo for ice cream.  Wow!  There was quite the line, but it moved along.  We got to sample about five different flavors (avocado tasted, well, not what I want in an ice cream).  I went with a strawberries and cream cone, and that was probably the most boring flavor on the menu.  We were lucky, as it was closing the very next day for two weeks during a move to another location.

We ended up at a bar for a beer tasting.  Mercifully there was no food (we were quite full), and met a couple of other Delawareans who were stranded in Auckland because their cruise ship died in the Tasman Sea and needed a tow back to port.  Not only was their cruise full refunded, but they got a 50% off voucher for any other cruise!

Both the Delaware mom from our tour and Ander recommended the Depot for dinner.  It was on our street, just on the other side of the nearby Sky Tower.  We went home and napped (between being tired and full, no need to go to dinner till late).

Got to the Depot and were told it would be an hour wait (at 9pm!).  And, no, they don't take reservations.  So we popped into a nearby hotel bar for a pre-game drink and waited for the call.

The food was worth the wait.  The restaurant was very cool (and yet they seated us anyhow).  We shared four of the small plates, including the Smoked brisket tortillas w/ chipotle, cumin pickled onion & spiced almonds and the Lamb ribs w/ skordalia & cumin paprika oil, the mussels, and roasted corn/other random vegetables.  It was the best meal we had on the entire trip -- saving the best for nearly last.

Walking back down the hill to our VRBO condo, it's clear we picked a great place to stay. . .being able to walk to great restaurants, the main part of Auckland, and all of our activities.