Auckland has welcomed a new addition in the form of Den Ramen Bar, a collaboration between the team behind much-loved food truck Miso Ra, Pici co-founder Kaz Suzuki, and events specialist Isabel Buckley.
Created in response to what the founders felt was missing from Auckland’s dining scene, Den takes its cues from the specialist eateries found throughout Japan, where restaurants often dedicate themselves to doing one thing exceptionally well. Here, the focus is ramen, supported by a concise menu of izakaya-style snacks and drinks.
The menu centres on four ramen offerings, including a Shoyu topped with chashu pork belly, egg and nori, and a rich vegan-friendly Miso Ramen made using miso crafted by Fraser, chef-owner of Lillius. Alongside the bowls, guests will find snacks such as braised Japanese radish with yuzu miso, raw tuna with umeboshi vinaigrette, and grilled gurnard finished with a soy-orange glaze.
Inside, low lighting, dark timber and handmade details create the intimate atmosphere the team envisioned, with much of the fit-out completed by the founders themselves. The result is a space that feels warm, welcoming and quietly transportive.
Whether stopping by for a quick bowl or settling in for drinks and snacks before ramen, Den offers the kind of understated experience that has long made neighbourhood ramen bars a fixture of Japanese dining culture.
Designed by Todd Stevenson and handmade in Tāmaki Makaurau from solid brass, Powersurge’s Lateral Pendant resolves the question of what to hang above a long dining table or kitchen island as a single horizontal stroke of light. The thin rectangular light is customisable in lengths up to four metres. The dimmable LED light allows for practicality and restraint for those moments when the natural light is still the star of the show. As expertly executed in this New Plymouth Residence by Rowson Kitchens and KR Architecture, where it runs the length of the kitchen island and holds its own against a Tasman Sea sunset.
Is there anything quite as satisfying as tucking into a flavourful, vibrant plate of Mexican ? Luckily, in Auckland there are certainly no shortage of tasty taquerias and casual cantinas to find your fix, from cheap and cheerful to more elevated takes, and a veritable spectrum in between. Here, we round up a (non-exhaustive) edit of some of the best in the game, perfect for indulging in when the craving strikes.
For those setting alarms for FIFA Club World Cup kick-offs, squeezing in an early round on the simulator, or simply looking for a more interesting alternative to the usual morning coffee run, Bar Ziti and Flush Golf have introduced a new breakfast offering that makes a compelling case for starting the day a little earlier.
Available from 7am on weekdays and 9am on weekends, the menu leans towards the kind of generous, comfort-driven dishes that suit both sports fans settling in for a match and those easing into the morning at a slower pace. Ricotta Pancakes arrive topped with honeyed caramelised banana, the Big Breakfast comes loaded with eggs, bacon, lamb merguez and rosti, while Eggs Benedict swaps the traditional English muffin for a crisp potato rosti finished with paprika hollandaise.
Ricotta Pancakes
Flush Big Breakfast
Mushroom Bruschetta
The setting remains one of the city’s more entertaining places to spend a few hours. While Bar Ziti continues to deliver its familiar mix of good food and easy hospitality, Flush adds a playful dimension, allowing guests to move seamlessly from breakfast and coffee to a virtual round of golf without leaving their table-side conversations behind.
Breakfast Bap
Breakfast at Bar Ziti & Flush Golf
For one week only, there’s an added incentive. From June 15th until June 21st, diners can enjoy half-price Allpress coffee with breakfast or lunch when dining in, making those early FIFA kick-offs feel considerably more manageable.
Breakfast, football, coffee and a few holes before lunch. There are certainly worse ways to spend a winter morning.
Everyone has an emergency stain story. Red wine on a white shirt. Foundation on a collar. Grass stains, tomato sauce, coffee, turmeric, the entire visual résumé of modern life embedded into the fabric fibres of our existence with infuriating regularity. And what most people reach for almost instinctively is the same product they’ve relied upon for a lifetime. Heavy-duty soakers and stain removers that promise industrial-strength results through chemistry powerful enough to be genuinely alarming.
A recent office stain incident brought this to our attention when, upon attempting to read the instructions on the back of a handy little bottle of hope, we were shocked to discover the recommendation that eye protection be worn when applying the stain remover, due to the risk of serious eye damage or blindness upon contact. Furthermore, any contact with skin requires immediate flushing with water. And this was before even reaching the actual instructions for removing the stain.
