Jack Tar

Outraged that we gave O'Hagens such a high score Richard recommended we try Jack Tar.


It was a lovely walk through the viaduct. And we loved sitting outside watching the boats.





The service was good, we were seated and had our order taken very quickly. But it took about 30 minutes for our food to come and that was a bit long.

I had the grilled chicken supreme.


The best part was the vegetables! They went beautifully with the jus. The chicken was good but a little dry.

Pamela had pork belly bites and sauté potatoes.


She loved them both and gave them a 10 out of 10 for taste. They were both snack sized so it made the perfect lunch. Our lunches cost $24.50 and $28, this was on the high side for lunch. The cost and the time it took were the two things which affected our score. Overall we gave Jack Tar 77.59%. (Sorry Richard, this is still lower than O'Hagens)

Mamak

Mumak is a Malaysian restaurant which was recommended by Ajay. They have an amazing menu which made choosing very hard! We had David and Ajay with us, so we got to see several things off the menu.


Ajay was keen for a good score for his recommendation so his comments made for an amusing lunch. For example, the good looking crowd meant a better dinning experience!!!


David found it all very amusing.


We sat outside, i think we were lucky to get a table it was really busy. Apparently you have to get there quite early if you don't want to wait. The food took a little while to come, but it was worth the wait. For the amount of food and location it was reasonable priced with mains around $14 and the tapas averaging $10.

So for the food. We had three tapas. Firstly chicken bites


Vegetarian dumplings


Pandon soy bites, not entirely sure what these were but they were amazing!!


Pamela got the satay chicken. She loved the spices and flavours, even when it made her face turn red and her eyes tear up!


I had the chicken noodle curry (big surprise there) and I loved it. It was perfectly spiced and really tasty. I couldn't finish it because it was I had eaten so much.


Nasi goreng Tom yam, or a spicy Thai style fried rice with squid.


We had a lovely lunch and I think I need to go back again to try the rest of the menu! Our overall score was 81.32% for Mamak,

Albert Street Asian food court

Last week David recommenced to us the Asian food court on Albert Street. If you didn't know it was there you would miss it.


There are heaps of places to choose from. Not what you would call first class but its very popular.
Pamela had Malaysian, where there's lots to choose from and all at good prices.


Malaysian noodles with pork. She really enjoyed it. It was quite big and it came really quickly. The pork was lovely and tender and just a really tasty meal


I ordered Japanese. Once again it was chicken teriyaki and I also ordered vegetarian dumplings


It was a huge amount of food for $14!




I liked the dumplings, but the soy sauce was a bit different then what I'm use to and that wasn't I nice. The chicken teriyaki was also good, lots of vegetables as well as chicken. But we thought the Malaysian was better.

Overall we gave this place (the overall food court) 73.21% it's a great place to go for a quick hot lunch.

Location: 9-11 Albert Street Auckland

The Empire

Last week Pamela and I went to The Empire. This was Katie's second recommendation but we had also been here for pizzas with work for dinner a few weeks back. The pizzas were really good especially with wedges to go with them.



There is an awesome outside seating area outside at the back of the pub which is gorgeous for lunch. As it was quite busy our order took 30 minutes to come so not a great place if you're in a hurry.

I ordered The Empire burger........


It doesn't look so scary now, but when it arrived I wasn't really sure how to go about consuming it. Lets just say, it's perfect if you are really hungry. Very tasty burger though and chips of course were the perfect side salad.

It's a good thing I could only eat half of my meal as Pamela ordered The Empire salad box with chicken. To say she was disappointed is an understatement. It took her nearly a week to be able to give this place a rating.



It was served in a takeaway box, a very sad excuse for salad in the bottom with chicken wings on top and a 'plop' of dressing. For nearly $15 she felt this wasn't really good enough.

She walked back to work hungry and had to have a chocolate bar which completely defeated the point of having a salad for lunch.

So mixed results, overall we gave it 67.79% lovely place to go, as long as you're not looking for a healthy salad.

Location:137 Victoria Street, west

Imperial garden

Nicole's suggestion for lunch was a Chinese buffet. Before hand she printed out a map then she came with us. It was good to have her suggestions on what to eat and what certain things are.



It's a huge place, with pretty good service. Loved the free green tea.


There was a huge amount of food to choose from. The only small issue I had was one of the dishes I tried wasn't very warm. But all the rest was great.


we had to go back so we tried all that was recommended


Interesting desserts, the jelly was really cool.


The price was pretty awesome, just $12.50 for everything.


Overall we gave this place an 88.02%, we could almost round this to 88% but you never know the .02% may be needed one day.

