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Many of Rodney’s best eateries are easy to miss but serve up some of the region’s most memorable meals. For those in the know, these hidden gems are definitely worth seeking out.
Vietnamese flavours in heart of Warkworth
Hiding in plain sight on Whitaker Street in Warkworth, Ben Thanh Kitchen offers authentic, flavourful Vietnamese and is the kind of place you stumble upon once and then keep revisiting.
Opened in July last year, owner Lim Chon describes their food as “healthy, simple and fresh in the Southern Vietnamese style” – for lunch and dinner.
Chon is Cambodian and has lived in New Zealand for 25 years with his wife, who is Vietnamese.
She kept impressing their dinner guests with her cuisine when they lived in Auckland so the couple decided to open a restaurant in Warkworth and share her food with a wider audience.
“I didn’t know about owning a restaurant, but I know my wife and she’s really good at cooking. I love her food – that’s why we decided to open,” Chon says.
“Warkworth is a nice area. It isn’t crowded like Auckland and the rent is cheaper.”
Every dish, he says, is made the traditional way.
“One hundred per cent Vietnamese, no shortcuts,” Chon says.
The menu features staples like pho, the classic Vietnamese beef noodle soup, and vermicelli bowls, “dry noodles with a lot of fresh salads and dressing”.
“Pho is our most popular dish – around the world and here as well. I have it every day because it’s fresh and healthy. Every morning for breakfast, six days a week. You’re not hungry all day.”
Patrons also love the banh xeo, a crispy stuffed rice pancake, as well as the banh mi, a short crunchy baguette with savoury fillings.
Most of their ingredients are sourced from Vietnamese stores in Auckland.
“It’s not easy to find spices and herbs here,” Chon admits. “Sometimes we have to go to a Chinese store to find what we need and shop around.”
After a steady start, word is spreading about Ben Thanh Kitchen.
“It was a bit slow for the first half-a-year because nobody knew we were here, but it’s picked up.
“People going north stop in Warkworth to try our food before they keep going. Then they come back in on the way home,” Chon says.
When Mahurangi Matters asks for a photo Chon replies, “We don’t want to be famous. We want the restaurant to be famous.”
Homemade food, family feel
Blink and you’ll miss one of the best cafes in Rodney – Parsley Pot, which is nestled behind a fence, flora and trees on Sandspit Road, before Snells Beach.
You could drive past a hundred times before realising it’s there.
Owners Steve Groonheim and Natalie Ryken bought the cafe in late 2019, just months before covid hit.
“The timing wasn’t great but we lived on the property, which as well as the cafe has a house and flat, so that probably saved us because we weren’t paying rent on top of everything else,” Groonheim says.
Set on a quiet, leafy section with gardens and sculptures that Ryken has created herself, not to mention artwork inside that are family heirlooms, Parsley Pot has a relaxed, homely vibe.
“We wanted it to be a really nice place for people to come and sit outside. We’re probably 70 per cent there but there’s still more we want to do – like a mosaic pathway – it just takes time,” he says.
The cafe is a true family affair: their youngest son “does all the prep in the morning”, and Ryken’s mum, at 81, comes in to wash dishes on Fridays and Saturdays.
“Mum’s the best dishwasher ever,” Ryken laughs.
Everything at Parsley Pot is made onsite including customer favourites like lamb’s fry and bacon, French toast with brioche, bacon, banana and mixed berries, and an ever-changing rotation of soups in winter.
A real standout is the beef goulash, which is a family recipe handed down from Ryken’s Hungarian stepfather.
“That’s one of our biggest sellers. It’s just good, honest food – tender beef, loads of flavour, served with mash or rice,” she says.
Groonheim says the quality of what “we offer is consistent and one of our biggest drivers”.
“For example the coffee tastes the same as when patrons were here the last time.”
Most customers are locals, many retired, but plenty of visitors discover it by chance.
“People always say, ‘I’ve driven past here so many times and never knew you were here’. We hear that a lot,” he says.
Trailer offers a taste of South Africa
Locals and lucky passers-by already know about the Tasty Temptations food trailer, which until recently was parked out the front of Doidges Tyres Wellsford – the go-to destination for South African cooking.
Now culinary explorers can find Esmeralda Oppelt’s trailer at markets around Rodney and will soon be able to try her Afrikaans creations at her new Kaiwaka store, which is coming soon.
It goes without saying, she offers some of the best South African food north of Auckland.
Oppelt started small with just a gazebo and table at local markets, but the popularity of her cooking encouraged her to launch a trailer in 2023.
“I call it my own baby. The trailer was just a part-time thing but it kept getting bigger, so in September I officially opened the doors every day and was able to leave my full-time job.”
