Best sausages on the market.. Gotta love the pork and fennel and bushman sausages

great organic and clean foods...

cheap yet so fresh veges..great value

amazing selection of premium cut meats.

wow this pace had some amazing stuff.. loved the avocados and the asparagus.. yum

Amazing food! Delicious, is so authentic because the owners/chefs are actually Mexican! Food is to die for. It may be tiny and only open for lunch three days a week but it’s the Best Mexican restaurant in town as far as I’m concerned. My favourite is the Beef Soft Shell Taco - YUMMM!

So yummy, fresh good food, kumara fries are to die for!

This is one of my and my boyfriends favourite ever spots. The food is delish! Cheap and large portion sizes. Such a huge array of different dishes. My fav is the lemon grass chicken on rice or the vietnamese pancake - you need two people to eat that! So good.

Cronuts……….. what more can I say?! Their food is amazing, fresh, delicious and the moment you walk in you’re so inspired by all the different foods you just want to eat good healthy yummy food.

Ok so my favourite is Yakatori, they have the best seafood there! Crumbed prawns, shrimp, pork skewers <drooooool> Seriously good yet cheap food. A fav at the nightmarket.

For those who love leafy greens or beta-carotene beauties, Bird On A Wire has a cult following because it truly is one of the best salad bars in Auckland. I'm excited that their Ponsonby store is in the heart of Localist's local and it's a regular lunch haunt for the content team at least once a week. I'm a big fan of the summer slaw with apple cider and wholegrain mustard vinaigrette and am pretty excited that my lunch break today will include chowing down on a returning perennial fan favourite - the melt-in-the-mouth sensation that is their char-grilled aubergine, coriander, sesame and sweet soy noodle salad. I wish it was lunch time already! Love you #birdonawirenz

When I'm in need of an energy lift, Ripe's raw beetroot salad is my absolute go-to. I love the fact that the juicy root vegetable is complemented so perfectly with the crunch of pepitas (pumpkin seeds) but most importantly, I love how clean I feel when I've eaten one of this nutritious, whole-food goodness. They've been around for a long time but when it comes to great salads, Ripe is like a fine wine - it simply gets better and better with age.

In the heart of the Waitakere region is a gem of a cafe housed inside East West Organics New Lynn that’s somewhere every health-lover in Auckland should pay homage to at least once. Raw, gluten-free, dairy-free and refined-sugar-free options are the rule not the exception here and, along with their great green smoothies, their salads are absolutely stand-out. That’s because they grow all the nutrient-rich greens and vegetables in their gardens out front and you can’t get much fresher than that. Their green salads are particularly incredible because you just can’t go past hand-picked kale or spinach - both superstars of the vege world!

If you live or work in Auckland’s inner-city CBD then Revive is the place to go to do just that - get revived and rejuvenated by eating some of the tastiest and best-texture salads in all of New Zealand. Created with health and wellness as top of mind, Revive does an outstanding array of flavours and so no matter how pesky your palette, there will be a salad option that suits you. Guaranteed! Plus, I love the fact that their menu changes daily so you can go for lunch regularly and never get bored.

This is my new go-to for a lunchtime salad because you get so much goodness for your dollar. With prices starting at just $6 for a small salad, it's a great go-to when you don't have a lot of coin but are looking for a healthy lunch. My favourite salad is a combination of at least three options from Dida's Food Store's cabinet (and the best bit is you can choose as many as you want!). Their grated beetroot and carrot salad is incredible and if you order the medium salad ($9) I can guarantee you'll never be disappointed!

This place serves the cheapest and most mouth watering indian food for lunch, and at such a cheap price there's no way I can not go there again!

The owner couple always welcome me with warm greetings and a welcoming smile, I treat customer service seriously and that's why I love visiting this lunchbar!

I love their Beef and mushroom burger and its only $5.5! Everything on their menu is like a clearance sale!

So many different kinds of sushi to choose from and the french kiss roll is just suberb!

Located next to the petrol station, I love getting a quick dinner for those late night gym sessions!

Really good deli selection

Amazing local vendors and delicious free tastings.

Buy all your foreign ingredients.

Good fish and meat selection

Aside from perhaps the butter chicken pie from Mobil On the Run gas stations, The Fridge has hands down the best pies in Auckland. It’s a great spot to grab a pastry pocket of goodness and a coffee. My personal favourites are the mince, potatoe and cheese pie and the Morrocan lamb pies. The cabinet food is also great and the staff quirky. Don’t be flaky, get amongst.

