Ponsonby Central

Ah yes, Ponsonby Central (PC)! One of my favorite places in all of Auckland! Maybe not necessarily for shopping, but definitely for good eats. When people ask me about this area, I usually describe Ponsonby in general as somewhat of a cross between the greenery of Berkeley with a Melrose Avenue type of flair. Classic homes with nearby stylish and contemporary shops. PC so happens to be in the middle of it all, running along side Ponsonby Road.
Inside you can pick up produce from Ceres Fresh Market. They’ve got a large selection of organic fruits, veggies, cheeses, wines, flowers, and meats. Above average in price, but worth it in quality. The Dairy presents some fine New Zealand cheeses. Or you can do ice cream for the kids, and smoothies for the adults. The butcher shop is at Neat Meat, and they offer up some grain fed and aged types of meats. Wagyu beef and venison as well. There’s also a bakery, places to get an expresso, and even crepes. They’ve got a barber shop, a pet shop, and even a psychic that’ll read your palm.
But when it comes to food, you can’t go wrong eating here. This fits the bill for the phrase «plenty to choose from». This was where my love for PC just set in. If you want some appetizing and savory food, try the Blue Breeze Inn or my favorite, El Sizzling Chorizo. In the mood for seafood or fish, then try Jimmy The Fish and Tokyo Club. Fresh as can be! I gotta add the fact that I loved the fish’n’chips from Jimmy. So crispy good! See my review :) Burger Burger, Dante’s, you can’t go wrong!
Overall, PC is an enjoyable place for everyone. Plan for a brunch, or a last minute dinner date. Get together with coworkers, or just simply hang out at any of the bars. Definitely grab yourself a menu and grub on some of the best food in all of Auckland. Dine here and you’re golden!

Ponsonby Central is undoubtedly the hippest laneway in Auckland. If you’re into chic, fashionable bars, street vendor-​style eateries and organic produce, then this cleverly designed urban shopping strip is bound to be right up your alley!
Pick up a bottle of European wine from Wine Direct, some Raukumara red venison or Harmony pork and fennel sausages from the Neat Meat butchery, a wedge of artisan cheese from the cheese larder at the Dairy, fresh garden produce and cut flowers from Ceres Market and head home to rustle up your own dinner or stay back and enjoy a bite to eat at one of the trendy cafes or restaurants. Either way, you won’t be disappointed!

Well almost everything you need there. Nice organic shop, wine shop, and a good numbers of restaurants for every taste. Pretty packed during the week end, but the perfect place to have a nice brunch and do some errands. Toru is very good as well as burger burger. But all tastes can be satisfied, so many restaurant choices. a classic place to go

Ponsonby Central: Date night venue #1. I feel like this place sprung from the mind of someone on a boring date who was thinking of all the ways it could be better.
The atmosphere is bustling, noisy and fun but there are so many intimate nooks to perch and watch it all happening. The hubbub washes over you as you walk up the stairs from Ponsonby Road, then the smells from all of the completely different restaurants start competing for attention.
Start: Maldito Mendez for a sherry and the cassava fries.
Next: Get on the list for a table at Blue Breeze.
Drink: Toru, good beers and classic cocktails.

I only went to Ponsonby Central last week and I work just down the road from it! What the hell have I been doing with my life? What a great location with an amazing blend of market and fixed based stores. This is exactly what NZ has always been known for. Good local produce, products and customer service that is second to none. The awesome part is that they have that inbuilt market thanks to Ceres which provide all organic foods as well as them fresh fruit and veges. Definitely my new hangout. Love it!

Ponsonby Central has to get a 5 star rating on the basis that I tell any visitors to head here for lunch or dinner or just to have a look around. You can browse the homeware shops, buy dinner provisions, stock up on imported bubbles or have an icecream sandwich at The Dairy. Big choice of eateries, bars and cafés to choose from. Parking can be a bit of a nightmare, but head down the side streets and cross your fingers. There isn’t a place in here that I wouldn’t recommend, that’s saying something.

