"Gusstop is a confusing name for a cafe, but it's the best city salad bar I've found. Each day they offer five or six options made of proper wholefood ingredients. The chilli broccoli and balsamic Brussels are favourites but it's always hard to make a final choice. Time your arrival to beat the midday rush of office workers from the BECA building the cafe is housed in." — Jesse Mulligan, eating out editor
"Jess' Underground Kitchen is conveniently down the road from home, and the cabinet is always bursting with hearty salads. Their spring versions are particularly great — the other day I tried one with pumpkin, rocket, orzo, purple cabbage and nectarine with lashings of coriander." — Dan Ahwa, fashion editor
"The huge bowls of colourful salads at Westmere's Catroux remind of London cafe Ottolenghi. The small size is a perfect takeaway lunch, but I've been known to take the larger one as my contribution to family dinners too. The offerings change daily, and they're all pretty tasty — but my favourites are the roasted broccoli salad with beans, sugar snap peas, basil tahini dressing and the spiced cauliflower with chickpeas, yoghurt, coriander and almonds." — Zoe Walker, associate editor
"The Essential Deli in Mt Eden does the best takeaway salads. They seriously stuff full the containers. The roast vegetable with coconut dressing and crunchy bean salad are to die for. They haven't changed the recipes for years as they walk out the door early each day." — Angela Casley, recipe editor
"Raw Power in Vulcan Lane hasn't changed its formula for years. With the help-yourself salad bar you can pile your container high with a mix of leafy salads, steamed vegetables, cottage cheese and nuts and then squeeze the top on. This topped off with a vegetable juice makes you feel wonderfully virtuous." — Amanda Linnell, managing editor
"Revive on Wyndham St and Lorne St in Auckland Central is everything a salad bar should be — simple, healthy and almost all the colours of the rainbow. I love their wide variation of entirely vegetarian salads that change weekly and all salads come with large dollop of hummus on top." — Rosie Kelway, writer
"Vietnamese restaurant Hello Mister is a lunchtime go-to, the Bun vermicelli noodle salad is a simple and satisfying option that doesn't leave you in a post-food slump. Your choice of protein is served up with lettuce, cucumber, carrots, and mint - topped off with mini spring rolls." — Danielle Clausen, editorial assistant
"We're all about Ripe Deli at our house — my flatmate, a dedicated vegetarian, stops by there almost every day for one of their delicious, healthy salads that use seasonal ingredients and if I'm lucky he'll bring the leftovers home. They're all amazing and chock-full of goodness, but a recent highlight was a wild rice salad with nuts, spinach, cauliflower and carrot." — Shandelle Battersby, acting digital producer
"I don't find myself ordering salads often, but one that left a good impression recently was the brunch salad at Takapuna Beach Cafe — it's got pumpkin, broccoli, haloumi and poached eggs, and is more substantial than it sounds." — Jessica Beresford, writer
