Onehunga Cafe

We have been visiting Onehunga once in a while since we migrated to New Zealand 16 years ago, the one place that we visit here is Dress Smart, of course to buy a pair of Nike’s and other clothing materials that we might need during that time. Since COVID came to New Zealand 2 years ago, that visit to Dress Smart stopped just to be on the safe side but after two years here we are, back after a denial of shopping for a couple of years.

We arrived during lunchtime and planned to try one restaurant but apparently, they were closed during that day, where we ended up was in the most notable cafe in the vicinity, the Onehunga Cafe. During the old days, if I can remember correctly this was a music store before it became a cafe and since then this place was quite a hit becuase every time we pass by this place on a weekend, it was packed with people. Our last visit was nothing different, even with alert levels for COVID in place this cafe was still vibrant. Initially we opted to dine in alfresco for fresh air but there were no spaces left on the outside seating, we ended up seated just in front of the main entrance door, luckily there were a few tables left.

The menu was a good mix of Mediterranean classics, American soul-food, and Latin-inspired street food, there are also a good selection of healthy and Vegan options too. Honestly it was hard to choose as there are many nice options, so it took us time to grab our order. Eventually we ended up with the following.

Chicken Waffles (NZ$20.00), house Waffles with Fried Chicken and Egg, all smothered in a Spicy Maple Syrup

Truffle Mushrooms Medley (NZ$24.00), 4 Mushrooms Medley (Shiitake, Swiss, Portobello, Enoki) cooked 3 ways and served in a creamy Double truffle sauce, on seeded sourdough, finished with House Mush Crumb

Pork Belly Tacos (NZ$17.00 2 pcs), Chilli Caramel Glazed Pork Belly on Soft Shell Taco with Lettuce, Pickles, Slaw, Apple and Cucumber Pico and Kimchi Mayo

and while waiting for these three, I quickly went to the toilet and as I return to my seat, I saw this good-looking Shoestring Fries (NZ$8.00) served with Aioli ordered on another table so I ordered the same for our sides. Those rough edges and crispy looking exterior got my attention.

For the drinks we had some Snickers Shakes (NZ$7.00)

The orders arrived quickly and on thing we noticed is that the serving sizes here are larger compared to other cafes, it may not look big on photos but trust me they were.

Now how was the food? Well, everything was great, the chicken and waffles was good, well-balanced flavours, nice crispy boneless chicken with moist insides. The tacos was great as well, this was not an average sized soft taco, it was nearly the size of a burrito, tons of filling and very tasty, the only thing on this is that it may not please everyone specially if you don’t like pork fat, this has tons of it and it was melt in your mouth good. The fries was as I expected, rough crunchy edges, nicely seasoned and even though it was a shoestring the insides were quite nice and soft.

And for the best of the bunch, it was the Truffle Mushrooms Medley, OMG words can’t describe how good this is, very earthy but not too overpowering, the cream sauce makes it even better, different mushroom textures and flavours, even the heaviest of meat eater would ditch a whole lamb rump or rib eye for this. This was the best, the top, the number one mushroom dish I ever tried to date. The other next best thing was this Snickers Shakes, not yet on the top but it was honestly good, it really tasted like Snickers, the only thing left to make this the best one we had was a bit of presentation, but judging only by the taste, this one was hard to beat.

Honestly, I never had imagined a cafe can deliver a top dish, this was totally unexpected. Everything that we ordered came our really well if not the best, service was good as well, servers greeted us with a smile and served with joy. The only thing I did not liked at this place was the flies, I guess because it was summer when we visited, the place was not pristine clean as well compared to other cafes, probably because there is a lot of foot traffic at the same time the number of diners, reminds me of the old McDonalds in Auckland CBD.

Onehunga Cafe
Address: 259 Onehunga Mall, Onehunga, Auckland 1061, New Zealand
Phone: +649 636 0371
Website: https://onehungacafe.com/