Best Cheap Eats in Auckland

Where are the best cheap eats in Auckland?

The budget map of Auckland follows its migrant communities. These are the strips worth knowing.

• Dominion Road — the cheap-eats spine of the city. Hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, hotpot and regional Chinese, much of it open late.
• Sandringham Road — dosa, biryani, curries and Indian sweets, generous and inexpensive.
• City centre food courts — the Asian food courts off Queen Street and around the universities do big rice and noodle plates for little.
• Suburban food courts — Northcote, Botany and Avondale have clusters of cheap Asian kitchens that locals rate over anything in town.
• Night markets — the rotating weekend markets at spots like Pakuranga and Glenfield are built for grazing cheaply.

What is the cheapest cuisine to eat out?

South and East Asian food stretches your money furthest. Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Vietnamese and Korean kitchens routinely serve a filling plate for well under the price of a cafe main. A bowl of noodles or a plate of rice and three dishes from a food court will feed you for a fraction of what the same spend buys on the waterfront.

Where do students eat cheaply?

Around the universities and in the city food courts. The lunchtime rice-and-noodle plates near the University of Auckland and AUT are cheap, fast and large, which is why they are packed at midday. Dominion Road is the evening equivalent, a short bus or scooter ride from the central city.

How to spot the good cheap places

Follow the queues of people who look like they live nearby, not the ones photographing their food. A short handwritten menu, a full room at an odd hour, and prices that have not been rounded up for tourists are all good signs. The waterfront has the views. The suburbs have the value.