Location:12-26 Swanson Street

O'Hagan's Irish Pub

This is our new favourite place. It was awesome sitting in the sun, watching the boats and eating great food.



O'Hagan's was recommended by Katie and we gave it an overall score of 94.27% which is the highest yet. Average meal cost between $18 - $25 which is on the high side for a pub at lunch, but understandable and expected in this location.

Pamela had the highly recommended nachos. They were really tasty. Best was the guacamole (she has high standards for guacamole so that's very high praise from her). They were huge so we didn't get close to finishing them.




I broke my habit of ordering chicken and got the Moroccan lamb salad


It was also really good. The salad was perfectly dressed and the lamb beautifully seasoned. It was a big meal as well and most importantly there was lots of lamb.



I would highly recommend this place. It's a great place for lunch and I look forward to going back.

Location:101-103 customs street

Jalapeños

Highly recommended be David was Jalapeños, an awesome little Mexican place just above High Street. It was empty when we walked in but it was just great timing as it filled up very quickly.



We loved the decor and things on the wall, it made it feel very Mexican. We loved the creative lamps made from glass jars and the Latin music.



Pamela got to speak Spanish again which always means bonus points from her. David came with us and he and Pamela had the beef fajitas.


They didn't look amazing, but they tasted great! The beef was lovely and tender and a huge amount of food for what we paid. Our average meal cost about $13


I ordered the chicken tacos (there seems to be a pattern here with me ordering chicken all the time) they took a while to come.



And when they did they weren't really what I was expecting. They were tasty and had a lovely flavour. This could be how tacos are made in Mexico I'm not sure, but I did miss the salad I was expecting and it wasn't really enough to fill me up.

I would definitely go back again, there was a lot to chose from on the menu. We gave this place a score of 69.38%. It was a really awesome place to go and we loved the experience.

Location:12B O'Connell Street

Victoria Sushi

Leda recommended we try this sushi place. It's really close to work and others have mentioned that it is one of the best places for flavour. We loved the Telecom building, it made a great place to eat.



In the time that we were there, there was a constant stream of people going through but no-one had to wait very long.


Pamela had crab sushi rolls, salmon rolls and salmon sashimi



It looked really good and the crab sushi was awesome. Portion sizes were quite large which meant that each piece was more than one mouthful.

I don't eat fish, so when faced with a huge selecting of raw fish I chose the chicken teriyaki lunch box.



It was pretty good, the chicken wasn't really hot enough but the salad was really good. It doesn't look awesome in the photo but it had fresh apple in it and it made the whole meal. I was very brave and tried the salmon rolls, covered in a lot of soy sauce....... Wasn't as bad as I expected, quite tasty one could even say.

Overall we gave Victoria Sushi quite a high score of 75.31% that's third best place we have rated so far!

Location:167 Victoria Street, Telecom building, Auckland.

Torchon French Creperie

Wednesday 22nd we went to Elliot Stables to try some French Crepes for lunch, recommended by Jason. It was a good walk and a gorgeous little place, Loved the French accents.


David came with us, but tried a different place. Our Crepes took quite a while, which is the main category in which this place lost points.



I ordered the LATINE crepe with Ratatouille and fresh basil pesto. pamela ordered the FORESTIÈRE crepe which had Mushroom in a cream & white wine sauce.


We both really enjoyed them, I think I'll have to try the sweet ones next time they look really good too. Overall we gave Torchon French Creperie a score of 70.31% and look forward to going back when it's not so busy.

Location:Elliot Stables, Elliot street

La Porchetta

This was Pete's recommendation for lunch. It was pretty good. Very friendly and relaxed place. The food came put really quickly and was a reasonable amount of food for what we paid.


Pamela's new mate


I had the original Porchetta pizza. Wasn't so impressed with it, needed more cheese and I prefer thinner bases. It was a great size and as always I ate too much.


Pamela had the mushroom risotto. She really enjoyed it, it was better than the pizza. Perfect texture to the rice. It didn't look amazing but tasted lovely.


This place got extra points for giving a GF discount, so we only paid about $11.50 each for lunch. Overall we gave this place 68.23%

The Original California Burrito Company

One of the most talked about lunch destinations is the California Burrito Company. So that was where we went today. I wasn't feeling overly Hungry and didn't think I would be able to finish my chicken burrito, I did. Pamela couldn't quite finish off her chimichanga but she did get to speak in Spanish to the lady who served her.


David came with us and tried the Tacos.


We gave it an overall score of 78.12%, the highest score yet. Definitely one to go back to.

Location:8 Commerce Street, Auckland.