They’ve absolutely hit nail it on the head with Ponsonby Central. Everything from the design to the myriad of businesses they’ve managed to get in there. It’s very clever.
As far as restaurants go, there’s Chinese, pizza, Latin American, Bugers, Argentinean, Crepes… the list goes on. I’ve almost made my way through all of them (just the Argentinean BBQ to go) and seriously, it’s hard to step a foot wrong. That being said, here are some of my must-​try dishes…
— Chop Chop: Korean fried chicken & soft shell crab buns
— Dantes: Margarita Pizza (can’t beat an old classic!)
— Burger Burger: Chicken burger & potato skins
— The Dairy: Ice Cream s/​w
I could go on…
On top of restaurants there’s also a butcher (Neat Meat), fruit & vege shop, cheesemonger, florist and wine store. Great if you need to pick something up on the way home but rather expensive for a weekly shop.

Toru definitely has great staff, delicious food and tasty coffee, which is locally made, big plus!
Seating area, that’s comfortable and spacious. Love the large table in the middle! Ti

Awesome selection of all different eatery. Fancy but not too pricey. Sometime is hard to find a park though on busy week night and weekend, since is the new fab hangout for all ponsonby and grey Lynn locals. Try your luck on one of the side streets before venturing into the car park.
There’s great coffee, crepes, bakery, pizzas, Japanese, meat house, butcher and organic market. Primo.

Ponsonby central is another level of cool. You walk in and you instantly want to eat everything everywhere at once. The design concept is similar to indoor markets but instead of being surrounded by stalls, you have lovely cafes and beautiful small restaurants. The vege market has fresh produce too which is a bonus I like the idea of being able to grab fresh fruits on the go.
I know this review is not specific, but Unilocalers when you see the place yourself you would understand my all over the placeness! That and I am easily distracted so hard to pick favourites.

Ever since ‘Ponsonby Central’ opened I just knew it would be the new ‘hub’ of Ponsonby for quality produce, wine, coffee, cheese, meats, fish and of course the ‘dining experience’.
You are really spoilt for choice with the different fare available: ‘Tokyo Club’, ‘Dantes Pizza’, ‘Toru café’, ‘Chop Chop Noodle House’, ‘Bedford Soda & Liquor’, ‘The Blue Breeze Inn’ and a few others!
I have nearly dined in all of the above and certainly had coffee at ‘Foxtrot Parlour’ and ‘Toru Café’. Both impeccable from perception-​to-​delivery.
You can park in the carpark behind ‘Ponsonby Central’ with the first hour free — bonus!!! Just remember to put your ticket on your dash:)
All the retail stores are a ‘breath of fresh air’, from ‘Zoo Warehouse’ that have majestic mirrors and ‘Wallace Cotton’ who stock dreamy linen, slippers and funky tea towels!
As you can tell — I am very enthusiastic about the arrival of ‘Ponsonby Central’ and will continue to spread the word!
Now you know too.

Decidedly hip and yet decidedly casual and unpretentious, Ponsonby Central is my favourite location in the this neighborhood. With the wide range of food from authentic Neapolitan pizza, to Argentian BBQs, Sushi, or Thai, there’s something here for everyone. Add to it the weekend markets and the addition of a high quality butcher and fish and chips and it truly covers all the bases. I am tempted to write a longer review, but really, this place is so great that it doesn’t even need a lengthy review. Go check it out for yourself!

I definitely consider myself a regular at Ponsonby Central: you will find me there most weekends, if not for brunch or buying beautiful produce, for soaking in the friendly neighbourhood atmosphere of the place. The latest additions of the Dairy, the wine stalls and regular pop-​up stalls make Ponsonby central complete the multicultural options of Latin, Japanese, Italian, and Argentinian eateries.
The downside for me is that yes, I have to admit, the place is a bit on the expensive side. But this is Ponsonby, right!

Ponsonby Central is my new favourite area in Auckland. It is one of those places i;d take a visitng friend just to show how ‘hip’ Auckland really is. Situated on the corner of Ponsonby and Richmond Road is is right in the centre of the Ponsonby action, and is a seriously great new addition.
I have been here a number of times, but this morning was the first time I tried Toru. And I gotta tell ya, ir definitely won’t be the last. Toru takes up quite a bit of Ponsonby Central in comparison to the size of the other restaurants. But it is clear this is for good reason — it is alwasy busy and it is amazing.
I went with my sister who was gushing about it so mucshe pretty much said I should get everything on the menu. I got a freshly squeezed watermelon juice which was sooooo good. For lunch, my boyfriend and I ordered the Pork Belly sandiwch and the Duck and Mushroom pie and split them. Both were so delicious and came with possibly the coolest chips i’ve ever seen. They are like crisp shape but like a fry. Like a cooked crisp. I dunno, they’re awesome, go and try it. I can;t wait for next time, I think i’ll do the very popular crab sandwich.
Oh, and the waiter was a friendly babe.

