Phone: (09) 520 3923
We spent: $119 for two.
Rating out of 10: Food: 6.5 Service: 7 Value: 8 Ambience: 7 Book online with Restaurant Hub
The men wore beards and the women sat close to their iPhones. I felt confident we were the only people in the room who still watched free-to-air television.
Our body language gave away our advancing years. We clutched menus, but the millennials of the species clutched each other. We sat on separate chairs, they squashed, side-by-side, thigh-to-thigh, on the banquette. Newmarket on a Tuesday evening was a heaving mass of attractive 20-somethings, rampant hormones - and us.
![Bao Pork Bun from Tucks and Bao in Newmarket. Photo / Nick Reed](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/O2E236WWAHVRWGFXNE3NSMWO3M.jpg?auth=ae5562aaea76d3ba4ea8c358f31878d3ad4122a52558021609e14d6776acfb9d&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
I could see the date night appeal of Tucks and Bao. The food is cheapish and the surroundings (bamboo, fairy lights and tiki bar thatching) are cheerful. Assuming you've got a stomach for terrible puns, the menu is designed for broad appeal. It's ostensibly Asian, but you can also order "a salt and battery", aka fish and chips with tartare and ketchup, or "clucking good" crispy chicken with onion relish. The fish bites, chicken nuggets and mini hotdogs on the kid's menu are described, variously, as I don't know, I don't care, and I'm not hungry.