gemmayze st

gemmayze street is hands down some of the best middle eastern i’ve tried outside of the middle east and i could not recommend this place more (especially for people like us who struggle to find super flavourful vegetarian food!)

we chose the hummus, which was some of the thickest, creamiest and smoothesthummuswe’ve ever had, the garlic was a good level, not too overwhelming, and i loved the topping of roasted chickpeas and paprika oil. it was potentially the besthummusin auckland (gemmayze can fight it out with ima for that title) 9.5/10.

we also ordered the falafel, which was likewise spectacular, with a tender interior and firm and crisp exterior flecked with sesame seeds. it was served with a wonderfully subtle parsley cream which was almost as thick as thehummuswhich just topped it off, 9.5/10.

the star of the night had to be the arnabeet. this was a large hunk of delicately spiced cauliflower cooked til tender, and garnished with flaked almonds and raisins. it was served on a bed of thick and surprisingly sweet tarator (tahini sauce) which i could have eaten by itself it was so delicious, it’s sweetness worked perfectly with the savoury of the cumin, and the cauliflower was drizzled over with a sweet sauce i can’t identify but was also delightful, straight 10/10

because we are fitspos we got a couple of side salad options too - the tabbouleh, which was very citrusy and fresh but you couldn’t have too much of it because it was quite potent, and the khyar, consisting of lengths of cucumber served on buffalo curd and flavoured with mint and coriander. our best way to describe it was deconstructed tzatziki, and it was a nice refreshing dish which helped to break up the heaviness of the other dishes, both 8/10.

just as we were complaining about how stuffed we were the waiter brought over the dessert menu, and i mean it’d have been rude not to. we tried the ba’alewa, which was the beautiful love child of baklava and brandy snap. the exterior was flaky pastry and it was stuffed with a thick pistachio cream and sprinkled with crumbled pistachio, served with persian candy floss and the most melt in your mouth passionfruit gelato. we’ve never had anything like it and it was glorious, 10/10.

would 10/10 recommend coming here and ordering your body weight in mezze, the food here really is out of this world and is certainly one of of our new auckland favs.

the falafel was delicious, best falafel i've ever had. thehummuswas good and had a very generous portion, however the pita was cold and when re-heated it still became cold very fast. the house made soda was light and refreshing.

it's hard to put into words how glorious the food is here. every dish we got was killer. thehummusis like no other, the lamb shoulder will satisfy you enough to be happy if it was the last meal you ever ate.

the people are all so lovely and happy to be there, which is rare and only happens in places where staff are treated well :)
it's not cheap, so go ahead and save up for that shit if you need to.
treat yourself!

the staff was really nice and friendly they gave us lots of suggestions, i loved the food, ambience was nice as well but it gets quite hot in summers to sit there. we ordered 10 different dishes i loved their peas dish that they make it with a creamy sauce and lentils falafels were quite nice as well. we ordered octopus that was served with capsicum sauce the sauce was really nice but the octopus was quite salty for me. we orderedhummusas well and was quite nice. i ordered their tarts for dessert which was the highlight for me it had a taste of roses in it and was served with biscuit crumble and sauce on the side.

we went to gemmayze st on a friday evening and i must emphasize to make reservations in advance as the place was packed and buzzing with good vibes!
loved the ambience, we were nicely explained the two options of jeeb and mezze of which we ordered from the mezze options hummus, falafel as starters - which came out very quickly and it was delicious!hummuswas huge in serving and falafels were superb, soft & light with beautiful flavours. it would be the two dishes i would keep coming back for to this place. next we ordered chicken shish & market fish with wild black rice and herbs. the fish was juicy, soft well cooked and the chicken shish was also top notch nothing to complain about everything was amazing.
then for dessert we ordered knefe which is where it didn’t hit the mark and left a weird flavour in our mouth. i suppose it is the extremely strong orange blossom (which to us tasted more like soap) just put us off since me and my friend were looking forward to knefe as if made well it is one delightful experience. they either need to add baklava to their list (old school always is win-win)
so overall beautiful experience i will suggest to order another dessert to end the night well but yes we would definitely come back for thehummusas that was well worth it!

