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12 Muslim-Friendly Eateries For Your Auckland Vacation

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Baiti H. Hamdan •  Jun 30, 2016

We already know why we should drop everything and visit New Zealand now...

It’s a country where you can experience four seasons in a day, due to the rapidly changing weather – it can be windy one minute and sunny the next.

The country has a small population of Muslims. Despite that, it has become one of the largest exporters of halal products including halal meat. The abundance of halal stores makes it easy for Muslim travellers to prepare their own meals during their travel.

But for those who are on the move, let’s check out halal restaurants in New Zealand. We’ll start with the city of Auckland!

*Do note that while most of the restaurants listed here are halal certified, there are still some that are not. Readers are advised to double check the information and dine at their own discretion!

Restaurants listed as 'halal-certified' are certified by The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ)! 

Credit: giphy

[These 16 amazing places in New Zealand will leave you wanting more!]

1. Snacks & Scoops

New Zealand is famous for their dairy products and what better way to enjoy than with a tall, dark and honest glass of cold milkshake! Snacks & Scoops is an ice-cream parlour and coffee shop serving award-winning chocolate milkshake called Chocodream using superb quality chocolate from my favourite Kiwi brand, Whittaker’s. Situated at a corner lot, the café is a favourite with the locals in Avondale as the food is handmade at the store using natural ingredients.

Their milkshakes are so good, they not only won New Zealand's Best Milkshake Award just once but TWICE in a row. The café has freshly ground roasted coffee, hot chocolates, ice creams and smoothies, just like a coffee shop should. For something more substantial to fill hungry tummies, Snacks & Scoops has delicious halal sandwiches and paninis made to order.

Credit: @tastytalks on Instagram

The fruit and nut smoothies are also something not to be missed. An online user suggested the Date & Almond, Date & Walnuts or Cashew & Figs smoothies, which can be made without ice-cream for a sugar-free alternative.

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 2033 Great North Rd, Avondale, Auckland 0600, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-820 7434

Opening Hours: 10am to 6pm (Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday), 10am to 7pm (Thursday to Saturday), Closed on Mondays

Facebook

Directions:

2. Flame Gourmet Pizza & Burger

There’s a flame burning in the kitchen and it’s for the tastiest gourmet pizzas and burgers. At Flame, fresh and halal ingredients are used in their secret recipes.

Fries and wedges are oven baked, chickens are roasted and salads are made fresh. Three pizza sizes are available (9”, 12”, 18”) ranging from NZ$9.50 for the smallest and NZ$33.50 for the largest. You can also create your own pizza with two types of meat and five toppings of your choice.

With names like Bombay Chicken, Lamb with Blue Cheese, Personal Trainer, Sweet As (Vege) and Thai Fusion, there are a lot of flavours to explore at Flame besides its regular Pepperoni and Margarita pizzas.

Credit: @silpa_95 on Instagram

Flame also has beef, chicken, lamb and veggie burgers. The Lamb and Blue Cheese sound really delicious – lean lamb mince with salad, creamy Kapiti blue cheese, aioli and tomato sauce.

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 125 Ormiston Rd, Flat Bush, Auckland 2016, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-277 0842

Opening Hours: 11.30am – 9.30pm (Monday & Tuesday), 11.30am – 10pm (Wednesday – Friday), 12pm – 10pm (Saturday & Sunday)

Website

Directions:

3. Bake & Beans

The Indian bakery sells custom made cakes with more than 300 designs to choose from but what you should try here are the pastries. The pies aren’t your usual European flavours, Bake & Beans is famed for its Indian flavoured pies such as Palak Paneer Pie, Tandoori Chicken Pie, Butter Paneer Pie, and Butter Chicken Pie.

Credit: @angiebeareats on Instagram

Bake & Beans also sells various types of biscuits such as Hyderabadi Fruit Biscuits, Pista Biscuits, Zeera Biscuits and Ajmain Biscuits.

It is rather hard to find a halal certified bakery abroad and we often overlook the ingredients used in our pastries and puffs, hence Bake & Beans gives that peace of mind when it comes to halal bakery food. The delicious looking pies are definitely a must try too.

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 1484 Dominion Rd, Mount Roskill, Auckland 1041, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-620 7869

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday (8am – 7pm), Saturday (9am – 7pm), Sunday (9am – 6pm)

Website

Directions:

4. Milano’s Pizza & Portuguese Chicken

Milano’s is good for dine-in, takeaway and delivery. You can also have a buffet if you come in a large group or for a celebration but a booking needs to be done with a minimum of eight people.

8 - Milano's Pizza pizza
Credit: Milano's Halal Pizza Restaurant

The house speciality would be the Butter Chicken Pizza, which is a traditional Italian base pizza with a butter chicken topping.

9 - Milano's nachos
Credit: Milano's Halal Pizza Restaurant

Another interesting dish on the menu is its Portuguese Chicken. To make this dish, fresh chicken is marinated in Milano’s special Portuguese lemon flavour sauce, and it is either grilled or fried. The chickens are freshly cooked upon order.

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 5/726 Great South Rd, Manukau, Auckland 2104, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-262 4040

Opening Hours: 11am – 10pm daily

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Directions:

5. Jade Town

Jade Town falls under the category of Chinese cuisine but there is more to it than it sounds. The place serves authentic Uyghur cuisine, referring to the food eaten by a minority Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia.

According to Wikipedia, the Uyghurs primarily live in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region in China, where they are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities.

Credit: @dong.o on Instagram

Uyghur cuisine essentially has both the Central Asian and Chinese elements, like the Middle East mixed with Chinese food. They have polu (or pilaf), kawaplar (or kebabs) and leghmen (a noodle dish that originates from the Chinese’s la mien).

Credit: @letseatwithzi on Instagram

It would be really interesting to sample Uyghur cuisine don’t you think?

