Best of Auckland Eats: Asian, again
Like in Sydney, I have been overwhelmed by the Asian eating options in Auckland. Not only are they everywhere, I got to try some Asian foods in New Zealand for the first time!
This food stall is called "Corner Pancake," and you can find it on Lorne St (where two of the other places listed below are). Every time I walked past, whether night or day, there was always a crowd gathered in front, waiting for their ho duk. At first I thought "Korean pancake" would be pa jun, but this is different. It's much breadier, and apparently it's traditionally served sweet. But the guy who runs this stall came up with some new flavors, including ham and cheese. I had a beef one; tasty but greasy. I can see why it's popular: at only NZ$2.50 or US$1.57, it's the cheapest food you can find in this city.
Another dish that I tried for the first time was kaya toast at a Malaysian coffee shop. This I'd seen before in Singapore, but I'd never gotten the chance to taste it. From the looks of what I got, it's pretty standard: on very square toast, there's a spread of kaya (milky coconut taste), and a solid pat of butter. I also got the iced coffee which was extremely strong. I liked the taste of kaya, but had to scrape all of the butter off.
Back to Lorne St, there's a basement-level restaurant called Neighbours Restaurant. You can't see from street level, but downstairs it's packed with young Taiwanese! I had comfort food here: tofu dessert with grass jelly. I came back today to have some more, but unfortunately they were sold out already.
I was about to give up on banh mi in the Australasia region, having had a bad one in Sydney and a bad one in Auckland too. But the third try's the charm, at Banh Mi Bale, next door to Neighbours Restaurant. The key here is that the bread had the right, fluffy on the inside, crisp on the outside texture. Not the absolute best I've ever had, but good enough for my banh mi faith to be redeemed. Also, they served the Vietnamese coffee very traditionally, with the little percolator on top of a cup with condensed milk on the bottom.
