From standout newcomers to enduring favourites, Jesse Mulligan shares the Auckland restaurants that have delivered him the most memorable meals… so far.<\/p>\n
\n The best thing about being a restaurant critic is also the worst thing: you visit a different restaurant every week. It means that you never spend long thinking
\n about somewhere you\u2019ve already been, and you almost never visit the same place twice.\n <\/p>\n
So when Viva asked me to choose my favourite meals of 2026, I was delighted. Reading back through these reviews I felt like I was enjoying these restaurants for the first time all over again. It\u2019s been a great year for eating, and these are the places that excited me most.<\/p>\n
Mother<\/p>\n
We knew it was going to be good, because everything these guys do is good. But early rumours suggested this might be just a minor project; \u201ca wine bar to help deal with the spillover from Lilian\u201d, owner Hugo muttered to me when I asked him about it. But he was being modest: this is a full-service restaurant creating beautifully inventive flavours in a space that makes you feel happy to be there. Never mind the industrial-scale bakery that roars into action before the sunrise each day, judged purely as a restaurant this would be a strong contender for the best new opening in 2026. The only thing you need to worry about is how you\u2019ll get a table.<\/p>\n
Agnes restaurant in Birkenhead. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Agnes<\/p>\n
Beautifully inventive is all very well but sometimes you just want a hamburger. If you\u2019re going to eat comfort food this is the place to find it – a flash but grounded bistro on Birkenhead\u2019s Hinemoa St (as close as the North Shore gets to having its own Ponsonby Rd). The menu may appear simple but chef Alfie Ingham seems like the sort of guy who lies awake at night wondering how to make every mouthful taste just a little bit better. That level of care doesn\u2019t always cost extra: Agnes is the home of Auckland\u2019s cheapest and possibly tastiest steak.<\/p>\n
The 48-hour cured salmon on the menu at Spiga. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Spiga<\/p>\n
This may be the apotheosis of Italian food in Auckland (don\u2019t worry if you had to Google \u201capotheosis\u201d, I did too). It has all the best elements of Italy – fine ingredients, seasonality, complex carbohydrates – but with a Michelin-standard level of ambition. As at the best fine-dining restaurants, you can point to any single thing on your plate and receive an 800-word description of what it is and how it got there. Yet the only starchiness is in the pasta. This is a place to have fun, and drink good wine, and if you happen to notice the salmon has been cured 48 hours in a rare Piedmontese cherry liqueur, lucky you.<\/p>\n