chinoiserie

highly recommend this place for dinner, thefoodwas amazing, really tasty and the service was excellent. great atmosphere and really friendly staff who ensured our evening was great. in terms of cost, it was $65 for 2 people which is very good as we left full and probably ordered one too many dishes. a++++

the chinoiserie has done really well to serve their style offoodconsistently. the menu doesn't change which is okay, and it won't disappoint.
the menu is based on steamed buns with their fillings including my favourite, pulled pork. i thought the tofu filling was a little odd but might just be me. added to this are some excellent sides including coleslaw, string fries and some beautifully cooked chicken wings.
if you go make sure you know that it will be messy finger food.
a great selection of beers available and desserts to die for. i won't ruin the surprise!

literally one of my fav places to go! always busy, good service and they never disappoint. highly recommend to anyone looking for goodfoodfor a good price, bao bun, fries and a mountain of calamari ❤️

true to its name, chinoiserie is a classic kiwi interpretation of the famous and well loved bao (steamed bun). this eatery tucked in the suburban heart of mount albert packs some major vibes and great music. walking into the open kitchen sets the mood and smells divine.

the restaurant itself is small in size and filled like a sardine can with customers, in saying this the staff do an amazing job at keeping on top of things and ensuring patrons are constantly tended to. if anything a slight increase in communication between staff could save them the trouble of repeatedly checking on different customers for the same thing. we were asked by almost every member of staff if we needed a drink whilst we were waiting for a table. 

i love the fact that they have such a compact menu, i am a big believer of doing a few things really well as opposed to a choice of many average dishes. in saying that, there is definitely a small amount of room for improvementfoodwise. the flavours are there, they work well together but there was a lack of seasoning on the majority of dishes we tried. i really enjoyed the pickled ginger in the chicken bao, the chicken was slightly overcooked, a little chewy and lacked flavour. the portion sizes were incredibly generous.

what was lacking in taste was made up in service and atmosphere. with a bit of tweaking this place is undoubtably set to steal the hearts of aucklanders and those from further afar.

firstly, the prices here are amazing!! i came here one thursday night originally as i'd heard about the steamed buns they make here and wanted to try it out. the place was absolutely packed with lines out the door waiting though so went somewhere else.
came back on a monday night at a later date around 6oclock, so an earlish time for dinner and there were only a couple seats left. managed to get a seat and then order somefoodwhich came nice and fast especially considering how busy they were. the house made iced tea is only $5 and really good, cutely presented and incredibly tasty. i was really interested in how the steamed, milk buns would be as i was wondering about the taste and texture etc. when i got my bun was a bit weirded out by the play dough like textured bread but mixed with the flavours of the filling is actually really quite delicious. the bread is quite tasteless but is really interesting to try out, i really liked it. the buns are only $8 each, although in all honestly i could easily eat two of them for lunch/dinner. had a couple sides also, a cos slaw and some fries with wasiabi mayo sauce. both where really good, really big sized portions too which was great! definitely will come back, just a bit annoying how full the place gets.

have been here twice and really love it! my husband is taiwanese and he also loved thefood- not exactly authentic but definitely close enough. we especially liked the chicken and pork bao, they were the best. the calamari/squid rings are yummy too. great selection of alcoholic drinks. a fun, relaxing environment with friendly staff. will definitely be going back :)

having walked in at 8pm on a tuesday night with some friends, and to be honest i was expecting this place to be somewhat empty, due to its unexpected location away from the main mt albert shops and from what i saw was that corner of mt albert road and owairaka ave is being brought back to life with hip new eateries. so we walked in and the place was packed which is only a good sign since the place is quite new and so many people have embraced it and rave about it. 

i will admit i heard about this place a while ago but never went and i am so glad i did finally get there!
the menu at chinoiserie looks simple with little on offer, but those few items are delivered so well with some pretty amazing flavours, i think its much better to do few items amazingly well then offer several half way there dishes. 

i think its fair to say i could tell before i even ordered what the most popular things would be and given they were the things that looked the best to me in my ravenous mood. we all ordered chicken gua bao and a pork gua bao each with a side of coconut squid rings to share and a bowl of fries (everyone loves fries!) 

the buns were perfect, warm and soft and hint of sweetness fill with a generous amount of sticky flavourful meat and fresh crunch veggies like cucumber, bok choi and you can't forget the fresh coriander and the peanuts on the pork one finishes the whole thing nicely. i can't fault the squid at all, well cooked, not chewy at all, hot and very crisp, i could have downed a bucket of it though...

surprisingly i was fairly full by the end of it, so for some it might be good to just order as you eat rather than order all at once, you will be stunned by how quick they getfoodon your table, i had barely said a few words to my friends before we had all this beautiful fresh hotfoodon the table.  

the place is kind of a bar style atmosphere, not too noisy though and you order at the front which kind of is awesome if you're in a large group and were planning to split the bill you just go up and order the things you want and pay. the place is a little small which the only reason that is because the place is so damn popular — and all the staff  greeted my friends and myself with warm smiles and were friendly and chatty and very accommodating. i totally recommend this place and i know i'll certainly be returning soon. a great restaurant tucked away in an unexpected location, you defiantly feel like you're in on a secret with this one, try it out!

been here a couple of times. service was great and got sat quickly on a busy night.foodwas quick and delicious - the buns and ribs were sooo good. cool vibes. highly recommend this place!

one of my favourite "quick eats"! it's not some where you go for a long sit down dinner but if you want something quick thefoodis deeeelish!

such an awesome lay out and ambience.foodwas good especially the prawn bao!! yummmm - had the pork bao which was s little bit dry. other wise thumbs up to the service and the prawn bao!!!

first time i came here i wasn't expecting much as i was just hungry but boy did this place deliver. the ambience of the place and the good vibes from all the people there was so refreshing to see. thefoodcame by quick, was cheap and was so amazing. i've pretty much had every item in the menu and could not fault one dish. the one nitpick comment is that one time the ribs i had were not as tender as before but that was just the one time. absolutely a gem of a restaurant and highly recommend this to anyone!

this place is extremely delicious and has a great atmosphere.foodwas cooked to perfection and was a generous size. my partner and i will defiantly be back!

i was brought here by my friend. it was such a nice place and great food. i order the vegetarian satay tofu and i love it. i love the wasabi mayo fries too!

you should get it and thefoodis such a crowd pleaser so whenever i wanna bring someone to eat out, i will definitely choose this place

disappointingfoodexperience.

first of all, the baos aren't made inhouse but rather imported in bulk. we tried all the bao flavours and found the buns were oversteamed and much too sticky. the flavours were either much too intense for a sober driver who isn't downing each mouthful with beer; or tasted like the dish hadn't made up its mind on what it wants to be, not in time for us anyway.

i get that the bao scene isn't as diverse before, but with up and coming options popping up all around auckland, i'd like to see chinoiserie up its game a bit more. potential is there chinoiserie.

had the best dinner here. was very reasonably priced, and all thefoodtasted so fresh. would definitely recommend the chicken milk bun. chicken wings are a bit over priced but still yummy!