Have you been craving a panikeke or chop suey and rice, but don’t know where to go? We’ve narrowed down the best spots in Tāmaki Makaurau to get your Pacific soul food fix.

Pacific Island restaurants are popping up around Tāmaki Makaurau, which is great news for those of us who crave soul food from Sāmoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and more. But they are often not the easiest restaurants to find, unless you know someone who knows someone.

A lot of these takeaway restaurants are family-owned and run. There are also plenty of cafes run by Pasifika families offering classic western treats, but this is a guide for when you want a plate of taro, chop suey straight from the warmer and a tub of chilled raw fish. So take a break from cooking and head to one of these popular spots.

West Auckland

Oceania Food & Catering Ltd
2C Archibald Road, Kelston (opposite Kelston Girls College)

The Apineru family has been running this business since 2015, selling a wide range of Sāmoan dishes like lamb curry (kale mamoe), falai pi (lamb flaps with beans), mamoe masima (lamb brisket preserved in brine), palusami (taro leaves, corned beef, diced onions and coconut milk) and more.

The suafa’i (banana and coconut cream dish), chop suey, panikeke (deep fried banana ball doughnut), turkey tails and keke mamoe (lamb buns) are popular items at this restaurant. “Tongans come here when they’re sick of eating lu sipi at home,” one of the workers jokes. 

Oceania Food & Catering has plans to open another store in Māngere this month, for all their loyal customers who come out to their Kelston shop from various South Auckland suburbs.

Ulutoa and Sons
1898 Great North Road, Avondale
87 Māngere Road, Ōtāhuhu (opposite Ōtāhuhu College)

This is a well-established family business passed down from generation to generation within the Ulutoa family. The restaurant and store started in 2005 in Avondale, and the Ōtāhuhu branch opened in 2012. 

Popular items include the chop suey and keke pua’a (pork buns), but Rejoice Toetuu, whose dad is one of the sons of the Ulutoa family, says she highly recommends the fried chicken, which she prefers to KFC. 

Taste of Sāmoa
3/24 Henderson Valley Road, Henderson (behind Caltex)

If you want to try mouthwatering, beautifully decorated paifala (pineapple pie), this is where you need to go. Taste of Sāmoa also does a tasty chop suey and their lamb buns were flying out the door when I arrived to browse the menu.

The family-owned business kicked off in 2018 and is proud to be serving traditional Sāmoan cuisine like fai’ai eleni (coconut baked fish), pig head and panipopo (coconut buns).

Polynesian Food Takeaway
1891 Great North Road, Avondale

A lot of your favourite Sāmoan dishes and Chinese takeaway cuisine.

South Auckland

Tasu’s Takeout
3 Mason Ave, Ōtāhuhu

A Cook Islands family business serving, in my opinion, Tāmaki Makaurau’s best steak and mushroom on rice, paired with their renowned mainese salad. When I visited they had stacks of banana poke, a traditional banana pudding from the Cook Islands, as well as pumpkin-flavoured poke, coconut buns and fresh Cook Islands doughnuts.

Tasu’s Takeout opened two days before the first nationwide lockdown and has been running since. Steak and mushroom is definitely a crowd favourite, which they also sell in loaded fries or as a roll.

When you place an order, instead of the traditional bell for service, Tasu’s Takeout incorporates their beautiful culture with a traditional pate or drum, featuring the words “beat me for service” carved in. 

Hala Hihifo
471 Great South Road, Ōtāhuhu

A Tongan-led business proudly supporting its national teams Ikale Tahi (rugby union) and Mate Ma’a Tonga (rugby league), at Hala Hihifo you’re greeted with Tongan flags and wallpaper-sized posters of popular sporting figures like NRL star Jason Taumalolo. Walking into the kitchen and grill restaurant, you feel as though you have been immediately transported to Nuku’alofa.

Hala Hihifo has all your Tongan classics like faikakai topai (caramel sauce with flour dumplings), meleni (watermelon) and mango ‘otai; plus lu sipi (taro leaves with lamb flaps), feke loloi (octopus pieces cooked in coconut cream) and ota ika (raw fish).

Helu Vilikikihi
60 Atkinson Ave, Ōtāhuhu

Another Tongan restaurant offering plenty of keke ‘isite (fried ball doughnuts), sapasui moa or chicken chop suey, lu pulu masima (beef in brine and taro leaves) and talo Tonga or taro.