For decades, consumers have been conditioned to believe that the harsher the formula, the better the clean. Serious stains require serious chemicals. That has long been the accepted narrative. But reading the fine print can feel strangely disproportionate to the domestic task at hand. Avoid inhalation. Avoid eye contact. Risk of serious irritation. Suddenly, the modern laundry feels like it requires a Hazmat suit.
So what are the alternatives? Long established as New Zealand’s authority in responsible home and body care, Ecostore has developed formulations that strip away much of the chemical aggression consumers have come to associate with effectiveness, while still delivering genuinely impressive results on stubborn stains. The surprise is not that it works. The surprise is that so many people still assume it won’t.
Formulated with plant and mineral-based ingredients and designed to be safer for both people and planet, Ecostore’s laundry soaker approaches stain removal without the usual chemical theatrics. No overwhelming fumes. No sense that protective eyewear might be a sensible precaution before tackling a wine spill. Just a formulation that quietly and effectively gets on with the job, much to the surprise of anyone game enough to rethink an entire category they have been conditioned to distrust.
With our daily lives increasingly focused on what we put into our bodies, it seems equally important to consider the products we expose ourselves to inside our homes. The long-ingrained marketing narrative from chemically laden household brands has always traded on trust and familiarity. As consumers, many of us continue to buy the products our parents used without ever questioning the ingredients or reading the fine print, because nostalgia is a remarkably effective sales tool.
In a time where we are increasingly focused on improving the way we look after ourselves, there is still plenty left to reconsider. Ecostore’s approach feels intelligent rather than ideological, delivering superior stain removal without the bravado. After more than two decades developing safer alternatives for modern homes, the brand has quietly built products that challenge the old assumption that powerful cleaning must come at a cost to the user or the environment. Perhaps it’s finally time to let the consequences of the chemical-laden alternatives really soak in.
Architecture — Carter Williamson Interior Design — Claire Delmar Photography — Pablo Veiga
Wurrungwuri, a reinvigorated heritage-fronted home in Sydney, deftly blends the past and present with an eye to the future, reimagining a historic cottage with a contemporary new extension. This stunning residence was crafted by Carter Williamson, who transformed it to meet the clients’ vision of a house built for entertaining, filled with light, and exuding luxurious yet approachable elegance.
Flos Bellhop floor lamp from ecc, Knoll Wassily chair from studio italia & Moooi Meshmatics chandelier from ecc
The project brief was clear: celebrate the original 1881 Victorian cottage while creating a contemporary, connected space. At the street front, the unassuming, original facade is carefully preserved, while at the property’s rear, a fluid form sits overlooking the river — its sinuous expression exploring the limits of spatial ambiguity.
One of the first houses constructed on its street, the four-room cottage was originally built with sandstone quarried from the site, with extensions added over time with no cohesion from one to the next. In its latest renovation, alterations were removed, and a new, harbour-facing extension integrated, cascading over four distinct levels, cut deep into the sandstone bedrock. Linking old with new is a light-filled, cylindrical staircase — the first of the home’s defining ‘voids’, encased in artfully tessellated white bricks which nod to the home’s artistic past. Once belonging to artist Montague Scott, the residence now sits as an architectural artform in its own right, its gallery-like interiors showcasing an incredible collection of contemporary works.
“One of Wurrungwuri’s defining features, and perhaps the reason behind the exceptional feeling of lightness and calm, despite a busy mix of materials, references, and eclectic artworks, is its use of voids, which create a sense of connection throughout the home.”
But, perhaps the most artistic element of all, is the home’s striking extension, which sits like an open book, cleaving into two wings reaching towards the harbour. Rooms are interwoven across the levels, infused with a sense of both the playful and the refined, with social spaces and private dwellings carefully dispersed across the plan. One of Wurrungwuri’s defining features, and perhaps the reason behind the exceptional feeling of lightness and calm, despite a busy mix of materials, references, and eclectic artworks, is its use of voids, which create a sense of connection throughout the home, bridging the cottage and extension.