my lebanese friend brought me here, i had a great time eating some wonderful mediterranean food!! i would come back again just for thehummusand baba ghannouj! 😋
ordered 5 dishes for 3 people to share (a little full), and 1 dish for dessert.
highlights for me were thehummusand baba ghannouj -hummushad such incredible flavour nothing like the store bought stuff! and the smokey eggplant flavours in the baba ghannouj was so delicious.
we also got the falafel, would recommend this.
we tried the samak nayeh (fish tartare with kingfish) - i wasn't a fan of this dish as i thought the flavours were a bit mild in comparison to the other previously mentioned dishes, i wouldn't order again.
i was craving some dolma (vine leaves stuffed with rice), so we ordered the wara enib - unfortunately not what i was expecting at all! very very different, mild flavours. good, but now outstanding. would prefer a more traditional take on the dish similar to dolma!
we finished off with the knefe - delicious! not too sweet, and the lemon sorbet contrasts the sour with the sweet and also adds contrasting texture (soft with the firmer knefe)

gemmayze st = a-mmayze-ing!

i had been looking forward to trying this place for ages, so i was pumped to finally visit last friday night. we were impressed with pretty much everything: great service, quality food, and plenty of vegan and vegetarian options that are surprisingly filling.

since we were a party of 5, we decided to order a bunch of things first then add on extra dishes later if needed. this ended up being a good strategy, as we got to try a bit of everything and a few of us shared extra falafels later. the kitchen was busy, so this last dish took a while to come out – but it was redeemed by how it tasted so much better hot and fresh! these falafels perfectly complemented the creamy (and slightly sweet) ‘sauces’ we had leftover, like the babaganoush and hummus. special mention goes to the crunchy chickpeas that come on top of thehummus– just brilliant.

the other dishes were good too. the beans were surprisingly tasty and most of our group enjoyed the fattoush salad – though it was a bit too tangy for my liking.

for drinks: one friend loved her cocktail, but others felt their ciders were average. my raspberry soda was great (and tasted like ribena, which was fine by me).

note that if you book for one of the earlier dinner slots (e.g. 6, 6:15, 6:30pm), the staff will request that you vacate the table in 2 hours. this wasn’t a big deal though, as they gently remind you about it several times and we did end up finishing before that anyway.

despite the high ceilings, it wasn’t as loud as i expected so i'd definitely recommend gemmayze st for group catch-ups, as the venue is lovely and the dishes are designed to be shared.

lovely little lebanese restaurant set at the back of a beautiful arcade on k road. enjoyable atmosphere and great service. all of the food we ordered was very tasty. our favourite was thehummuswhich sounds very boring but it was divine! some of the others we tried were the pan fried fish (hapuka), tabbouleh, cauliflower & chicken shish. overall we found the food to be a little on the sweet side but that’s just our taste and we still enjoyed it. only one minor negative was that we didn’t find any of the lebanese wines to our taste.

a thoroughly enjoyable meal with friends. the food was fantastic; thehummusand falafel to die for. the service was attentive and super friendly. the space is vibrant and noisy. we had a great night and will definitely be going again.

yum, yum, yum, yum! gemmayze st is absolutely amazing. beautiful food, and thehummusis delightful! service is fantastic and i love the vibe of the restaurant in the arcade. i couldn't recommend this place more.

another excellent choice inspired by the entertainment book. the food manages to be homely but elevated at the same time. went with my bff who couldn't stop raving about the whole experience afterwards.

their website made it easy and quick to book a table online. there was lots of free street parking on k rd at 6.30pm on a saturday night. the seating for the restaurant is within st kevin's arcade, which is a beautiful, beautiful building, and makes you feel as though you are in vienna instead of auckland. i have no idea why it felt like vienna, considering i've only ever been there once and only for a few days, but that's what came into my head at the time..

