Mexico, Britomart

I'm having a two weeks break from uni, that means time to eat a lot of food and don't stress about the study for awhile now. Food really helps when you're feeling tired, especially if the food is good and you enjoy it with friends. So one Tuesday afternoon, me and my friends decided to try this new place called Mexico in downtown Auckland. They obviously serve mexican food like tacos, quesadillas and corn chips with mexican dips. This place can get busy sometime, especially at night and weekends. When I came it was above 1pm and we can get a place easily.

Honey caramelized pork taco, roasted eggplant, mushroom, spiced tomato

 We have 3 tacos, one each. I have this honey caramelized pork, it's the special during my visit do I decided to try it. It's a little bit more pricey than the tacos in the menu though. It's 8$ each while the tacos in the menu is 6$ each. I like the taco, the filling is a little bit sweet but I like it though. It's also balance because they contain not only meat but also some veggies.

Achiote rubbed beef, citrus cured eschalots

 My friend have this beef taco. He seemed to enjoy it.

Caramel pork carnitas, plantain chips, pico de gallo

Another friend of mine had this pork taco for her lunch. She also seems to enjoy it a lot.

MEXICO's fried chicken

We decided to share this fried chicken, which is one of their specialties. I like this fried chicken too, they were tender and juicy. They give a spicy coating for the chicken, and I must say it is kinda spicy, but I can't stand spicy food even though I am Indonesian and should enjoy eating spicy food. They gave you two sauce for the chicken, they can soothe the spiciness.

Adobo braised lamb, mint, cheese, almond red mojo

After a taco each and fried chicken to share, we still don't feel really full. So we decided to try their quesadilla. I love this! The lamb inside were tender and the cheese melt beautifully. The chili they put on the side is so good too. I think it was sweet rather than being spicy. They also put two different bottles of chili sauce on each table. One is red in color and another one is green. I like the one with green color more, it smells sweet but it will give your food some kick. It went well with my taco which is sweet and I also mix it with the red mojo and put it on my quesadilla.

They also have some dessert, but we decided not to have dessert there. We went to Giapo instead (arguably the best ice cream shop in Auckland). Overall I have a good time and a happy belly here. I can't recommend which dish you should try because all of them is above average. I recommend you to try this place for your next lunch or maybe after drink supper because they are open till late at night.

You can take a peek on their website here, Mexico Britomart

Soul Bar & Bistro

So last weekend I went to this place called Soul Bar & Bistro located near the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland  . It was a pleasant day to go out and have some lunch with friends. This Bistro is quite expensive but because of Auckland Restaurant Month it's all worth the price. For lunch I spent 35NZD for 3 courses or you can choose to have 2 courses for 30NZD.

Salt and Pepper Squid

 This Salt and Pepper Squid was the highlight of the meal. When it came to the dining table, I can smell the inviting smell coming from fried foods that makes your mouth salivating. The squid was really tender and I can't seem to get enough of this, tender squid, deep fried, flavorful coating. What more can you ask?

Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

 This is another choices of entree for lunch. It was basically a Filo pastry pie filled with feta cheese and spinach. I tried the pie and thinking that the squid was far better than this pie. All you can taste is the feta cheese. So if you a feta cheese/cheese fans, you will absolutely love this dish.

Confit Duck Leg

 For main, I chose this confit duck leg, it's basically duck leg cooked in oil. I think this dish is good, the duck was tender but I find it a tad salty, and the puree on the bottom of the duck is not that appetizing. It was too watery. 

Mac n Cheese

 One of my friends ordered this, because apparently she can't eat meat for a month. She said that it was good but halfway through the plate, she stops eating because she felt sick from all the cheese goodness. Another dish for cheese lovers out there.

Beef Cheek Bourguignon

 I didn't try this dish, but the beef should be really really tender.

Cinnamon and Amaretto Creme Brulee

Now here comes the dessert, I chose this creme brulee, which is basically custard base with burnt sugar on top. It's usually serve on a ramekin, but I think if they use ramekin for this dish, the presentation won't be so stunning and inviting. The custard was really tasty and you can hear a sound when you crack the caramel on top, which mean a smooth custard combine with a crunchy element from the caramel makes it heavenly. I also like the flowers on the plate, the make this dessert look more beautiful. There are also nut pieces coated in sugar to add more crunch element to the dessert

Warm Banana Puding

My friends choose this dessert, banana puding. I like this dessert more than my creme brulee. It's so good and you can really taste the banana. You also get a butterscotch sauce which is not pictured. Notice the popcorn? It's that crunchy element for the dessert, just like my creme brulee with that caramel and nut pieces. I really like when restaurant to this kinda thing, smooth, soft puding with crunchy caramel popcorn, I'm on cloud nine.

It was a wonderful afternoon filled with giggle and laughter and of course good food. Some of the good things in life that you should appreciate. I recommend anyone who live in Auckland to give Soul a try especially with this offer during the Auckland Restaurant Month. This is something you don't want to miss.

California Pizza Kitchen

California Pizza Kitchen or CPK can be found on Px pavilion at Puri. This place serve pizza obviously, some pastas, burgers, and salads. I particularly like the Teriyaki Chicken Salad which contain the usual things we can find on a salad like tomatoes and lettuce. It also mixed with apple cubes and topped with corn chips and chicken cubes places on top. The corn chips is what makes this salad a bit different from the other. The barbeque sauce drizzled on top of the chicken is quite appetizing too. This salad is so good that we ordered 2 large size salad for the four of us. You can also order a pizza with the same chicken and barbeque sauce topping here, it's one of their recommendation

For the pizza I can't remember the name. They served the ordinary thick base pizza and the thin base pizza. I chose the thin base pizza because I don't really like the thick base pizza. This pizza basically contains cheese which I can't remember the name of, italian sausage (which tasted good), small meatballs and mushrooms. I like this pizza and I think I will be back for both the pizza and salad again. Too bad I can't go there on my own because Puri is not a familiar place to me. They had another branch in EX around 2 years ago, unfortunately it was closed and renovated to a clothing shop.

I recommend this pizza place rather than the usual pizza hut or domino's, although the price is not so friendly but the food are worth the price. You should drop by if you are around the area