Boracay Garden Restaurant (Auckland CBD, New Zealand)

This place just recently opened and I guess I was one of the last Filipino here in Auckland to try it, most of the Filipino I know tried it and raved about it but now its my time to give them a shot. We just passed by this place after our trip from Waiheke, we were quite hungry and this place was in the vicinity so we did not think twice whether we will try another place. We did not have any booking at all and it was a weekend so we just rock in there hoping we to have some unbooked seats.

It was fully booked plus there was a large group booking so there were no free seats but the owner managed to sneak us in a one-hour slot, this means our orders will also come faster than usual as we have to leave the place within an hour. It did not take us long enough for our order to be taken and served which was good as we were already so hungry at this stage.

For hungry Filipinos the solution is a copious amount of rice together with classic ulam like Kare Kare ($29.00) and Bulalo ($32.00). This will definitely satisfy our hunger. The dishes were good specially the Kare Kare, it tasted like just like what you get back home in the Philippines. The Kare Kare though was using a meaty cut as opposed to the ox tail which is the traditional beef cut used in this dish plus it was the one I was expecting. Beef was so tender; it was fall of the bone.

The bulalo was also good and it reminded me of the bulalo at Home Cooked in North Shore. It was less fatty than what you get in the Philippines which is good because its healthier but in a way bad as well as it will have lesser taste, remember “Fat gives things flavor”. Having said that it was still tasty and it was meaty, its nice they use a huge chunk of beef leg bone on the one they served at our table.

These two dishes were big, perhaps it can serve 2 or three people so if you think its expensive think again, its more on the reasonable side as at that price it can feed more. There were three of us for this two dishes and we still have some takeaways for the next day.

To finish our dinner, we ordered some desserts like turon ($10.00) which is a saba banana wrapped in a spring roll pastry and deep-fried, then we also had some halo halo ($12.00) which we always crave for. Halo halo is a summer dessert drink that means “mix-mix”, a delicious mix of sweetened mixed beans, sweetened root crops, sago pearl, nata de coco, ice cream, creme caramel and shaved ice.

So are we coming back? yes in fact we will be having our team dinner here and will request for a boodle fight, I was long time planning for this to happen but there was no suitable restaurant for it, now there is one and its something I can recommend for my non Filipino friends, an authentic great tasting Filipino dishes in a nice location.

Boracay Garden Restaurant
Address: 124 Customs St W, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
Phone: +649 377 3288