This place has a huge dining space which is great for families, and the friendly staff are ready to welcome you in.

Pinati’s Keke Pua’a
19A Queen Street, Ōtāhuhu

One of the original Pacific Island spots in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pinati’s Keke Pua’a has been around for 23 years and is known for the keke pua’a (pork buns). Lamb buns are on offer too.

I enjoyed seeing their spin on the traditional panikeke, with custard and chocolate-filled keke both on offer, but you have to be quick as they sell out fast.

Evelina’s Polynesian Food
459 Roscommon Road, Clendon Park
2/143 Bairds Road, Ōtara

Evelina’s Polynesian Food has been serving the community for 25 years, offering a wide range of Sāmoan dishes including chop suey, surimi with coconut cream, paifala and fa’apapa (baked coconut bread).

They have mastered homemade Polynesian food on the go with their loyal customers piling through their doors, even on a wet winter day. 

TANZ Kitchen
1 Piako Street, Ōtara

This cosy takeaway spot is proudly run by a Cook Islands family. If you’re craving fresh, hot Cook Islands doughnuts, look no further. They also have mainese with steak and mushroom, chop suey and banana poke. If you want fish and chips to go with your mainese, that’s on offer too.

Viviane Cuisine
123 Carruth Road, Papatoetoe

Viviane Cuisine offers Sāmoan soul food by the Viviane family, where you can get a comforting tub of koko alaisa, suafa’i, panikeke and pai penu (caramelised coconut pie). There are also hot food options that you can enjoy with cooked taro covered in coconut cream.

Their best-selling dish is the seafood boil, which comes in three tray sizes (regular, large and XL). The boil includes prawns, mussels, crab legs, corn (seasonal), sausages, eggs and potatoes.

Hunga Tonga & Ha’apai Diner
351 Massey Road, Māngere East

This is a new Tongan eatery in the centre of Māngere East, offering finger-licking pork hock, lamb flaps and turkey tails as well as the classic lu sipi. Desserts such as puteni (pudding and custard) and mango ‘otai are made fresh each day – the perfect way to end a meaty meal.

Other Pacific food spots in South Auckland:

Parker’s Polynesian Food
47 Imrie Ave, Māngere

Eight Roses
13/225 Great South Road, Ōtāhuhu

Polynesian Taste
285 Great South Road, Ōtāhuhu

Sanbells Kitchen and Catering
139 Bairds Road, Ōtara

East Auckland

Lisa’s Kitchen
201D Apirana Ave, Glen Innes (look at for the Pacific flags)

A brand new Tongan restaurant in the hustle and bustle of Glen Innes, producing delicious keke ‘isite, ota ika, corned silverside cabbage, pele sipi (lamb dish) and tukumisi (kina). Don’t forget to add a potato salad and crab salad to your meal.

Tasi Pasefika Café
41 Farringdon Street, Glen Innes

Tasi means “one” in Sāmoan, and the name of this restaurant is an ode to the suburb Glen Innes: the owners of Tasi say the tight-knit community of GI hosts a diverse group of ethnicities, yet beats as one and acts as one village. 

Sāmoan favourites found here include kale mamoe, fai’ai eleni, fa’alifu manioka (cassava in coconut cream), ulu tao (baked breadfruit) and more.

Plus if you are looking for siamu popo jam (coconut jam), Tasi has it stocked in store.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.

It’s time for a curly parsley renaissance, argues Anna Rawhiti-Connell. And at least one famous chef is sort of supportive.

This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up.

One of my favourite things to cook is aglio olio. It’s a rustic Italian pasta made famous in Hamilton by Scotts Epicurean. I ate it at least once a week when I lived there as an adult. I have been attempting to replicate their version ever since.

It’s a dish that seems very simple but involves perfecting several art forms – emulsification, al dente pasta and the fine slicing of garlic so that it almost melts into the oil. There are just six ingredients – spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, chilli, parmesan and parsley. Scotts went big on the parsley and a perfectly portioned bowl of pasta would arrive at your table, coloured bright green. It’s the first dish I really remember eating where parsley played a starring role.

