Auckland eats like the Pacific's crossroads: hāngī-smoked kūmara, Cantonese dumplings on Dominion Road, green-lipped mussels from the Hauraki Gulf and flat whites from roasters who helped invent the drink. Three days of markets, laneways and harbour seafood.
Warehouse market running since 2005 on St Georges Bay Rd: Saturday 8am–1:30pm, Sunday 9am–1:30pm. Stalls sell crayfish rolls, duck-fat potatoes, raw-milk Whitestone cheese and canelés; the deli trades weekdays 9am–4pm.
Converted 1920s garage at 136-138 Ponsonby Rd holding a dozen kitchens under one roof: Bird on a Wire rotisserie, Blue Breeze Inn's Chinese-Pacific pork buns, Il Buco pizza al taglio and an oyster counter. Open daily 7am–late.
Al Brown's hand-rolled, kettle-boiled Montreal-style bagels baked in a wood-fired oven inside the old Ford assembly plant at 90 Wellesley St West. Watch the dough hit the boiling honey water, then take a Zesty Egg to the courtyard.
A former West Lynn butcher shop at 440 Richmond Rd turned neighbourhood wine bar, with Latin records on the turntable, natural wines by the glass and a sunset crowd spilling onto the footpath. No bookings, cash-friendly, opens 4pm.
Hospitality group Savor's Italian-leaning bakery-restaurant at 66-68 Tyler St mills its own flour and bakes sourdough on site. Breakfast runs to ricotta hotcakes and house pastrami; the bread counter sells loaves from 7am daily.
Al Brown's no-bookings shoebox opened in 2011 and put New Zealand's small-plate era on the map: Clevedon oysters and Te Matuku Bay oysters shucked to order, turbot sliders, and tuatua fritters served on paper-lined trays.
Gianpaolo Grazioli's experimental gelato lab at 12 Gore St builds sculptural cones — an inked octopus tentacle, a chocolate Sky Tower — using Kaitaia avocado, kawakawa and Whittaker's chocolate. Expect a queue down the pavement.
Sid Sahrawat's harbour-facing dining room on Commercial Bay's top floor cooks a strictly New Zealand larder over fire: Ōra King salmon, Northland scampi, Cambridge lamb and Bluff oysters in season, with kelp and horopito seasoning.
Working market at 22 Jellicoe St where Hauraki Gulf snapper, kingfish, green-lipped mussels and crayfish move from trawler to counter. Open from 7am; retail fishmongers surround a hall of cooked-seafood kitchens and a sushi bar.
Balmoral institution at 571 Dominion Rd, the spine of Auckland's Chinese eating strip. Pork-and-chive boiled dumplings arrive by the dozen alongside cumin lamb skewers and hand-shaved noodles; cash preferred, formica tables, brisk turnover.
Specialty food importer and pantry at 57 Normanby Rd stocking Kaitaia kūmara flour, mānuka honey, Zany Zeus halloumi and Sicilian oils, with a demonstration kitchen running cooking classes and free Saturday tastings from 10am.
Basement bar beneath 45 Customs St East with no printed menu — you describe a spirit, mood and flavour and the bartenders build a cocktail using native ingredients like kawakawa, horopito and feijoa. Seats about 40, opens 4pm Tue-Sat.