Overview
Your bedroom feels like a sauna and smells like regret, your mouth tastes like tequila that you don't remember drinking, your phone screen is cracked, your stomach feels like demon spawn, and there's garlic naan in your pocket. It's Sunday morning.
Whether it was work drinks that went for six hours too long, a 21st that went entirely as expected or just a spontaneous flare up, these abominable day-after symptoms are something that most young Kiwis have experienced at least once. We're here to make sure you don't waste your hangover feeling sorry for yourself. Instead, use your condition as an excuse to consume greasy, soul-healing morsels of joy. Here's how to right last night's wrongs with Auckland's best hangover meals.
DIZENGOFF
Turn things around with a plate of balsamic mushrooms and pesto on ciabatta from Ponsonby Road's most iconic café, Dizengoff. One taste of the rich, buttery mushrooms and zesty homemade pesto will make you'll feel like all is right in the world. This place has fed so many hungover twenty-somethings it's ridiculous.
256 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
THE FRIDGE
Forget blowing on the pie, you need to eat a medicinal steak and cheese from The Fridge stat, no matter how hot. They're baked out the back of this humble Kingsland café in small batches of 21 at a time, so they're always fresh, crispy and hot, ready to soak up whatever you consumed. That's probably why these little pockets of meaty joy have been recognised as the best pies in Auckland over and over again.
507 New N Road, Kingsland
FOKKER BROS
Years of conditioning and education telling you what constituted acceptable breakfast food has led you astray. As a result, you've probably never even eaten a donut first thing in the morning, let alone a donut burger. You're missing out. Break the cycle of oppression and cure your hangover with this wonderful creation of cheese, bacon and beef all sandwiched between two maple glazed donuts. Thank you Fokker Bros. Thank you.
95-99 Customs Street W, CBD
CEREMONY
Wrap your shaking fingers around one of Ceremony's masterful breakfast sandwiches and you'll feel yourself healing from the inside-out within minutes. This wee café sits near Auckland hospital in a row of shops, and serves things like sausage, egg, slaw and sriracha or bacon egg and aioli— all wrapped in buttery brioche buns. There's Flight Coffee pouring hot and fresh and an incredibly friendly team of servers. They'll make you feel welcome and safe no matter how tender you are.
7 Park Road, Grafton
LITTLE KING
All sorts of bad ideas originated in the North Shore. Thankfully north Aucklanders have the brilliant Little King to soothe their wounds— a homely neighbourhood eatery that has an entire section of their menu dedicated to waffles. They're all immaculate, but our favourite has to be the bacon and caramelised banana edition, which comes with cream cheese, maple syrup and an optional scoop of ice cream if you think your insides can handle dairy.
132 Kitchener Road, Milford
PASTRAMI & RYE
There are few things more comforting than rapidly ingesting a mixture of sauerkraut, pickles, roast beef, mustard and melted cheese, all sandwiched between two butter-fried pieces of freshly baked bread. That's what's on offer at Pastrami & Rye, Auckland's newest (and some would argue best) New York-style sandwich bar. It's a simple outfit that doesn't offer too much in the way of options, but everything that they do offer is outstanding in its simplicity and utter deliciousness. Get the reuben to takeaway and it may just fix everything.
112 Main Highway, Ellerslie
SPILT MILK
Vietnamese cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world and beef noodle pho is perhaps the healthiest dish of all of Southeast Asia's offerings. The meat is cooked in a water broth instead of oil and seasoned with flavourful herbs, full of antioxidants, like coriander and star anise. You're going to need more than a few sprigs of coriander and a healthy broth to fix the state you're in, but Auckland's most delicious bowl of pho at Spilt Milk in Pt Chevalier certainly won't hurt. Wash it down with a traditional Vietnamese coffee - extra strong with a dash of condensed milk - and you'll quickly start to feel human again.
1197 Great North Road, Point Chevalier
FEDERAL DELICATESSEN
Done right, American-Jewish deli cuisine is phenomenal no matter what time of the day, but the morning on a dusty Sunday may just be the best time for it. No one does it better than Federal Delicatessen, the brainchild of food genius Al Brown and home to the best latkes this side of the world. These crispy little hashbrown type things are served with creme fraiche, salmon lox and dill, and are guaranteed to fix you, no matter how banged up you are. We prescribe at least five mugs of bottomless filter coffee to wash it all down.
86 Federal Street, CBD