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 598 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland 1041, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-623 5072

Opening Hours: 5pm - 10pm (Monday), 12pm - 10pm (Tuesday to Sunday)

Directions:

6. Grill & Shakes

I think I salivated a little looking at the photos from Grill & Shakes. The restaurant is proud of their flatbreads, which are made daily using organic milk and real butter (I can imagine how fluffy the bread is…). Grill & Shakes exclusively uses olive oil and rice bran oil for its cooking and frying.

Take a look at this Koobideh, which is ground lamb mince skewers marinated in a special house blend of spices and fresh herbs. It is cooked on open fire charcoal grill and served with a garnish salad, the signature flatbread and a choice of garlic sauce or cumin mint yoghurt.

Credit: @auckland.halaleats on Instagram

They also have charcoal chicken marinated using a house secret blend of spices and cooked over an open flame as well. It comes with a choice of garlic sauce or cumin mint yoghurt.

Another highlight of Grill & Shakes is the milkshake! The milkshakes here are made with organic milk. With 69 flavours to choose, it would take you 5.75 years to finish trying all the flavours, if you devote yourself to trying one new flavour each month. I can’t guarantee what that would do to your waistline though.

Check out the cute menu here. Grill & Shakes is also on Instagram and Twitter, so you guys can check out more delicious-looking photos.

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 473 New North Rd, Kingsland, Auckland 1021, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-846 5111

Opening Hours: 12pm-9pm (Monday), 12pm-10pm (Tuesday to Friday), 11am-10pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Website | Facebook

Directions:

7. Ayutthaya Halal Thai Food

If you’re missing Asian flavours while in Auckland, why not go for Thai and try Ayutthaya?

Ayutthaya has all the Thai staples – from Thai beef salad, green curry, tom yum and pad thai.

The place is small but it appears to be the go-to eatery for travellers looking for fuss-free dining and reliable tastes. A plate of pad thai noodles and a bowl of tom yum soup is about NZ$8.50 each, while the sizzling hot plates cost NZ$12.

It’s 100% halal so eat with confidence!

Halal Status: Halal Certified

Address: 182 Karangahape Rd, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-377 8040

Opening Hours: 10am – 9pm daily

Direction:

8. Monsoon Poon

This fancy restaurant that is listed as halal on Muslims.nz has been serving South East Asian cuisine to its guests since 2005. If the cold, windy New Zealand weather makes you miss home, get your favourite dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, South China, the Philippines and Indonesia at Monsoon Poon in Auckland!

Credit: @vickyrooo on Instagram

The restaurant serves alcohol, but in an email to us, Monsoon Poon confirmed that their duck dishes, lamb curry and beef rendang at the Auckland branch are halal.

Credit: @ronald_sanjiv on Instagram

Halal Status: Halal meat available, Alcohol served in the establishment

Address: Lower Hobson St, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-379 9311

Opening Hours: 11.30am to 11pm (Monday to Friday), 5pm to 11pm (Saturday), 5pm to 10pm (Sunday)

Directions:

9. Avachi

If you'd like to have a quick bite and still stay full, go for Avachi! For the best greasy fried chicken ?, this is definitely worth a try. Most of the items on the menu are chicken, but they have lamb and vegetarian options too!

Halal Status: Halal meat available

Address: 1/239 Queen St, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand

Opening hours: 9am to 12am (Monday, Tuesday and Sunday), 9am to 3.30am (Wednesday and Thursday), 9am to 5am (Friday and Saturday)

Facebook

Directions:

10. Taksim

If you're a fan of Turkish dishes and would like to dine in a more upscale restaurant, this would be it. Here's where you can find authentic Turkish dishes, desserts and drinks!

Credit: @kimmtov on Instagram

Other than their fresh from the oven Baklava, another recommend dish is their Moussaka. It is a dish made up of layers of fried eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, with lamb mince, topped with cheese sauce. The sound of it is enough to make us salivate!

Check out their menu for other mouth-watering meals as well!

Halal Status: Halal meat available, Alcohol served in the establishment

Address: 373 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland 1023, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-630 9685

Opening Hours: Closed on Mondays, 4pm to 11pm (Tuesday to Thursday), 11.30am - 11pm (Friday - Sunday)

Website

Directions:

11. Waroeng Wardani

Indonesian cuisine in Auckland? Yes, please. If you can't part with Rendang, Nasi Padang, Satay or if you're craving for Ayam Penyet, Waroeng Wardani is the best place to go.

Credit: @ayuampera on Instagram

If you're travelling during the winter, order their Nasi Goreng Kambing, and request it to be extra spicy to heat up your body

Halal Status: Halal meat available

Address: Shop 17 9 Albert St, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-309 6941

Opening Hours: 11am to 9pm daily

Facebook

Directions:

12. Manee Thai Restaurant

Can't get enough of Thai food? Auckland has another one that serves 100% halal meat. Manee Thai offers delicious and authentic Thai food such as the ever-popular Tom Yum, Pad Thai and green curry chicken.

Credit: @_bumblebee7 on Instagram

Enjoy other seafood dishes as well and end your lunch/dinner with their coconut ice cream! They serve curry puffs too, so you'll be spoilt for choice when looking at their menu!

Credit: @farhanaxx on Instagram

Halal Status: Halal meat available, Alcohol served in the establishment

Address: 692 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland 1041, New Zealand

Telephone: +64 9-631 0001

Opening Hours: 4.30pm-10pm (Tuesday to Thursday), 11.30am-2.30pm, 4.30pm-10pm (Friday to Sunday), Closed on Mondays

Website

Directions:

So there you have it, twelve halal eateries to try while in Auckland. Let us know if you've tried any of the places we’ve mentioned or drop us your suggestions!