The most satisfying aspect of making aglio olio is the time spent finely chopping parsley. Curly parsley. Not Italian flat-leaf parsley. Never Italian flat-leaf.

My devotion to curly parsley for this dish is underpinned by an ongoing inability to grow Italian flat-leaf parsley in abundance. I loathe the spindly plants and bundles on offer at supermarkets. It’s stalky and meagre when compared to its curly cousin. When it comes to parsley, I prefer a fulsome bush.

According to popular culinary opinion, I stand somewhat isolated in my love of this herb. Apparently, it’s all over for curly and has been for a long time. It’s now maligned as a remnant of the 80s. Nothing but mere garnish on a plate of curried eggs or a sprig to be tossed on a bit of beef schnitzel. It was declared “uncool” by Bon Appetit in 2016. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Richard Cornish wrote in 2020 that curly parsley was “daggy” and its sole purpose was to adorn meat trays. The Guardian asked what the point of curly parsley was in 2021.

I existed in a bubble of blissful ignorance about this until last year when one of my brothers came around and looked disdainfully at my lovely pots of curly parsley that I have successfully been growing for years. “Why are you growing that?” he asked.

I have remained in a state of defiance and confusion ever since. Determined to defend curly parsley, I am insistent that its fall from favour is due to the cyclical and bourgeois nature of food trends. I convinced myself last week that if I were to test this theory with chefs, they would agree.

Ben Bayly pinpoints the demise of curly parsley to “the time when we realised that carbonara didn’t have cream, bacon and mushrooms in it”. Round one to Bayly with this sick burn that dates my devotion to curly parsley to a time of culinary ignorance. He says Italian food has been so bastardised by the Brits and “at some point, we realised that we loved authentic Italian cuisine”.

Bayly rates Italian flat-leaf parsley over curly, would only use curly in soups or purees and in response to my question about why it’s unabundant in my garden, says that at his place “flat-leaf grows like weeds, self-seeds and more just keeps popping up”, suggesting it’s a soil thing. Bayly owns the restaurants Ahi and Origine in Auckland and is an award-winning chef. I am filling in for Charlotte Muru-Lanning, The Spinoff’s brilliant food writer and editor of The Boil Up. I think it’s pretty obvious that readers know who to back here.

Pressing on, I ask Jamie Hogg for his thoughts on parsley. He confirms that in his time as a chef, the flat Italian form is the only parsley he has “professionally been associated with”. This is despite eating scrambled eggs made by his dad that were “one-third curly parsley”. Hogg thinks flat-leaf has a stronger flavour and better mouthfeel but does say tabbouleh wouldn’t be complete without curly parsley. It’s one small victory for me and one giant leap for curly parsley as far as I am concerned.

Once again, though, another expert, this time the former head chef at Waiheke’s Oyster Inn, confirms that my devotion to the curly herb is a bit dated. “A lot of old-school French dishes call for curly parsley, which can give a great flavour and texture to a dish.” Hogg tactfully provides some comfort about my inability to grow flat-leaf by admitting he has failed at growing both types. My quest to gently lift curly parsley back to the heights at which it deserves to soar is bolstered by him saying that curly parsley is more satisfying to chop.

I ignore his comment about flat-leaf having more flavour and colour and instead cling to his sign-off that says he’s rooting for the underdog.

My last port of call is Josh Emett. He provides me with the villain I am looking for, the reason everyone decided curly parsley was not cool. He blames the use of curly parsley as a garnish for its demise as a bonafide herb hero. Its use as decoration at buffets helped kill its reputation as edible and delicious vegetation. While the owner of Onslow, The Oyster Inn and hasselback potato global superstar says you would use each parsley for different things, he says he loves curly parsley. He makes the interesting point that issues with suppliers during the pandemic often meant certain herbs weren’t available and restaurants got better at using what was on hand. He says curly parsley is being used more. He stops short of describing a resurgent use of the herb as a renaissance but seems supportive of me doing so.

I asked Bayly if people would be horrified to receive a dish garnished with parsley these days. He says yes, but that we can evaluate this issue in the next decade. “Things go in cycles,” he says. When the cycle finally comes around, I will be here, brandishing this defence of curly parsley, dancing upon a grave strewn with the spindly flat-leaf variety.  And in case you were wondering, Scotts Epicurean uses the superior form of parsley for its signature dish.