Edra Standard sofa from matisse & Artek Rope chair from kada
The ground level serves as the hub of relaxation, featuring a spacious main lounge and a cosy TV room, seamlessly connected by adjoining terraces and a central staircase that leads to the backyard and jetty.
The home’s design maximises the breathtaking view without overshadowing its own architectural elegance, incorporating thoughtfully crafted viewpoints that highlight both the striking interiors and the scenery beyond its walls. The material palette furthers this, maintaining a focus on naturality to invite the outdoors in. Here, sandstone, brick and stone take centre stage, offset by concrete and timber throughout.
Wurrungwuri is a home of grand proportions and harmonious balance; a blend of old and new, public and private, offering a retreat for a busy family that is both a functional space and a work of art in its own right.
Whether it’s a quick lunchtime jog you’re after or an epic race along the waterfront, behold a round-up of the best runs in the CBD, commencing at Auckland Domain. Dust off your running shoes and leave the excuses at home. You’ll thank us in the long run.
The lunch break quickie
Duration: approximately 30 minutes | Distance: 4.5km Ideal for inner-city professionals who need to let off a little steam, this run takes you through two of Auckland’s most popular parks — Auckland Domain and Albert Park. Starting at the War Memorial Museum in the Auckland Domain, you’ll head along Grafton Bridge past the Symonds Street Cemetery and along a short section of Karangahape Road to St Kevin’s Arcade. From here, it’s a quick sprint down Myers Park towards the Town Hall and Aotea Square and onward to Albert Park along Mayoral Drive. From Albert Park, turn onto Alfred Street (off Princes street), cross Symonds Street onto Grafton Road, which then crosses the motorway via pedestrian lights, and you’ll see the entrance back into the Domain once more ahead of you.
The three-park run
Duration: approximately 50 minutes | Distance: 10km Not a bad way to start or end the workday, this run offers a scenic three-in-one. Starting from the corner of Lover’s Walk and Domain Drive (by the pond in Auckland Domain), you’ll head west via Park Road and Grafton Bridge to Karangahape Road. Run along to Ponsonby Road, and jog down through Western Park, before making your way towards Victoria Park via Howe Street, Hepburn Street and Franklin Road. Then, run along the promenade at the Viaduct. The seafront leg along Tamaki Drive takes you to a footbridge that passes over to the Parnell Baths (Auckland’s only outdoor saltwater pool). The path then winds up the side of a cliff to Resolution Park — the top of which offers an ideal place for a breather overlooking the beautiful Waitematā Harbour. After running through Resolution Park, along tree-lined St Stephens Ave, left on Parnell Road and right on Domain Drive, your run concludes back at the Auckland Domain.
The scenic waterfront route
Duration: approximately 50 minutes | Distance: 9.5km Passing by unique historical, coastal and geological features, this run kicks off near the George Street exit of the Auckland Domain before heading left on Parnell Road and right down Ayr Street, passing Kinder House and Ewelme Cottage. Continue along Shore Road, Orakei Road and over the Purewa Bridge, which crosses between the Orakei Basin (an ancient volcanic crater) on the right-hand side and Hobson Bay on the left. Follow Ngapipi Road along the shores of Hobson Bay and Whakatakataka Bay and then back along Tamaki Drive. When you arrive at the Dove-Myer Robinson Park, make your way through the Parnell Rose Gardens, then up Gladstone Road and St Stephens Ave towards the Holy Trinity Cathedral. This is the perfect place for a rest, before walking back to the Auckland Domain (via Parnell Road) to cool down.
June arrives in Auckland with its particular cold-morning clarity, and along with it, the Black Périgord truffle — that subterranean obsession that turns a Tuesday dinner into something worth rearranging your week for. This year’s harvest, coming largely from the Tasman District and the South Island’s increasingly serious truffle country, is landing across the city’s most considered kitchens with the kind of quiet urgency that only a two-month window can produce. Whether you want five courses designed entirely around the fungus, or simply a glass of something excellent and a toastie that will make you reconsider what a toastie can be, Auckland is, right now, the right city to be hungry in.
