Feeling hungry? Waiheke Island, a picturesque haven nestled in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, is renowned for its pristine beaches and ecologically diverse landscapes that offer the perfect fertile conditions for both award-winning vineyards and bountiful olive groves to flourish.
No wonder, then, that this island is beginning to find its place on the global culinary map, its restaurant scene burgeoning along with its produce. Propelled by its plush vineyard restaurants and quirky family-run eateries equally, there’s so much to enjoy in this little pocket of paradise just a 40 minute ferry ride from New Zealand’s largest city. With that in mind, let’s explore its must-visit dining spots: here’s where to eat on Waiheke Island, Auckland.
The Shed at Te Motu Vineyard
Ideal for a celebration of New Zealand’s finest ingredients via South Korea…
The Shed, sitting pretty for 13 years now amidst the revered Te Motu Vineyard, is a rustic gourmet kitchen serving an intriguing, inventive cuisine; a marriage of South Korean chef Yutak Son’s heritage and the produce of his adopted homeland. Dine here for an intimate farm-to-fork experience with meticulously crafted dishes like seared kingfish tataki (thick, raw slabs of the good stuff that have been kissed with hard heat on their peripheries) served with pickled nori and fennel pollen that complement the vineyard’s world-class Bordeaux-blend wines, like the Te Motu or the Dunleavy.
Take a seat on the restaurant’s terrace overlooking the vineyard’s rolling hills for a serene sense of time and place, and put your trust in the chef with a shared selection of dishes designed for two. Yours for $100 (around £47). Do be aware of their new policy of not splitting payments between multiple parties, if you’re coming as a group.
Address: 76 Onetangi Road, Onetangi, Auckland 1971, New Zealand
Website: temotu.co.nz
The Oyster Inn
Ideal for, you guessed it, oysters…
The Oyster Inn, with enviable views over Oneroa Bay, offers a beachside dining experience that manages to be both snug and sophisticated, airy yet accommodating. The restaurant is the work of revered Auckland chef Josh Emett, whose restaurant Onslow back on the mainland is one of the country’s most acclaimed places to eat.
But you know what? We’re even happier here, looking out across the bay with a dozen oysters. Indeed, as you’d hope of a place with this vantage point and name, its fresh oysters and seafood are the stars of the show. Don’t miss their Pacific rock oysters and the obligatory order of fish and chips, best enjoyed with the Inn’s local craft beers or boutique wines from Waiheke’s many, many vineyards.
The seafood tower here is quite the indulgence – top tier you could say! Think tiers of Te Matuku oysters, Coromandel mussels, salmon and other delicious treats from the ocean. All served over ice, it’s a briny, beautiful beast.
The Oyster Inn’s new lunch deal is a steal, by the way. For just $35 (around £17), you get a generous lunch dish – we recently enjoyed a super indulgent truffle bechamel and brie toastie – with a glass of house wine. Boom!
Address: 124 Ocean View Road, Oneroa, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand
Website: theoysterinn.co.nz
Mudbrick Vineyard
Ideal for precise, produce-led cooking and wicked wine pairings to boot…
Owned and operated by Robyn and Nicholas Jones since 1992, this vineyard restaurant offers a breathtaking one-two punch of views of the Hauraki Gulf and the Auckland cityscape.
Mudbrick Vineyard is not just a feast for the eyes; their exquisite cuisine, served in the high-ceilinged Mudbrick Main Restaurant, and featuring local ingredients paired with their award-winning wines, is sure to take your eyes off those views and onto the plate. At least for a little while…
Favourites from the confidently composed, flavour-forward 3 course menu include raw scallop, given succor with pistachio cream and a complex, truly delicious koji ice cream, followed by a blushing loin of venison that’s been rolled in coffee, with all the controlled bitterness that brings, all brought together with a puree of fermented plum. They do good things to lamb here, too.
Yes, this is a procession of thoughtful, bold combinations, and we’re very much here for it. It’s all paired, with fealty and fidelity, with wines from the esteemed Mudbrick Vineyard. That venison stood up particularly well to the winery’s Syrah, all strict tannins and earthy undertones. Heaven.
The vineyard’s more casual bistro, the Archive, is top-quality, too.
Address: 124 Ocean View Road, Oneroa, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand
Website: mudbrick.co.nz
Casita Miro
Ideal for an authentic taste of Spain about as far as you could be from there…
Taking inspiration not only from the food of Spain but also the wider Mediterranean, Casito Miro is a restaurant where large groups come to share stories and plates, both tapas and their larger ‘raciones’ dishes.