Carl’s Jr is the fast food chain for those that are serious about their deep fried food. The Carl’s Jr devotees were out in force tonight and the joint was still hooching at around nine. I ordered the bacon, Swiss, crispy hand-breaded chicken sandwhich, upsized. If it sounds like a mouthful, that’s because it was. The chicken was succulent and the bacon was crispy. My tastebuds were over the moon but I’m not too sure how my heart felt about the meal. Defenitely tasty, but definitely one for the sometimes pile.

Il Buco is one of my favourite places to grab food on the go in Ponsonby. They have a great selection of rectangular slices packed with flavour. My favourite being the potato and sausage. Grab a coffee and a seat for a couple of minutes and watch Ponsonby Road happen.

It’s taken me a while to try Bird on Wire, but when I finally did I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it was the idea of an upmarket roast shop didn’t fit in with my ideal Ponsonby lifestyle. I can tell you, I was wrong. I ordered the special which was a korean roll and a side salad. The chicken was moist, the sauces alive and the salad tasty. I’ll be back, mark my words. For the record the birds are also halal! Don’t chicken out, give it a try.

The Food Room is Ponsonby’s answer to Kingsland’s The Fridge. They do good coffee, salads and milkshakes but their standout feature is the pies. I opted for a mince and cheese pie and it was in the same league as the Fridge. Buttery pastry with a premium filling. At around $8 it’s on the pricey side but worth it if you’re on the mood for a pie!

Ceres Market at Ponsonby Central is one of my favourite places to shop for fresh produce, especially as there is always something unique to take home and add to your pantry and their fresh squeezed juices are amongst the best in town. They also always have the likes of kale and kefir available to keep all the green foodies happy.

The meaty morsels on offer at FARRO Albany have to be amongst the best in town. Great specials and a dazzling array of sausages too… most definitely a meat lover’s dream and well worth a trip over the bridge.

One of the healthiest ways to refuel on a busy day is with a fresh juice rather than another coffee, and when I am spending time in the city I always drop into one of the Tank Juice Bars for an energy top up. They have a great menu to choose from or you can create a cocktail of fruits and veges all your own, and they also offer decent sandwiches and rolls to go. A better choice than fried every time!

As well as being a powerhouse when it comes to all things natural and super thanks to the sharp eye of inspirational owner Joyce Lowyim, IE Produce in Takapuna has an amazing array of fresh fruit and veges for sale, organic and otherwise. You won’t find a rotten carrot or a dodgy pear in the place!

This new branch of Little Bird is over twice the size of the original but already buzzing with people and packed at lunchtime, so get in early to grab a seat. The daily favourites include raw tacos, an amazing falafel plate and even on occasion a raw food take on lasagne, all of which will get your tastebuds humming and your body thanking you for making the effort.

I don’t think there is a place where you can order a pizza quite as large and authentic as the american style ones they do at Sals. This place really is the american pizza experience, they even had a guy with an american accent take my order over the phone.

Fast and delicious food with a real authentic south American taste and style. This place has a real buzzing atmosphere as well and the guys in the kitchen must be doing something special because the ribs i had were simply amazing! Will be returning soon.

I have been waiting for an alternative to all the generic fast take outs littered along Queen Street and Carl’s Jr for me is now the absolute king of Queen Street, with burger styles and sizes I’d never seen before it really is a taste of something fresh and for me personally the milkshakes with added cream are to die for!

Absolutely delicious, in terms of getting a better donut in New Zealand I would say you’d be hard pressed to get past this place. The White Rainbow Sprinkle is my favorite but they have an awesome range of toppings and flavors. A must try for any donut lover!

Wherever i can get a good plate of ribs i will go and Bonz Cajun Kitchen has definitely got me coming back for more! The staff are great and are happy to help with any questions about the food and are really accommodating when it comes to adding spices or sides to your dish to make that much more perfect.

It's definitely a huge achievement to be consistently awesome for 40 years, but Ollie's has done it and what I love best about this place is the ice cream. Known as the cheapest in Auckland, Ollie's has huge serves of ice cream at great prices and the sundaes are the retro kind you remember from your childhood. It's always worth a trip out to Royal Oak to visit Ollies.

Kapiti Ice Cream is simply all kinds of awesome and I was so excited to find out they have a store in central Auckland that serves up all the varieties of their delicious ice cream. My all-time fave is the gingernut ice cream which is made of gingernut biscuits and crystallised ginger, it has the most divine taste and perfect texture. The serves from this store are huge too, the four scoop is almost too big to eat and they're great value for money, especially considering the quality of the ice cream.