Gilt is marking the season with its Piedmont Edition Menu du Jour, a Saturday long lunch that positions truffle within the broader logic of one of Italy’s great food-and-wine regions rather than treating it as a standalone spectacle. The five-course format ($120 per person) opens with Prosecco on arrival, moves through a mushroom risotto finished with fresh black truffle and a vitello tonnato, and arrives at a slow-braised beef cheek alongside a wine line-up that runs from Gavi through to a side-by-side Barolo tasting — a pairing that gives the truffle proper context rather than isolating it. From the following Saturday onwards, the Piedmont Edition continues as a three-course menu at $65 per person, which makes the long-lunch version of the launch feel like the one to secure first. Book here.
Truffle agnolotti with leek and onion at $42, available from Tuesday the 16th. Leek and onion as the base note is a quietly intelligent choice, sweet and slow-cooked allium providing the kind of gentle, yielding backdrop that lets the fungus project without interference. Worth marking the calendar for. Book here.
George — the truffle dealer, not a metaphor — flew up from the South Island with the first harvest of the season and delivered directly to Bossi, where chef Shaun moved quickly. The result is two seasonal dishes worth knowing about: an eye fillet served with truffle mash, portobello mushroom stuffed with blue cheese, and jus ($54), and a fettuccine tossed in a Parmigiano Reggiano wheel with truffle oil ($44) — a preparation that lets the wheel do the theatre and the oil do the flavour work. Fresh truffle can also be added to any dish on the menu, which, given the breadth of Bossi’s Italian programme, leaves considerable room for good decisions. Book here.
The tableside shaving at Andiamo, $15 per gram, applied to whichever dish you choose, is the kind of offer that rewards decisiveness, and the kitchen has done the useful work of narrowing the field. The stracciatella with charred leek, pickled mustard, and hazelnut is where to start, the acidity of the mustard and the bitterness of the leek char creating exactly the right tension for truffle to resolve. The chicken ravioli with walnut beurre noisette, sage, and barrel-aged balsamic makes an equally considered case, the nuttiness of the brown butter pulling the fungus into focus rather than competing with it. For the mushroom risotto, the logic is self-evident. The macaroni — fontina, cheddar, parmesan, bacon, chilli, is the most unapologetic option on the list, and probably the most argued-over table decision of the season. The slow-roasted porchetta with pickled cauliflower and apple and fennel fondo bruno rounds things out for anyone who wants their truffle anchored to something with genuine structural weight. Book here
The Funghi e Tartufo at Non Solo Pizza — truffle cream, mozzarella, oyster mushroom, button mushrooms, oregano, and freshly shaved New Zealand black truffle at $39 — makes the case that pizza is, in the right hands, one of the more honest formats for this ingredient, the heat of the oven coaxing the cream into something that carries the truffle’s aroma through every bite rather than concentrating it in a single layer. Available from Monday the 15th, which gives you the weekend to decide whether you’re the kind of person who books ahead or the kind who arrives and hopes for the best. Book here.
Every Friday, a 200g Greenstone Creek beef rump cap with unlimited truffle fries at $49.50, and for an additional $20, fresh seasonal truffle shaved directly over the steak, which transforms what is already a considered weeknight proposition into something that justifies rearranging Thursday’s plans to ensure Friday is free. The rump cap is a cut that rewards the kitchen’s confidence in the beef itself, and Greenstone Creek’s is the kind of provenance that earns that confidence. The truffle fries on their own would be enough. They are not, it turns out, on their own. Book here.
George’s Black Périgord truffles arrive at Ahi each winter with the kind of provenance that most kitchens can only gesture toward, grown among inoculated oak and hazelnut trees at his Riwaka truffière in the Tasman District, located by truffle dogs, then hand harvested, cleaned, and graded before making the journey north. The offer itself is simple: fresh truffle shaved over any dish on the menu for $10, which is either the most democratic thing happening in Auckland dining right now, or the most dangerous, depending on how well you know yourself around a menu you already rate. Book here.
