Auckland’s Top 50 Restaurants judges Albert Cho and Jesse Mulligan, photographed at Top 10 restaurant Sidart in Ponsonby.

As chosen by Jesse Mulligan and Albert Cho

Dynamic duo Jesse Mulligan (Viva’s dining out editor) and Albert Cho (Auckland’s divisive food influencer @Eatlitfood) select Auckland’s Top 50 Restaurants in this special edition of Viva, carving out a top 10, a supreme winner, and some honourable mentions

It’s been great fun getting to know Albert Cho, a one-in-amillion, larger-than-life Instagram food review star whose NSFW (not safe for work) captions demand your attention: you might sometimes disapprove, but you never stop reading. As @Eatlitfood, he is sweary and he is dirty but the more I read his writing, the more I realise that he knows as much about food and restaurants as anyone else in the city. When I decided to celebrate Covid-free New Zealand by creating a new Auckland Top 50, I knew I couldn’t do it without him.

We don’t agree on everything but that’s part of the fun. And, actually, we do agree on most things. This is a list we’re both proud of, a top 10 we’re excited about, and a supreme winner that each of us loves more than any other restaurant in the city.

Here’s some admin stuff you need to know: this is a subjective list, which means that it’s a Top 50 according to Jesse and Albert, not according to God. It’s fine if you disagree with us — in fact, we’d be disappointed if the list didn’t stir up debate.

We’ve visited all of these restaurants, usually more than once, and we’ve given higher rankings to the ones we want to go back to again and again. For this year’s Top 50, Waiheke Island has not been judged. As part of his job, Albert sometimes accepts payment for highlighting certain restaurants, but he’s judged this list as a neutral.

A final word to the restaurants that missed out: it’s not that we don’t love you too. Fifty is a cruel number but, no matter where the cut-off is, there will always be winners and losers. You could argue that it’s the top 200 restaurants that define Auckland as one of the world’s great food cities. But we’ll have to save that list for another time.

Happy eating!

Jesse

I’ve always wanted to write a Top 50 list with categories that people cared about. Categories like the best restaurant for a first date rather than “best smart restaurant”. Sorry, but what the f*** even is a smart restaurant? Truth be told, my lack of experience as a chef made me doubt myself. Then I met Jesse. On the surface, you couldn’t get a more juxtaposing duo. He’s a family man with a wife and four kids while I can’t even hold down a man for longer than a month. But after a few dinner dates, I found out that we’re similar in a lot of ways.

Jesse has never been a chef, yet restaurateurs put on their best performance in the hopes of a shining Viva review. Believe me, I’ve seen it. He makes up for his lack of kitchen experience with his passion to dine out and is confident in his opinions, just like me. He claims he’s old-fashioned, and satisfied with eating solo with a book, but I beg to differ.

The few times I’ve been out with him, it’s clear that his opinion on a restaurant largely falls on how much fun he has — you can even read it in his reviews. And rightfully so. Dining out entails far more than what you cut into with your knife and fork. It’s culture, and whether or not Jesse’s aware of it, he shares the same thought.

Two people with no cooking credentials, who simply love to dine out, just like the majority of us, have created a list that sparkles and is fit for any age group. Jesse’s input considers factors that I’m too young to understand while I remind him of a few things he may have forgotten. It’s a list that we’ve both agreed on… and you don’t have to. xoxo,

Alby