If you're driving north through Matakana you must stop at Blue Ice Cream Cafe which is the home of the amazing OOB Organic Ice Cream. OOB is off the charts as far as ice cream goes, it's made from real fruit and is so delicious, their flavours are really creative too. Blueberry is a personal favourite of mine and you can see and taste the real blueberries which is awesome, I also love the licorice flavour which is much more delicious than you would think, the licorice flavour translates really well into ice cream. This place is super popular in summer though so make sure you allow enough time for a visit. The prices are really good too and you can buy tubs to take away with you.

Pokeno Takeaways is a place you must stop in summer when you're driving south from Auckland. They have a huge selection of ice cream flavours scooped into a cone just like I remember from being a kid. Their prices are pretty laid back too and great value. I'm a fan of the old-school favourites like rum & raisin and hokey pokey of course, but they do have lots of other cool varieties including peanut butter. This place is also famous for their 15 scoop ice cream so if you're feeling like an ice cream fest it's well worth a try, although you might need some help from your friends!

As a shore kid I've been coming to this place for an ice cream after a visit to Takapuna beach for as long as I can remember. It's so cool to go to a local dairy by the beach that still serves fresh ice cream in a cone. They have a great range of flavours, although being a classics fan myself I usually go with hokey pokey or chocolate, but the serving sizes are really generous and good value. Always nice to have a cool down with some great ice cream after a hot day in the sun.

Oooh yummy smoky grilled burgers! I finally decided to try Burger Fuel and these are the best burgers I've ever had. And I only had the Hamburginis. I know where I'm getting my next burgers!

This place makes absolutely fantastic Indian food. Lamb Korma, Butter Chicken, Naan's - even the rice on its own is very good. The staff are helpful and friendly too.

I almost always choose this place for lunch and their coffee is good too. My favourite is their corn beef vogel sandwich for only $4.

This is my favourite lunch spot around Newton - though we can't go every day because it costs too much. We try to make it at least every second week though! The quality is awesome. It's never quiet at Betsia!

The local Subway, pretty much the same as every Subway but conveniently located in Kumeu (if you stay nearby!) and open until 8pm on every night of the week. Friendly staff too.

Finally a dessert place in auckland. A must for all dessert lovers

Best place for fresh indian sweets

Best choclates in town!

fresh and best pastries in town

if you love cakes, this is definteky the place to go. Cakes for all occasion.

I absolutely love pan au chocolate, in fact I love them so much in the past I was known to eat one daily… hey if the French do it then it’s got to be good right? Pyrenees make the best pan au chocolate in town. End of story. Think decadent chocolate covered in indulgent crumbly pastry. The messier it is to eat, the better it seems to taste. Grab yourself a hot baguette straight from the oven, a selection of cheeses and a fresh pastry before wandering down to the park for a relaxing weekend picnic brunch.

Rosehip is a surprising little cafe right across the road from the Parnell Rose Gardens. The draw card isn’t the coffee, although I hear they make a good brew, what brings us back time and again are the eclairs. Yes the eclairs; those oblong shaped pastries made with choux dough and filled with a cream, topped with icing. Eclairs often get pushed aside to make way for their american cousin, the doughnut, but they will be undervalued no more. Move over doughnut its time for the eclair to take centre stage.

This is the perfect destination for a Sunday drive through the rolling hills of rural Auckland. The market has the usual stalls selling fresh fruit and veges, handmade cheeses and delicious chocolates but the reason I would drive for miles to get here is a little stall named Sabores. When you think Argentina you probably think steak, sun and seductive tango. When I think Argentina I think pastries, empanadas to be specific. When you try Sabores’ empanadas for yourself you will understand why I would make the trip out here when I’m feeling a little worse for wear. Forget about pies, you will have yourself a new Sunday morning comfort food. They even make amazing vegetarian options - and that’s one thing that is lacking in the pie market! Empanada: 1 Pie: 0

Oh La Cigale, how desirable you are with your sexy name and your effortless charm. Oh and your pastries! Everyone knows how amazing your pastries are, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a line so long at a market before. Sometimes you sell out of my favourite sweet treat the trusty pan au chocolate but I’ve come to realise that this is not the end of the world because even the very last pastry left behind fulfills my every sweet desire.

Little Bread & Butter is my favourite place to stop and pick up a fresh pastry on my walk to work. Ponsonby Central is a playground for the modern foodie but sometimes classic is best and you can never go wrong with an early morning indulgence. Not only do they hit the right note with their freshly baked goods but the modern industrial look is effortlessly trendy.