These Auckland restaurants allow you to BYO, a rarity in a town swirling with great eateries.
Yes, many of the restaurants in this round-up are fully licensed, but what’s better than slinging your favourite bottle of wine under your arm for a night at a beloved local restaurant? BYO not
Hugo’s Bistro
This inner-city restaurant has been having a renaissance of late, with chef Alex Llewellyn turning out some seriously great plates, and restaurant manager Poi Eruera masterfully working the floor. The menu is bistro classics, with chef Alex putting ingredients “through their paces”, reports Viva’s dining out editor Jesse Mulligan in his latest review. On the last Tuesday of every month, Hugo’s offers its Cellar Club night, which is unlimited BYO for $15pp. That means diners can bring a special bottle from home and enjoy Hugo’s usual dinner fare, from New York strip steak to grilled shishito peppers in a spicy nduja butter, plus some special dishes added for the evening that suit the big reds often brought by BYO regulars.
Opening hours: Mondays from 7am until 3pm, Tuesday to Friday from 7am until late. Closed Sat and Sunday.
Address: 67 Shortland Street, Auckland central
Bar Magda
Subterranean Filipino restaurant Bar Magda offers BYO on Sundays and Mondays for $15pp. For those opting for the $80 set menu (seven dishes including wild Wapiti venison tartare, tuna carpaccio and chocolate marquise), Bar Magda will waive the corkage fee. The restaurant also has a partnership with boutique Mt Eden wine shop By The Bottle (they plan to expand this to other wine purveyors), which means anyone bringing a By The Bottle drop (plus the receipt/proof of purchase) will have the corkage fee waived on Sunday/Monday. Bar Magda’s Carlo Buenaventura says this is to encourage diners to shop locally when it comes to wine. Outside of Sunday/Monday, wine club groups of 10+ on the $85 set menu will only pay $10 for corkage.
Opening hours: Monday 5-10pm, closed Tuesday, Wednesday to Thursday 5pm until midnight. Friday to Saturday 5pm until 2am. Sunday from 5pm until 10pm.
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Advertise with NZME.Address: 25b Cross Street, Auckland Central
The College Hill Wine Room
While not your typical BYO restaurant, The College Hill Wine Room is an impressive one-stop shop for wine in Freemans Bay that combines state-of-the-art wine cellars with a wine bar, private dining room and retail. Anyone storing their wine in the underground cellars has the option to enjoy their bottle in the wine bar, which spills out onto a sunny deck area and has share plates (like smoked trout rillette with pickled cucumber and linseed crackers; comte cheese tart with celery and walnuts) devised by top chef Ryan Moore. The vision of David Nash, The College Hill Wine Room is a combination of his passions and experience, designed as a hub for people who love wine. For those storing their wine, an online inventory will make it easy to request a bottle to be sent up to the wine bar area to enjoy, like a bougie form of BYO. The retail and bar operations of The College Hill Wine Room are fully integrated too. “So someone can grab a bottle of wine off the shelf, they can drink it at the bar or they can take it home.” If visitors want to sit down and drink a bottle of wine they’ve purchased in the retail section, they can, with no corkage. “We want to encourage that experience of people being here to enjoy some food and to stay a bit longer, to use the space as their own,” says David.
Address: 43 College Hill, Freemans Bay
Opening hours: The wine bar is open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am until late. The wine shop is open Monday to Sunday 11am until 9pm.
Bali Nights
Bali Nights is a bright and buzzy Indonesian restaurant in Ponsonby bedecked in neon, greenery and pink. Viva’s dining out editor Jesse Mulligan says while it isn’t a fancy restaurant, the food is brilliant, especially the vegetarian dishes and the little bowls of fresh sambal (pictured). Menu highlights include the jackfruit rendang, “featuring heady spices, soft potatoes, hot gravy and this vegan star ingredient that still seems like a magic trick in the way it approximates pulled pork”, he writes. Bali Nights’ sister restaurant, It’s Java, at 322 Karangahape Rd, is also BYO, and also worth a visit.
Opening hours: Open Tuesday to Thursday from 5pm to 9pm, and Friday to Sunday from 12pm to 10pm.
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Advertise with NZME.Address: 4 Williamson Avenue, Ponsonby.
Nishiki
Freemans Bay restaurant Nishiki is always buzzing with people, thanks to its consistently good sashimi, sushi and yakitori skewers. Ordering is done via an iPad, which is a fun (but sometimes dangerous) system that allows you to manage which dishes come out of the kitchen, and in what order. Nishiki can get pretty rowdy on Friday and Saturday nights, so if you’re after a slower pace, try a weeknight (be aware it’s closed Monday/Tuesday). It also has branches in Botany and Highland Park. For those who aren’t BYOing, there’s a great list of sake and Japanese beers on offer.
Opening hours: Open Wednesday to Thursday from 6pm to 10pm, Friday to Saturday from 6pm to 10.30pm, and Sunday from 6pm to 10pm.
Address: 100 Wellington St, Freemans Bay.
Empress Garden
Herne Bay’s neighbourhood Chinese restaurant Empress Garden is open seven days, serving Cantonese dishes like Peking duck (which it’s somewhat famous for) that is expertly carved and served alongside delicate pancakes, cucumber, spring onion and bean sauce. The menu here is extensive, meaning there’s something for everyone. The converted villa is divided into rooms with large round tables with lazy Susans at the centre, making it ideal for groups and sharing. The wine list here is surprisingly affordable (many New Zealand wines are under $30), but it also offers a BYO wine option.