Both venues at voco Auckland City Centre are drawing their seasonal Black Périgord from George’s Truffles in the Tasman District — a South Island producer whose harvest runs June through August — and the offer spans what is, frankly, an unusually complete range of formats. At Mozzarella & Co., the all-day trattoria that anchors the ground floor, a truffle pizza built on béchamel, mozzarella, field mushroom, and spinach ($42) makes the vegetarian case for the season with more conviction than most meat-forward alternatives manage. Bar Albert, meanwhile, has brought back its truffle cocktail — truffle-infused 12 Tides Vodka from Waiheke Distilling Co., Cointreau, and Amaro Montenegro ($29) — a combination that sounds improbable until you taste it, at which point it sounds inevitable. The genuine novelty of the season, though, is the Baked Truffle Camembert ($34): a 115g single-serve portion produced specifically for voco Auckland by Over the Moon Dairy, a Putaruru, Waikato cheesemaker with seventeen years of award-winning production behind them, baked and served with pretzel sticks and available exclusively at Bar Albert for the duration of the season. “It’s the kind of dish that stops people mid-conversation,” says Executive Chef Daniel Muller — which is, when you consider the competition in that room, a credible claim. Across both venues, freshly shaved truffle can be added to any dish for $12. Book here.
Sitting on the waterfront with the kind of view that makes a two-hour lunch feel non-negotiable, Bivacco’s truffle risotto earns its place on this list through specificity rather than occasion — Wainui king black mushrooms, parmigiano reggiano, egg yolk, and fresh truffle at $40, a combination where every element is doing load-bearing work rather than providing atmosphere. The king black mushrooms bring a depth that most risotto bases spend considerably more effort chasing, the egg yolk folds a richness into the grain that butter alone never quite achieves, and the truffle arrives with enough supporting structure beneath it to actually justify being there. Worth noting that the harbour is right there when you look up. Book here.
The annual Cocoro Truffle Degustation is, for a specific kind of diner, the clearest argument for why a seasonal calendar matters. The five-course menu — running for a limited time only, with fresh black truffle shaved tableside over selected courses — is structured so that the fungus appears in every course including dessert, allowing its earthiness to shift and modulate rather than simply announce itself once and leave. The kitchen’s particular intelligence is in the framing: Aotearoa delicacies and premium A5 Kagoshima Wagyu from the Kagoshima prefecture sit alongside a modern Japanese sensibility that feels neither reverential nor fashionably irreverent, simply precise. Tableside shaving at the right moment — when the dish is still warm enough to coax out the aroma — is a detail that matters more than it sounds. Book here.
The Truffle Yukke Beef Tartar at Kome arrives in the way that Korean dining does things properly, hand-cut raw beef is paired with truffle, apple, rice crackers, and salted egg yolk sitting at the centre with the quiet confidence of something that knows exactly what it is, the truffle’s aroma threading through the whole arrangement rather than sitting on top of it. It is a more complete dish than the word “tartar” suggests, and considerably more interesting than most seasonal truffle additions currently doing the rounds. Available for a limited time, which is the only detail that should be driving your booking timeline. Book here.
Remuera’s Spiga keeps its seasonal truffle offering exactly where it should be: close to the pasta, close to the Italian pantry, and refreshingly free of elaboration. The kitchen’s stuffed pappardelle topped with freshly sliced truffle is the headline, but the more quietly useful offer is the option to have fresh truffle shaved to order over whichever dish takes your interest — a flexibility that rewards regulars who already know what they want to amplify. This is truffle as an ingredient rather than truffle as an event, and for a certain mood, that is precisely the right approach. Book here.
Worth knowing about if your truffle fix needs to happen before 2pm: Duo’s daytime specials board is currently running fresh New Zealand truffle with culatello, potato rosti, hollandaise, and poached eggs — a combination that makes a strong case for the kind of weekday breakfast that justifies clearing the morning. Available daily until 2pm, or until it sells out, which it does. Book here.
The first truffle pizza of the season at OOH-FA arrives in limited quantities and without apology: mascarpone, provolone, parmesan, and truffle on a base that the kitchen has clearly been thinking about all year. First in, first served — which, for anyone who remembers last season, is the only instruction you actually need. Book here.
Braised beef collar, parsnip purée, chilli crunch mushroom XO, and fresh black truffle shaved over the top — all of it arriving in yorkshire puddings, with the Waitematā harbour spread out below you. The XO brings enough heat and saline depth to keep the truffle honest, while the parsnip purée does the work of softening the whole thing into something that feels genuinely suited to a cold Auckland evening at altitude. It is a dish that understands its setting, which is not always a given when the view is this good. Book here.