Originally from South Africa’s Western Cape province, Oppelt has lived in NZ for nine years and says her dream has always been to share her culture with Kiwis through food.
Her menu blends savoury and sweet.
One of Oppelt’s top sellers is her range of samosas.
“People just love them and I have four flavours – chicken, lamb, beef and veggie.”
Vetkoek (fried bread with curried beef mince) is also a favourite, boerewors (South African sausage) rolls, which are like hotdogs and bobotie pies, again with curry mince.
Sweet options include miel (milk) tart, peppermint crisp tart, and miel biscoff cheesecake – all made in her home kitchen.
Her customers are a mix of locals and those passing through Wellsford, who will soon be able to get a taste of South Africa in Kaiwaka when Oppelt opens a shop there next April.
But her Tasty Temptations trailer will still be travelling the region, which is where it all began.
This Saturday, November 29, owner Esmeralda Oppelt is holding her Tasty Temptations store opening in Kaiwaka from 9am. Note: usual shop hours will be 8am to 6pm.
Country cafe with heart and homemade pies
Whanga Eats is over the hill and far, well, not that far away. In fact, it’s only a 10-minute drive from Matakana Village, situated in Whangaripo and surrounded by sublime countryside that disappears into the distance.
“For locals, the hill to Matakana is just a bump in the road, coming the other way people think it’s a big mountain. But really it’s no big deal,” Jason van Dorsten says, who co-owns the cafe with Emma London.
Opened in October, 2022, Whanga Eats has become a true hidden gem for locals and weekenders alike.
“We wanted this to be a cafe for the community. Obviously, we don’t have foot traffic, so it needed to be a really welcoming place.”
That philosophy shapes everything at Whanga Eats – from its family-friendly atmosphere to the homemade pies.
“We bake everything ourselves. We don’t buy much in pre-made at all,” van Dorsten says. And the cafe’s ever-expanding veggie garden provides all of their salad and herb ingredients.
During the week, Whanga Eats serves quarry workers, truckies and tradies, but come the weekend it transforms into a destination.
“We have people from Albany and the North Shore travel north specifically to come here … they drive past 50 cafes on their way.”
The peaceful setting and expansive views of rolling hills plus no neighbours are all part of the appeal.
And so is the menu, which boasts “clean, honest food at a good price”.
Also, evening events over summer add variety, from steak nights to Vietnamese and Persian pop-ups.
“We just do whatever we feel … we can change it up often,” he says.
Despite challenges like winter slowdowns and power cuts, the cafe remains a community hub – even providing a sanctuary with Wi-Fi and coffee during storms.
As van Dorsten says, “It’s everything. Slick but not pretentious service. The ambiance, the staff. We know a lot of people by name, what they order, and drink. And of course we have a unique environment.”
Himalayan home-style Indian
Easy to miss from the street, Butter Chicken Box is tucked away behind the Wellsford food court next to the Caltex and unlike Indian eateries that emphasise spice, here it’s all about “the flavour of the spice”.
Owner Ben Bhandari first opened the Wellsford outlet in 2018 after success with his original Warkworth restaurant, now called Mountain Masala, which he established in 2016.
“When I opened in Warkworth customers came from up north – Te Hana, Kaiwaka, and Mangawhai.
They said, ‘You need to open in Wellsford’ so that’s what I did. And got a very good response,” he says.
He also opened another Mountain Masala in Orewa in 2023, which is also going gangbusters.
Originally from the Himalayas in northern India, Bhandari brings a regional touch to his dishes that sets his food apart from your standard curry.
“We make mountain-style food, home-style food. It’s not spicy, you get the flavour of the spice instead.
If someone wants hot and spicy, I can do that, but we make simple food everybody can handle.”
His point of difference has won over a loyal following of travellers, tradies and retirees and everyone in between.
“When people eat our food, they properly digest it and they’re happy,” Bendhari laughs. Despite being on the periphery of the food court, business for Butter Chicken Box is booming – and its success is largely built on word-of-mouth.
“When people travel from Kerikeri to Auckland, they know I’m selling very good food here. They might stop and buy a curry and the next week or a few weeks later, they come back again.”
Bhandari’s most popular dishes – butter chicken, tikka masala and goat curry – are made from scratch using whole spices he grinds himself.
“I buy coriander seeds, cumin, everything whole. Then I grind how much I need. That way I have control over the quantity.”
Bhandari, who moved to New Zealand in 2005 after learning to cook in Delhi, is both passionate and traditional.
“Cooking is my culture,” he says. “I love cooking, and when people like my food I feel proud.”