Opening hours: Open seven days, 12pm until 2.30pm and 6pm until 10pm.
Address: 227 Jervois Rd, Herne Bay.
Tasca
Designed to feel like a Spanish tapas bar, Cafe Tasca’s Dominion Rd location offers European-style charm with a cosy brick-lined restaurant and a charming courtyard at the rear. Tasca means ‘an unpretentious local bar’ in Spanish, one that offers tapas and drinks, and that’s exactly the formula that Tasca aims to achieve with a menu of small plates like patatas bravas, halloumi, Spanish meatballs and crispy calamari. It also has larger plates like paella and roasted lamb shoulder. The outside area is surprisingly large with a pebble-lined floor and olive trees dotted with romantic string lights.
Opening hours: Open Tuesday to Thursday, 5pm until late, Friday 11am until late, and Saturday to Sunday 8am until late.
Address: 338 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden.
Bunga Raya
New Lynn’s most famous Malaysian restaurant, Bunga Raya, is a longtime favourite with locals and diners who flock from all over Auckland for its genuine Malaysian cuisine. It was included in Viva’s Top 50 Auckland Restaurants for 2022, with judge Albert Cho saying: “Whenever someone asks me where to get the best Malaysian food in town, Bunga Raya is my answer.” Bunga Raya has had several dishes recognised in Auckland’s Iconic Eats awards including the Nyonya Fish Head Curry, nominated by Viva contributor Lincoln Tan. “This is a dish that is not often found outside Singapore and Malaysia — but it’s here in Auckland,” says Lincoln, who describes it as spicy, sour, fiery and hot. Another unmissable dish is the spicy XO squid (pictured), which is crunchy, salty, spicy and satisfying all at once.
Opening hours: Bunga Raya is open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday through to Sunday, with dinner available from 5.30pm to 9.30pm.
Address: 2a/3-62 Great North Rd, New Lynn.
New Flavour
Dominion Rd’s go-to dumpling spot, New Flavour, is a hit with diners after an affordable dinner that won’t disappoint on flavour. The decor may not be dazzling, but the portions are, with 20 pork mince and chive dumplings coming in under $20. As well as the always popular dumplings (which come steamed or fried), New Flavour does a great cucumber salad, deep-fried green beans with a spicy salt topping, silky mapo tofu and the always-a-hit spring onion pancakes. The drinks list here is restricted to juice and soft drinks, so that BYO option certainly comes in handy for a special occasion. It’s also open late, we’re talking 1.30am late, and 2.30am on weekends.
Opening hours: Open every day except Tuesday, from 5pm until late.
Address: 537 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden.
Thai House
The orange and blue exterior of Ponsonby Rd’s Thai House is near-on iconic at this point. It’s been open since 1993 and is a BYO restaurant with attentive table service and a solid menu of Thai favourites. Some standout dishes are the Sizzling Garlic Chicken, which arrives on a hot plate bubbling away with vegetables and a garlicky sauce, and the Massaman beef, a tender beef curry with potato and crushed peanuts. The corkage fee is $10 per bottle.
Opening hours: Open from Sunday to Thursday from 5.30pm until 9pm and on Friday and Saturday from 5.30pm to 9.30pm.
Address: 25 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby.
Satya
South Indian specialists Satya have restaurants in Ponsonby and Sandringham, as well as sister restaurants Satya Chai Lounge on K Rd and another next to the Sandringham location (which do not offer BYO). With a history dating back to 1999, Swamy and Padmaja Akuthota’s restaurants have been delighting diners with their dosas, dahi puri and curries for more than two decades. The atmospheric restaurants are bedecked with bright saris, which hang from the ceiling and cover the chairs, great for a group or a table for two.
Opening hours: Various
Address: Various
Sri Pinang
Beloved Karanagahape Rd Malaysian restaurant Sri Pinang is even harder to score a table at since it was spotlighted by Conde Nast Traveller magazine as one of the best restaurants in THE WORLD. It was named in the magazine’s list of 210 top restaurants for its “simple, homey and very moreish” food. Available on the extensive menu are Malaysian classics like mee goreng, rendang and laksa, and a range of dry and wet curries, noodles and rice. It’s not the most interesting dining room in town, but the service is usually solid and the room is filled with happy diners. Plus, the BYO corkage fee is just $1. Say what?
Contact: Phone (09) 358 3886.
Address: 356 Karangahape Rd.
El Greco
A gorgeous Greek-Italian restaurant in Campbells Bay on the North Shore, El Greco is a neighbourhood eatery at its charming best. Kostas and Sarah Grigorakis’s restaurant is a few minutes’ stroll from the beach and is usually full of happy locals sharing small plates of Greek favourites, or people stopping in for takeaway pizza. The menu features Greek and Italian favourites spanning from dips and mezedes, to salads, pizza and pasta. Try some dolmades — cabbage leaves stuffed with mince and rice and topped with lemon sauce — or prawn saganaki — prawns cooked in a tomato and feta sauce — or opt for a classic pasta dish like spaghetti puttanesca or marinara.
Opening hours: El Greco is closed for dinner bookings from July 3 until August 6, but is open for lunch from Friday to Sunday and takeaways from Tuesday through to Sunday from 2pm to 9pm.
Address: 1/1 The Esplanade, Campbells Bay, North Shore.
If you know of any new BYO restaurants to add to this list, let us know at Viva@nzherald.co.nz.
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