World Class

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is home to restaurants showcasing a vast array of international cuisines. We spotlight four of our favourites.

Satya South Indian Restaurant and Chai Lounge

17 Great North Road (Restaurant); 515 Sandringham Road (Restaurant and Chai Lounge); 57 Mt Eden Road (Restaurant); 271 Karangahape Road (Chai Lounge)

Swamy and Padmaja Akuthota opened the first Satya on Hobson Street in 1999 as a means of survival. Having moved to New Zealand three years earlier, they had no hospitality experience but were well known as good cooks in the Indian community here.

“It was your typical migrant story,” explains son Sammy Akuthota, who now runs the handful of Satya restaurants scattered across Auckland’s central suburbs. “Dad was in a really highly speciaised engineering job and there were none available in that field for him here, so they decided to open a restaurant.”

The iconic beer can alleyway entrance to Satya Chai Lounge, Sandringham, Auckland.

As word spread – and to combat a demolition clause – Swamy and Padmaja opened additional Satya restaurants in Sandringham, Grafton, Ponsonby and eventually Mt Eden (the latter has now changed hands). In 2016, while his parents were away, Sammy cheekily opened Satya Chai Lounge Sandringham on a shoestring budget in the space behind his parents’ Sandringham Road restaurant; a second Chai Lounge is now open on Karangahape Road. The Satya family has never been thriving more.

Traditional pots at Petra Shawarma, Kingsland, Auckland.

True to the Akuthota family’s South Indian heritage (Sammy, his younger brother and both parents were all born in the south-eastern Indian province of Andhra Pradesh), Satya serves South Indian food in a variety of styles. The restaurant specialises in dishes traditionally eaten in the morning, including its famous masala dosa, as well as a range of curries, parathas and condiments, from coconut chutney to cooling raitha.

Although carnivores will love the array of chicken, lamb, goat and seafood options, Satya is also one of the best places in Auckland for a vegetarian or vegan feed that doesn’t feel like a compromise.

Satya’s effervescent manager, Sammy Akuthota.

Additionally, Satya is known for its Indian street food. From yoghurt-and-tamarind-dolloped samosas to vanishingly crisp onion bhaaji, Satya offers plenty of snacks perfect for sharing over drinks. But Sammy admits it’s the dahi puri that steal the show. “Almost every single table orders it – we reckon we’ve sold over four million pieces in total,” he says.

It’s a busy job with long hours, but even after two decades in business, Sammy sees great value in sharing his family’s food traditions with multicutural Auckland.

Kamesh Kunala, manager across multiple Satya sites and friend of the Akuthota family.

“Indian food just has infinite flavour combinations, and it varies so much from region to region,” he explains. “The contrasting flavours and textures you get are just phenomenal – everything from creamy mild dishes to really spicy, high acid, high heat kind of food. It excites me that you can aways keep discovering more about Indian cuisine.”

What’s special about being able to serve the South Indian cuisine he grew up with to Aucklanders from all backgrounds? “That’s easy,” says Sammy. “It’s about creating that sense of community brought together through flavours at the dining table.” satya.co.nz

Petra Shawarma

482 New North Road, Kingsland

From left to right, Petra Shawarma’s Bara Bani Khalid with her parents Dalal Omar and Mahmoud Bani Khalid.

Along the busy Kingsland restaurant strip there are hundreds of details to catch your eye – but there’s not a chance you’ll walk past the jewel-bright diamonds of baklava in Petra Shawarma’s window.

The restaurant serves a range of traditional Jordanian food, cooked by a team of family members headed up by owner Dalal Omar. Dalal’s eldest daughter, Bara, who has grown up in the restaurant and now helps run it, describes the offering as food from a Jordanian home kitchen.

“The experience that we want people to receive when they come here is as if they’re eating in someone’s home,” she explains. “So it’s Middle Eastern food, the Jordanian version of dishes like hummus and shawarma, and it is done simple and home-style.”

Putting the finishing touches on a dish of babaghanoush.

Whether you stop by for babaghanoush and pitas, a plate of impossibly light and crispy falafels, or a dish of fatat eggplant, topped liberally with sumac and house tahini sauce, it’s all gloriously fresh and flavourful and prepared just out the back. Most of the ingredients are local, but Petra Shawarma does import some items from Jordan, including their tahini, olive oil and many of their spices, for optimum authenticity.

The restaurant offers an extensive menu for vegetarian and vegan patrons, but the star of the show is the shawarma, prepared individually to order rather than sliced off a rotating spit for extra freshness.

“It is a go-to Jordanian meal,” says Bara. “It takes under 10 minutes to make. And we tried lots of other shawarmas when we were opening and we believe we are the only people in Auckland providing authentic Jordanian shawarma. It just made sense to put it in the restaurant’s name.”

Traditional crockery at Petra Shawarma.

For Bara and her family, what’s special about Jordanian food is the combination of the flavours and the culture around eating. Bara explains that for her, Jordanian flavours are unrivalled – the richness of the tahini, the piquant pomegranate dressing her mum makes for salads, the unctuous lamb in a mansaf eaten for family dinner – and eating traditional dishes together with her family and sharing them with Kiwi diners is a way of feeling connected to Jordan.

“There isn’t anything like Petra Shawarma in New Zealand and the Jordanian population here is very small,” she says. “We are distanced from a lot of our family back in Jordan. So we stay in touch partly through the food we eat and upholding those food traditions here. At the end of the day, we are sharing our unique culture through the food and service we provide.” petrashawarma.co.nz

Nanny’s Eatery

492 New North Road, Kingsland, Auckland

Nanny’s Eatery owner and chef JP Porteous.

