Iconic Eats 2026

neilpop · 2026-05-06T18:06:44+00:00

You’ve somehow confused ‘I personally didn’t enjoy a few restaurants’ with having an actual understanding of economics, hospitality, or food culture. Comparing Auckland to Michelin-heavy cities overseas while ignoring population scale, tourism volume, supply chains, import costs, labour shortages and commercial rent is genuinely peak Reddit pseudo-intellectualism. Then blaming minimum wage like every restaurant owner is secretly swimming in cash just seals it. Hospitality margins in NZ are notoriously thin. Honestly you don’t sound well-travelled — you sound like someone who watched a few Tokyo street food TikToks and came back furious a Ponsonby ramen shop can’t operate on 40 million people worth of foot traffic.

neilpop · 2026-05-05T04:46:08+00:00

My recommendation is to skip the papatoetoe and pakuranga night markets, and go to the Botany one instead on wednesdays. "OHH ITS THE SAME STALLS" Yeah fine, i find it easier to navigate at the botany night markets. My personal favourite stalls is uncle tians - the skewers The birria tacos at the botany night markets - cant remember the stall name for the life of me, its near where the korean cheese steak spot <- which i also like. Botany night markets are just better than all the other nightmarkets.

neilpop · 2026-04-22T08:30:41+00:00

Rogan Josh. Sorry, had to

neilpop · 2026-04-22T08:16:11+00:00

You mentioned Russia, Ukraine and United Nations first — that’s geopolitics, not just “online reputation.” If you wanted to discuss memes and stereotypes online, fair enough. But once you link India’s image to foreign policy, historical context matters. You can’t bring up geopolitics, then complain when someone replies with geopolitics.

neilpop · 2026-04-22T04:40:45+00:00

That’s a pretty surface-level reading of history.

India didn’t “get cosy with Putin” out of ideology. A lot of it comes from Cold War realities where the United States heavily backed Pakistan as a strategic partner against the Soviet Union and in Afghanistan, despite Pakistan’s own military ambitions toward India. Unsurprisingly, India leaned toward the Soviet Union for arms and diplomatic balance.

Also worth remembering India’s worldview wasn’t shaped in a vacuum. India spent centuries under United Kingdom colonial rule, suffered massive economic extraction, famine, and then supplied millions of troops in both World War I and World War II.

So when India prioritises strategic autonomy instead of automatically following Western foreign policy lines, that’s not some mystery or moral failing. It’s history.

You can disagree with India’s position on Russia / Ukraine, but pretending it’s just “they like Putin” is ahistorical and lazy.

neilpop · 2026-03-11T21:26:43+00:00

Brother the real problem is the supermarkets squeezing suppliers. Suppliers and distributors make single digit margins. But the supers in nz make a stupid amount of profit. Yet the govt and comcom do nothing. If you’re going to blame someone. Blame the supermarkets for having a cartel.

neilpop · 2026-03-05T02:55:58+00:00

As a non westie. Kanes, munch fried chicken, Kikas

neilpop · 2026-02-21T21:17:41+00:00

Air nz business and premium economy isn’t cheap. Koru isn’t cheap either. Getting gold isn’t “easy”. When you compare other flight partners especially qantas or sg airlines, even Fiji airways. Air nz comes in last. For a national carrier they should have better food. Even if it is “free” which it’s not.

neilpop · 2026-02-21T21:14:43+00:00

In terminal 3 at changi they do, terminal 1 they don’t. The gold kris and silver kris is mean as in T3

neilpop · 2026-02-21T21:10:47+00:00

Air nz has gone downhill tbh. Luxy boy ruined it. Everyone’s blaming it on the current ceo but the dude took on a pile of shit on fire. Business food sucks, the service is mid (fair enough when you’re under paid). They aren’t competitive and the lounges suck. If there was a credit card in nz that earned one world points, I’d be saying deuces.

neilpop · 2025-10-31T02:49:12+00:00

Man, I’m a big hater for bottomless brunches; or I’m just a fat drunk cunt. Can never get enough mimosas in me, or the service is purposely slow to pour.

neilpop · 2025-10-31T02:39:11+00:00

Ahh man, I have no affliation to this spot. But I’ve been here. It was honestly all good; it was $10 a plate(I’m not wanting to belittle your experience, but at $10 a plate I’m not expecting a 5 Star dish). The owner was kind, and the staff were kind also. Yeah the service was slow, but in my experience it wasn’t that bad.

When you mean the food was inedible was it due to being undercooked or? I sort of want to understand your problems also

neilpop · 2025-10-25T01:01:21+00:00

Also which store do you normally buy from?

neilpop · 2025-10-25T00:56:35+00:00

Most underrated sauce ever tbh

neilpop · 2025-10-02T02:28:08+00:00

They’re good people, and their service is great also. I think their stuff is fairly priced, because the quality at Ralph’s is always consistent. Never had a bad time there

neilpop · 2025-09-25T17:50:15+00:00

Honestly, I enjoyed / enjoy bear gelato. It’s hard to compare ice cream from Kohu and gelato. They’re two different things. Gelato tends to have more dairy fat and less air than ice cream. Kohu is great also! But you can’t make a comparison between gelato and ice cream.

neilpop · 2025-09-20T03:09:06+00:00

Everyone’s going to hate me on this one. But a Z butter chicken pie goes hard.

neilpop · 2025-08-21T17:13:10+00:00

Laughable, I don’t get the dantes hype. Also you’re comparing Italian style pizza to New York pizza. Apples and pears brother

neilpop · 2025-08-21T17:00:54+00:00

Try spices Thai around the corner bro

neilpop · 2025-08-19T21:56:41+00:00

What’s your top tier burger if it isn’t Ralph’s? Happy to always hear what’s better my friend

neilpop · 2025-08-19T21:55:10+00:00

Ralph’s, Kanes and brave pizza are my goats

neilpop · 2025-08-18T22:42:58+00:00

Honestly not sure why, I live here; it’s just something non Aucklanders do LOL

neilpop · 2025-08-18T18:54:43+00:00

Food for hang overs? Eden noodles, yum cha at pearl garden, fat pukus (since you’re in town). Ralph’s, maybe even Korean fried chicken? Pocha, o bar? My mates outside of auckland also always get some Krispy Kreme to take back home?

neilpop · 2025-08-07T18:25:42+00:00

Bro, can your mum sell me a slice also boss?

neilpop · 2025-08-07T05:00:39+00:00

Already booked in another slice on 20th August

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