That said, it’s behind Miro’s cellar door that the real good times can be found, with the 4 hectare Miro Vineyard producing revered Syrah and Bordeaux wines. Naturally, these deep drinking reds are a fine match for hearty tapas plates, gossamer thin slices of Jamon Iberico and premium Spanish cheeses.
Wine tastings are offered Miro each day from 11:00am to 2:30pm, offering a flight of five Miro Vineyard wines as well as a Sherry tasting. Once you’re done (and well-lubricated), settle into Caista Miro’s ‘three course’ feasting menu, which is a far more expansive experience than its prosaic title suggests.
Course one turns out to be a tableful of tapas – the goat’s cheese croquettes are sublime – before a second round of larger sharing plates arrives, the highlight slow roasted local lamb, served alongside caramelised sprouts, dates and manchego, and a whole host of other supporting acts. Dessert is straightforward and most welcome for it after such a riot of flavours; a salty-sweet chocolate mousse adorned sparingly with a viscous Pedro Ximenez reduction.
We love this place, and the tastemakers seem to agree; Casita Miro was again included in the acclaimed list of the Top 50 Auckland Restaurants in the Metro Estrella Damm Restaurant of the Year Awards 2022 representing the best of Waiheke Island. The restaurant is also certified by Foods and Wines from Spain – some serious recognition for a place that’s just about as far from the motherland as is geographically possible.
Address: 3 Brown Road, Waiheke, Auckland 1081, New Zealand
Website: casitamiro.co.nz
Poderi Crisci
Ideal for superlative Italian homecooking and Waiheke Island’s most leisurely lunch…
This Italian vineyard and restaurant, nestled in Awaawaroa Bay, takes the term ‘ingredients-led’ to its natural conclusion. Not only are a full 100% of the Poderi Crisci wines produced using estate-grown, hand-harvested fruits and a minimal intervention ethos, but the restaurant is also fed almost exclusively by its kitchen garden. Here, an abundant selection of herbs and cornucopia of Italian fruits and vegetables are picked daily by the restaurant’s chefs, leading to a spontaneous menu of Italian classics given an added lightness by the spanking fresh produce.
This is perhaps best exemplified by Poderi Crisci’s daily changing selection of cortorni – or antipasti-style garden vegetables – which changes according to what’s good out back. The signature parmigiana di melenzane carries the requisite heft, sure, but the garden grown aubergines have an inherent sweetness that seems to brighten up the whole dish.
Certainly worthy of note if Poderi Crisci’s beloved long Sunday lunch is legendary across the island, and it’s not hard to see why; for $100 a head (just £47), groups get served countless courses of homestyle Italian cooking in a meal that stretches across four or five hours. Alongside, there are plenty of elegant pairings of the vineyard’s most drinkable wines – the selection of reds, including the Poderi Crisci ‘Viburno’, Merlot Riserva, and Syrah, are particularly renowned – all to be enjoyed under the New Zealand sun. Heaven!
Address: 205 Awaawaroa Road, Waiheke Island 1971, New Zealand
Website: podericrisci.co.nz
Three Seven Two
Ideal for casual beachside dining with a refined touch…
Onetangi Bay’s Three Seven Two made quite the impression the year it debuted, winning Metro Mag’s Best New Restaurant at their 2019 awards. Named after the first three numbers of the Waiheke phone number, the restaurant has a strong sense of place, its position close to the bay and – for once – not on a vineyard reflected in its light, seafood led dishes.
These are best enjoyed on Three Seven Two’s small but perfectly formed terrace, which is a bright and breezy place to spend an afternoon, make certain. Kick things off with the smoked fish dip, akin in profile to a taramasalata though more roughly hewn, before moving on to a fantastically funky dish of creamed paua (a local sea snail) served with a frybread that’s just perfect for tearing and dredging. The catch of the day, bolstered by a rust-coloured bouillabaisse, aioli, and fennel compote, is always on the menu in one form or another, and so it should be; it’s a stunning piece of work.
With an open from noon until late vibe that you just want to settle into, don’t be surprised if you find your lunch quickly morphing into dinner and beyond here; it’s that kind of place.
In fact, we think we might just order another bottle and settle in here for a while, too. Byeeee!
Address: 21 The Strand, Onetangi, Auckland 1081, New Zealand
Website: threeseventwo.co.nz