Ponsonby Central represents many things that Auckland needs more of — reuse of old buildings, convivial open-​space food courts that aren’t in malls, and a rich mix of retail and dining. For my interest, the old building and its inventive reuse are the biggest triumph. The building apparently was a printing works back in the day, and retaining and exposing parts of the building like the roof and the wooden floors give it a wonderful rustic charm that makes it feel authentic — like it’s been there forever. Incorporating laneways into the design give it a wonderfully urban feel that would not feel out of place somewhere like Melbourne. I love the convivial dynamic that comes with sharing space — so many great choices, and such a relaxed atmosphere. I also love that there’s a bit of everything — among other things there’s a wee furniture shop, a place selling vintage posters and fresh produce markets along with the foodie destinations. The place is still a work in progress with parts of the building still undergoing work, but it’s an absolute triumph so far — long may it continue!

I LOVE Ponsonby central. Having recently returned from overseas I was so excited to discover this new development. It’s nearly like walking down a Melbourne laneway with its bustling collection of bars and restaurants. I visited on a Friday night so there was a DJ playing as I walked in. Waiting for a friend I browsed the funky stores at the front (Ill be going back for a more thorough shop). We then sat out side at the Mexican and enjoyed a nice cold Sav (stemless wineglass too, nice touch) and a fish taco. I loved the fact you can sit outside! I often choose a restaurant or bar for this fact alone. The wine was good, food GREAT and I love the ambience of the whole area. What a great addition to Ponsonby road, I’ll definitely be back

Ponsonby Central is awesome! The concept of combining retail and dining in such an open setting is really different and more in line with the unique, quirkiness of Ponsonby. The lion statues outsides are very cool and befitting as the first retail store you see from the entrance is Zoo Warehouse. Wallace Cotton also have a large store here and other retail spaces are for temporary lease so you have pop up shops which makes it more interesting. Toru is the first café or maybe more bistro offering as you enter, they offer a lot of seating and there are French style lounge chairs in a space behind the Zoo Warehouse which is a great waiting area if you were early or your friends were late.
Other eating options, my favourites, Dantes pizza and the Japanese place. There are also a couple of great cafes across the small outdoor eating area which occupy an area shared by Ceres Organics and a butchers. Overall Ponsonby Central has a communal feeling to it and on the weekends in particular it is so busy. It really has become the place to hang out in Ponsonby and is more of a lifestyle concept than any particular genre and on Sundays they have a market out the back.

Ponsonby Central has all the right intentions, it just needs a little more time. RIght now it’s the newest, coolest, hippest place for the Ponsonby trendies to hang out and rightly so — the food is good, the atmosphere is fun. The produce market at the back needs a bit more work to get humming but they will get there eventually (I hope).
They’ve just started holding weekly Sunday markets and although it had been raining when I went last Sunday, so maybe some of the stall holders were still in bed, again I felt like it had good intentions but still needed a bit of work and organisation.
I love the Zoo Warehouse store out the front, full of vintage and shabby chic furniture and home accessories.

What a cool place this is. It took a few moments for me to work it out… is this a foodcourt? Is it a collection of tiny restaurants around one courtyard? Is it something else entirely? I’m still not sure of the answer, but I know there’s a great little open plan area, some indoor areas, and lots of delectable food. So far I’ve only tried the pizza from Dantes, and it was a-​mazing. It came complete with a little diatribe from an authentically Italian waiter, who told us about the pizza methodology, the nutritional benefits of the pizza dough, and the least sloppy way to eat the giant slices. And then we did and it was delicious.
My only complaint is we went in search of wine and couldn’t find any, perhaps it is a foodcourt after all?

When I stepped into Ponsonby Central my heart, and embarrassingly my feet also, leapt for joy. Never before had I been faced with so many delicious, high quality options. Thinks all the pros of a food court, minus the burning fluorescent lights, sticky tables and heart attacks on a plate. Ponsonby Central certainly does well for a foodie’s soul.
We went there for an extended family lunch and it was beyond perfect. Which is no mean feat considering our family has gluten-​free, dairy-​free, sugar-​free, and vegan members. And these kinds of diets are what I expect most of Ponsonby are on, so they’ve certainly hit their target audience. I can’t wait to return and try out all the other options, although I might be there a while.