we decided to have the jeeb at $60 per person where they bring you dishes that they have selected for you. all the dishes were delicious. honestly, all of them. there was not a bad one in the bunch. there was not even a slightly mediocre one in the bunch. i can't even point out a favourite because they were all my favourite. well okay, if you twisted my arm it would be a toss up between the market fish (gurnard that day) with wild rice and black garlic, and thehummuswhich was so silky, i can bet you've never tastedhummusthat good in your life.

their drinks list is just the right size, including a selection of lebanese wines and beers.

our waiter was charming. initially, he delivered the dishes to us and described them, but as it got busier the food was delivered by other staff and it took a while for our waiter to come and tell us what the dishes were. plus our water wasn't topped up. these were just little peeves that didn't stop me from giving a 5 rating.

the food came out quickly, but we were able to get our waiter to slow it down as our tummies progressively got very stuffed! they are shared plates but if you went a la carte you could easily order your own entree, main and dessert if you wanted to do it that way. the dishes they sent out were quite conservative, so don't be worried that they'll serve you the octopus or beef tartare. when it came to the dessert the waiter did ask us how adventurous we were (bring it on, we said) and they sent out the black tahini cremeux with passionfruit, carob and macadamia. superb.

if you don't think you like middle eastern food, i urge you to go to gemmayze st to have your mind (and your tastebuds) changed.

my first time of many! we attended for a birthday with about 20friends. set in st kevin's arcade out in the foyer with super cool krd coffee houses and eclectic 2nd hand stores all around, you instantly feel like a cool kid. but, it also has this homely feel which is very inviting. we all knew it would be shared platters but what came out really blew our minds. the food was, well incredible. we pretty much spent a few hours umming and oooing, drooling and at one point someone licked the plate. the tender meat satisfied the die hard carnivores who sniffed and wondered how to recreate it on the barbee while washing it down with the lebanese beer they couldn't get enough of. thehummusomg, the broad bean whatever #dead, and only photo i managed to get was of this crazy deliciously artistic dessert. we went home super chuffed and didn't stop talking about it the whole weekend! the staff, amazing service and they knew the menu inside out. it's taken over as 1st on my list to take guests and out of town friends to, to enjoy an amazing culinary experience!!!!!!!

an awesome celebratory night out for my son's birthday - st kevin's arcade is always beautiful but at night, with the bustling full house of bookings and attentive waiters, there was just the coolest atmosphere... then the food came out and wow - truly impressive. we were a table of vegans and the waitress kindly explained our options - which were plentiful. the kitchen readily adapted three of the dishes, cutting out the dairy and even replacing it with an alternative - without us even asking. every dish was just so beautiful and with such gorgeous textures and inventive tastes.... and omg, thehummus- silky smooth... for dessert - again without us even asking - the chef invented some spectacular mango and filo concoction - what a treat of a place!

we went here on a friday and it was very busy. the waitress was really helpful and made some great suggestions from the menu. you must try the cauliflower dish! yes, it was a bit of a wait for our meals but well worth it. every dish was delicious. we ordered the taboloueh,hummusand lamb shoulder and the flavours were amazing.

gemmayze st is located within st kevin's arcade on k road. tables are within the centre of the arcade which is such a great setting. heaters are dotted around which makes it a warm space too.
service was fantastic from all the staff, but particularly our waiter who knew the wine & food menu inside & out. he was friendly & engaging even bringing out some sage for us to smell before choosing the famous sage tea - that man deserves a medal!
we chose the degustation type menu which at $60 each was incredible value. all dishes were tasty & beautifully presented. there was nothing we didn't like.
the lamb is so well cooked & meltingly tender, as was the fish. thehummuswas some of the best we've tried, and the desserts were a work of art - and just as tasty as they look.
you must try this place if you have not already. if you like lebanese food (or turkish/greek), you will love it.