Marvel Grill North Wharf

I had another foray into the Wynyard Quarter. And tried out the Marvel Grill


As the name would suggest it concentrates on grilled food. My friend and I ordered the same thing – very good cheeseburger with thin cut fries (with skin) and wasabi coleslaw. This might sound pretty basic but it was one of the best meals out I have had in recent times. Good man sized quantities which meant there was too much for me.

The service was good. The setting looking out at the water and fishing boats is great.

You might be interested in what I said about other restaurants on the North Wharf:

Urban Turban

Live Fish

Live Fish, Wynyard Quarter

So a friend and I tried another one of the restaurants down on the North Wharf in the Wynyard Quarter.  Live Fish this time.  

It is billed as Hong Kong style alfresco dining.  But to be honest it didn’t feel particularly Chinese in layout.  But the food was authentic in taste.  There was also a large tank containing live crayfish and abalone which you could select.  I didn’t choose either of those ($45 for the half crayfish or $68 for one abalone just seemed a mite extravagant for a casual lunch!). 

I had prawns in hoisin sauce.  They were simply delicious but there were only about 6 small prawns with a pile of green salad in the middle and no rice.  It just wasn’t filling enough for lunch.  And at $19 not that great in value.  The salad was supposed to have a sweet chilli lime dressing but  I couldn’t really taste it.

My friend had pan fried salmon with rice.  The sauce was a Cajun mayo (which doesn’t sound particularly Hong Kong, does it?) – this was delicious.

The service was a bit slow but we weren’t in any hurry.


For other posts about the Wynyard Quarter click here and here.


You might find my travel bucket list of interest.

Urban Turban – Wynyard Quarter

Urban Turban, North Wharf, Wynyard Quarter

This is one of a line of new restaurants down in the Wynyard Quarter.  It’s by-line is “Bombay street food” but in fact it is a contemporary retro feel restaurant with Indian food.  I had the bottomless butter chicken which was tasty (but not particularly spicy – I asked for ‘European hot’).  It was bottomless in the sense that they offer unlimited refills – but it was a big enough meal without taking advantage of that offer.  My better half had a lamb curry (Bombay lamb masala) which he said was really good.  Both meals came with naan – and it was the best naan I had ever tasted.  We’ll be going back there.


For a post about the Wynyard Quarter, click here

Wynyard Quarter, Auckland - a funky part of town

Some of the funky street furniture in the Wynyard Quarter

I went recently to check out the Wynyard Quarter – a newish area in Auckland.  It was originally an industrial marine sort of area – not at all attractive.  But they have done a great job of sprucing it up while retaining an industrial flavour.  Buzzy restaurants, interesting walkways and seating options, good green spaces, playground, half basketball court. 

Weird metal structure, Wynyard Quarter

The only bit that didn’t work for me was a strange 3 storied metal structure that didn’t seem to have any real purpose.  I have been told subsequently that it is a temporary viewing platform.  I went up it but didn’t like the way it swayed and the view through metal mesh down 3 stories – still a bit of a wuss I’m afraid.

Tram in the Wynyard Quarter

Oh, and the tram seemed all a bit pointless.  And not very well patronised when we were there.

Te Whero Bridge between the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter

We walked over the new bridge to Te Whero Island and were lucky enough then to see it being raised to allow a launch to exit the Viaduct.  It didn’t take long.  Another attraction of the quarter is seeing the opulent superyachts up close.  How on earth does anyone have enough money to splash out on one of those??