When you enter Nanny’s Eatery, you’re hit with a haze of barbecue spice. It’s bright and warm, the convivial tumble of tables is arranged with a tantalising view of the large open kitchen and if you’re lucky, there may even be a local DJ playing.

Owners JP Porteous and Ange Clarke have been running the community-focused restaurant since late last year, bringing a taste of the Caribbean to the busy Kingsland restaurant strip. But the Nanny’s story begins further back.

JP, who came to New Zealand from Kingston, Jamaica, in 2001, began his cooking career flipping burgers at Burger Wisconsin at the age of 15. He originally started Nanny’s as a food truck in Wellington, selling first Jamaican specialties and then burgers with a Jamaican twist, but he always kept the dream alive of having a Jamaican restaurant. When he met Ange, who is originally from England and has a corporate background, they hunted far and wide for a space and decided on Kingsland – but were felled by the announcement of a lockdown on the very day they were supposed to pick up the keys. 

At Nanny’s Eatery, hot sauce can be found on every table.

Despite a three-month delay, they opened their doors to an enthusiastic crowd in November 2021 and say they’ve experienced community support since day one – something heightened by the fact that, to their knowledge, they are the sole Jamaican restaurant north of Taupō.

“It’s been amazing,” says Ange, who runs the operations side of the business. “We’ve got this family now – so many Caribbean people come through and say ‘We’ve been desperate for this. We’ve really needed something for our culture’.”

“We’re pretty much on a first name basis with 80 percent of our customers now,” adds JP, who heads up the kitchen.

Nanny’s serves a range of traditional Jamaican and Jamaican-influenced dishes, from jerk chicken and pork to ital coconut curry, as well as classic favourites like mac’n’cheese and burgers. Its most popular dishes are the deliciously spicy and savoury jerk chicken and pork – “great value for money and proper authentic Jamaican flavours,” promises JP.

But Ange swears by the ‘rasta pasta’, a cheesy, spicy fusion, and it would be rude not to try the cauliflower bites with JP’s special barbecue sauce.

The colours of the Ethiopian flag on a wall at Nanny’s Eatery. The colours of the flag have long been associated with Jamaican Rastafarianism.

“You can’t go wrong with Jamaican food,” says JP. “It’s soul food. It’s not fancy, it makes you feel comfortable, but it still holds up in terms of the complexity of its flavours.”

JP is proud to be offering the food of his home cuisine and says it’s special to be something of an ambassador for Jamaica in Auckland. “I love sharing my culture and upbringing with people,” he says. “When I meet people who are going to Jamaica, I have a lot of pride in telling them, ‘Hey, you need
to go here and do this’.”

Running the restaurant with pride is also about honouring its namesake. Nanny of the Maroons was an eighteenth-century female leader originally from West Africa, known for her role in freeing hundreds of slaves in Jamaica, securing land for the formerly enslaved Maroon community and fighting the British in the First Maroon War, a key part of the fight for Jamaican independence.

“She’s like the mother of the country,” explains JP. “I love that when people come in and say, ‘Why Nanny?’, they get to learn a little bit about my culture.” nannyseatery.com

Blue Rose

414 Sandringham Road, Sandringham, Auckland

 

Blue Rose co-owners Robbie Kainuku and Lenny Stevens.

Blue Rose Catering and Café in Sandringham opened by popular demand. Co-owners Robbie Kainuku and Lenny Stevens started out working as caterers from home – but through word of mouth, their popularity grew so much they needed to move to a commercial kitchen. They now own Blue Rose Catering and Café, a boutique catering company providing food for everything from weddings to corporate functions, and a vibrant café.

Blue Rose opened in 2014, but the seeds were planted much earlier, explains Lenny. The café’s iconic blue rose-patterned wallpaper came from the kitchen of his grandmother, who taught him how to cook.

“We still use a lot of her recipes in the café today,” says Lenny. “In a way, the inspiration for Blue Rose started when I was a little kid.”

Blue Rose is known for its range of pies featuring Pacific and Māori-influenced fillings.

Lenny is of Māori heritage while his husband Robbie has a Cook Islands background, and it was important to them to represent both cultures in their menu and style of service. Blue Rose does serve some standard Kiwi café dishes, like eggs benedict and mushrooms on toast, but what’s made its name is the Māori and Pacific-style goodies. The café draws patrons from all over Aotearoa and beyond with its fusion pies, featuring fillings like classic palusami (Samoan corned beef, onion, taro leaves, coconut cream and chilli), hāngi (pork belly, stuffing, kūmara and pumpkin) and boil-up (bacon bones, watercress and potato). “They’re our most popular item for sure,” says Lenny. “We sell 3,000-4,000 most weeks.”

Blue Rose also offers traditional Cook Islands oka/ika mata (marinated raw fish), mussel fritters, lu’au (taro leaves and coconut cream) and taro – as well as a popular ‘Island Plate’, featuring pork belly, oka/ika mata, lu’au and potato salad on one dish. The café is famous for its sweet treats, too, including its Koko Samoa cupcakes, which are still made to Lenny’s grandmother’s recipe.

The family photograph-covered walls at Blue Rose Café.

Pacific and Māori food is Lenny’s favourite cuisine, he says, as much for the warmth and hospitality as for the flavours themselves. “Pacific and Māori food has to be made from the heart or it doesn’t have that full flavour,” he explains. “For example, both oka/ika mata and lu’au are made by taste, not by a recipe.”

It’s an ethos apparent in every detail of this business – from the cheerful hellos at the door to the family photographs on the walls to the generously portioned food, everything handmade with love. bluerosecatering.co.nz