There was a time when a tasting menu meant hours of serious dining, whispered, reverential explanations of dishes and an eye-watering price tag. Those experiences are still available, but we are spoilt for choice now with plenty of good-value tasting menu options in Auckland, in a range of environments.
With
price tags here from well under to just over $100, you’ll have incredible meals without shelling out a small fortune. These menus range in vibe from a more traditional lunchtime tasting menu at Tala, which has individually plated exquisite courses, to the more relaxed, but no less brilliant, feast menu at Cazador, where a 12-dish menu is designed to be shared by the table.
What all these menus have in common is they put your meal entirely in the hands of the chef, letting them do what they do best. It’s a thrilling hands-off way to dine.
Gemmayze Street. Photo / Babiche Martens
Gemmayze Street
Where: 183 Karangahape Rd, central city
What: The most affordable of Gemmayze Street’s three tasting menu options offers you six dishes plus house-made bread. This is served to be shared by the table.
Why it’s worth it: This menu offers a brilliant entry point into the vibrant, clever food of modern Lebanese restaurant Gemmayze – a former supreme winner of the Viva Top 50 and a top 10 restaurant this year.
There is the option to order a la carte here but with the shared menu options starting at this reasonable price, you’re better to set aside having to make any food decisions and put yourself in the hands of the kitchen.
Located in buzzy St Kevins Arcade, the atmosphere and people watching is top notch.
Drinks: No drinks are included, nor is there a drinks pairing available, but Gemmayze Street has a fantastic beverage list with excellent cocktails and great wines, including fashionable options such as chilled reds and orange wine.
The French Cafe.
The French Cafe
Where: 210 Symonds St, central city
What: The Tuesday test kitchen tasting menu offers you eight courses from chef Sid Sahrawat and his team.
Why it’s worth it: No other fine dining restaurant in Auckland is offering a tasting menu proposition quite like this. The test kitchen nights at The French Cafe are an opportunity to peek inside the creative process of one of Auckland’s best chefs (at one of our most iconic restaurants) and see what his team are playing around with in the kitchen. It’s a front row seat to what’s on their minds flavour-wise and what may appear on the French Cafe menu in the future. Unsurprisingly, this excellent value tasting menu experience is a hot ticket and books out weeks in advance.
Drinks: There is an optional wine pairing for the test kitchen menu available for $80.
Tala. Photo / Babiche Martens
Tala
Where: 235 Parnell Rd, Parnell
What: The Tala lunchtime tasting menu offers an eight-course version of their nighttime menu
Why it’s worth it: The lunch menu at Tala is a brilliant way to eat the world-class food of the Viva Top 50 supreme winner 2025 at a reasonable price point. The food, service and environment of this modern Samoan fine dining restaurant are enchanting and even at lunch you’ll have a proper tasting menu experience that will stretch over about 90 minutes. Much of the food is cooked over an open fire and then delivered – and explained to you – by the chefs. Their tableside handwashing ceremony, apa fafano, is unique in Auckland dining and something quite special.
Drinks: There are two wine pairings available, three glasses for $75pp or a five-glass option for $135pp
The tuna, venison and lamb cutlets on the menu at Ada restaurant. Photo / Babiche Martens
Ada
Where: 454 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn
What: Ada’s shared menu is served for the table over roughly four courses. It features seven dishes.
Why it’s worth it: Named in the top 10 of the Viva Top 50 restaurants this year, you’ll find Ada, with its beautiful dining room, nestled in the boutique Convent Hotel in Grey Lynn, an iconic building given new life in recent years. The menu is seasonal, produce-driven and delicious, offering a European feel with a distinctly New Zealand touch.
This shared menu is fantastic value, offering a taste of what chef Alfie Ingham does here. There’s house-made bread, a clever raw snapper dish, seasonal spring lamb and some beautiful vegetable dishes. It takes all the guesswork out of ordering well.
Drinks included: There is a four-glass wine pairing available for $65pp, including champagne to start and muscat to finish. If you don’t want wine, the small cocktail list is appealing.
The vegetable stir-fry, lamb seekh and cured salmon at Cassia. Photo / Babiche Martens
Cassia
Where: 90 Federal St, central city
What: The chef’s selection menu includes eight dishes served across four courses, plus garlic naan and basmati rice. It’s designed to be shared by the whole table.
Why it’s worth it: Modern Indian restaurant Cassia, known for its compelling, vivid flavours cooked with a skilled, contemporary touch is the perfect place to enjoy this way of ordering. The more affordable of the two tasting menus available, the chef’s selection menu takes the stress out of trying to order perfectly, when it all sounds delicious, and leaves it to those who know best, filling your table with a range of dishes that work really well together. The menu currently includes its Delhi duck and perfect pani puri with potato, chickpea and mint.
Drinks: There is a wine pairing available for $85pp. Also a great cocktail selection and lots of wine options.
The seafood platter on the menu at Culprit restaurant in Auckland’s CBD. Photo / Babiche Martens
Culprit
Where: Level 1, 12 Wyndham St, central city
What: The Culprit tasting menu features eight dishes with options to add oysters, offal, dessert or upgrade the main to stuffed roast duck.
Why it’s worth it: Culprit runs only a tasting menu. It’s a brilliant one and is excellent value. Located in Auckland’s CBD, this is a gem of a restaurant, in an upstairs space with a loft feel. Recently named as one of the top 10 in the Viva Top 50 restaurants 2025, Culprit is steeped in fine dining skill and a love of New Zealand flavours, with a clear focus on excellent producers and produce. The food has a sense of play and nostalgia that makes this a hugely enjoyable restaurant to visit for most occasions, suiting date nights and also being great for group dining.
Drinks: There is a $75 wine match available, starting with champagne.
Cazador has been family-owned since 1987. Photo / Babiche Martens
Cazador
Where: 854 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden
What: The feast menu at Cazador offers 12 dishes plus an optional seafood upgrade. It’s served to be shared by the table,
Why it’s worth it: Located on Dominion Rd and family-owned since 1987, Cazador’s food, with its distinct and singular perspective, is absolutely made for enjoying in this kind of feast style. They’re obsessive about provenance here, with a focus on wild, free-range and organic. You’ll likely be introduced to cuts and beasts you may not have tried before. These are unpretentious, perfectly crafted dishes with heart.
Cazador is known for its excellent service, which is relaxed while being thoughtful and skilled.
Drinks: There is a beverage pairing option for $80pp. This includes sherry and wine. There is a beer matching or non-alcoholic option available on request.
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