{"id":620348,"date":"2026-10-04T13:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620348\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T13:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:18:11","slug":"my-secret-auckland-john-happyfeet-vaifale-shares-his-favourite-spots-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620348\/","title":{"rendered":"My Secret Auckland: John \u2018Happyfeet\u2019 Vaifale shares his favourite spots in the city"},"content":{"rendered":"

Best restaurant for dinner with friends?<\/p>\n

Honestly? McDonald\u2019s. It might sound low-key, but that\u2019s where my friends and I have made some of our absolute best late-night memories. <\/p>\n

The place to take a visitor?<\/p>\n

Piha beach is always good, especially in summer, with great views. Definitely a hot spot when we have international dance guests come to T\u0101maki. I can trust Piha will blow them away, and it has never failed to. <\/p>\n

Best spot to finish a night out?<\/p>\n

My bed! Once the night wraps up, my priority is getting straight home to sleep. But if I have energy, then we are definitely stopping at Li\u2019l Abners in Papatoetoe.<\/p>\n

Best coffee?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a coffee drinker, but I am on a mission to find Auckland\u2019s best spot for a proper cup of tea (besides my house), so I\u2019m open to any ideas.<\/p>\n

Favourite trail for a hike?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a massive hiker, but there was one time I went with friends to the Wait\u0101kere Ranges, and I definitely enjoyed that. <\/p>\n

Favourite fish and chip shop?<\/p>\n

Toby\u2019s Seafood (Manurewa or \u014ct\u0101huhu). Hands down the best fish and chips in Auckland, actually, the WORLD! You must have kina, raw fish and fry bread, best combo ever! <\/p>\n

Venue for a gig?<\/p>\n

Basement Theatre. I love the intimate, cosy vibes where you\u2019re right up close to the performance. Plus, the team there is the absolute best, so welcoming and caring!<\/p>\n

Best spot for a bargain?<\/p>\n

When I can wake up early in the morning, then \u014ctara Flea Market has the best bargains and community atmosphere.<\/p>\n

See John \u2018Happyfeet\u2019 Vaifale\u2019s show Off Axis on October 15 at Q Theatre as part of Tempo Dance Festival. Book now at tempodancefestival.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Best restaurant for dinner with friends? Honestly? McDonald\u2019s. It might sound low-key, but that\u2019s where my friends and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[51,22398,138,2199,105431,22397,305314,10938,293,78,5126,4977,111,139,69,22399,9095,1963,180,10041,10809,1120,223,165,1961,208,305315,686,12025],"class_list":["post-620348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-auckland","tag-aucklanders","tag-business","tag-city","tag-dancer","tag-favourite","tag-happyfeet","tag-herald","tag-his","tag-in","tag-john","tag-my","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-places","tag-secret","tag-series","tag-shares","tag-spots","tag-sunday","tag-takes","tag-the","tag-their","tag-this","tag-tour","tag-vaifale","tag-week","tag-wellknown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}