The truffle cheese toastie at Apéro is a returning seasonal staple on Karangahape Road, and its longevity on the menu is, at this point, its own form of endorsement. The format is simple: the wine bar setting on K Road, a toastie that takes the season’s principal ingredient seriously, and a wine list that has always understood what it is doing with this sort of thing. It is not a complex proposition, which is entirely the point. Book here.
After a decade spent establishing Culprit as one of Auckland’s most enduring dining destinations, chef and owner Kyle Street has turned his attention to a far more eccentric pursuit. Hidden beneath the familiar rhythms of city life, Curio emerges as a richly layered cocktail bar that feels less like a hospitality venue and more like stepping inside the private collection of an obsessive collector whose interests stretch from cult cinema and antique oddities to Kiwiana and forgotten treasures.
Liam Mclennan and Kyle Street
Occupying the former bar space adjoining Culprit, Curio represents a complete transformation, one driven not by trends or market demands but by Street’s own passions. Drawing heavily from the nostalgic visual language of 1980s and 1990s pop culture, the venue takes particular inspiration from the antique shop belonging to Mr Wing in the 1984 cult classic Gremlins, a film whose peculiar charm has informed everything from the atmosphere to the objects hidden throughout the room.
The result is a space that rewards attention. Every surface, shelf and corner reveals another discovery, whether it be a vintage curiosity sourced from an auction house, a treasured item from Street’s personal collection or a piece acquired during countless hours spent combing second-hand stores in pursuit of the perfect addition. Dried floral installations by Greenpoint Florist introduce texture and softness amongst the more theatrical elements, while custom framing by The Art Dept preserves some of the venue’s most unusual possessions, including a zebra hide and head, a jester’s suit and a collection of Gremlins trading cards.
Describing the aesthetic as “swamp chic”, Street has created a room that feels dimly lit, slightly mysterious and entirely detached from the outside world, where the details reveal themselves gradually and the atmosphere shifts as the evening unfolds. There is a sense of discovery embedded into the experience, encouraging guests to linger a little longer than intended as they take in the countless references and curiosities surrounding them.
Behind the bar, beverage manager Liam McLennan has developed a cocktail programme that mirrors the venue’s character. Quirky, playful and occasionally uncanny, the drinks draw inspiration from Kiwiana while maintaining the technical precision expected from one of the city’s most respected hospitality teams. Among the more intriguing elements of the offering is a partnership with Project Hydrosol, which allows Curio’s entire signature cocktail list to be enjoyed in low-to-no alcohol form through a process that captures much of the aroma, texture and flavour profile of traditional spirits while remaining below one per cent alcohol.
At a time when many bars lean heavily on minimalism, Curio embraces maximalism with confidence, creating an environment where storytelling matters as much as the drinks themselves. Every object has a reason for being there, every reference points back to a personal memory, and every detail contributes to a venue that feels remarkably individual.
Street describes Curio as a place where guests can melt into their surroundings, surrendering to an atmosphere where time moves a little differently, and conversation flows as freely as the cocktails. Judging by what he has created, that seems precisely what awaits.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley moves through contemporary fashion with a composure that has become instantly recognisable, shaped by precise tailoring choices, disciplined tonal palettes, and an instinct for silhouette that consistently holds attention without forcing it.
That composure reads as controlled presence rather than performance, because she understands how restraint in cut, colour, and proportion can hold a room with greater authority than overt styling ever achieves.
She stands as our style muse in the most literal sense, because her approach consistently informs how modern elegance is interpreted, referenced, and quietly redefined across wardrobes that value precision over excess. Her approach to dressing, which often privileges structured coats, fluid suiting, and minimal interruption in colour, reflects a sustained clarity of vision that has matured across years of front-row appearances, campaign work, and carefully selected public moments that reinforce rather than dilute her aesthetic language.
That clarity extends into an almost editorial consistency, where each appearance feels considered in relation to the last, as though every garment has been chosen to extend an ongoing visual argument rather than mark a departure from it.
Across recent appearances, including sharply constructed outerwear layered over clean separates and evening looks that rely on cut rather than embellishment, she continues to favour garments that sit close to the body’s natural line, allowing proportion and fabric weight to carry the visual argument with quiet precision.
That preference reveals an understanding of construction over decoration, where the strength of a look emerges from how it is built, how it falls, and how it interacts with movement rather than from surface detail alone.
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