kai eatery

tl;dr: delicious, cheap, filling, homey chicken. great service. recommended: spicy chicken bites and gua bao 
finally got around to reviewing this place! i've been visiting since i saw a friend tag this place on facebook. i was so, so excited when i first saw the advertisement for kai eatery on my newsfeed. as a taiwanese kiwi, i miss the familiar taste of traditional taiwanese fried chicken. kai eatery brought all those memories back with their wonderfully flavourful chicken. 

food: i usually come here on my way home, so i get everything with that in mind. i mostly get the chicken bites (spicy or not), which are small morsels of deliciousness. the chicken is moist and marinated nicely - they are best enjoyed hot as the juices explode once you bite into one. i also quite like the two gua baos that i had. the taipei guabaowas close to a traditional one, especially with the addition of crushed peanuts. my favourite is, however, the heihei guabaosimply because it has the delicious chicken in it - yum! i definitely need to try one of their specialty sodas once i get the chance. 
i bought 2xl chickens (one spicy and one regular) home for my parents once. my dad refuses to eat anything that he isn't familiar with - he absolutely loved the chicken and asked that i buy it again. i'd say that's a win.

service: the owner and staff here are extremely friendly and polite. they're also attentive in that they remember you if you visit often (guilty as charged), which is great as well. speed is fast but quality is never compromised. there are also chairs around if standing for a bit is too much for some people. sometimes there may be a line or people waiting around, but it's always worth the wait. 

price: reasonable price, especially for a university student like me. one serving of chicken bites is quite filling and satisfying for me. at $7 per serving, that's a pretty good deal. 

overall, thank you kai eatery for bringing delicious taiwanese chicken to auckland. i'm so happy that there's a delicious fried chicken place around school - it's a great addition to the restaurants and food trucks available in the city. i'll definitely keep nagging my friends to come here for a quick bite. good stuff :)

update:

tried their original xl fried chicken today.

it was exactly the same with what i tried in taiwan-- crispy outside and succulent inside. yummy like always.

one thing that stops me from visiting more often is the price-- $9 for a piece of large fried chicken is a bit pricey for students.





finally got to try this taiwan style chinese food. i think their signature menu is the xl fried chicken, but i've tried it multipel times at taiwan so i ordered something else instead.

the braised pork on rice: the diced pork belly (more like pork belly mince) is nicely braised in soy sauce, with some marinated green vege on the side. and normally there's some tofu in the bowl , but today they are out of tofu so the stuff offered a drum stick instead. it's very nice of him and i would like to go back to try the one with tofu on the side next time.

the taipei gua bao: hands down for this one! what a high quality and delicious bao! for me it's better than many restaurants & bars. the pork belly is melting in the mouth! and the vege is very fresh! super yum!

matcha& redbean bao: amaaaazing! it melted a bit on the way to home. but the taste wasn't affected by this! the deep friedbaowas very crispy, and the matcha ice cream matched perfectly with the redbean.

the periperi chips& the latte were average, not bad, but not as amazing as those food i mentioned above.

service was very friendly.

would definitely recommend their baos!

decent fried chicken guabaofrom friendly counter staff :)baowas super packed with sauce and salad so a bit messy. sadly they had run out of the pork belly which was what i was really there for. food truck conditions mean a small amount of outdoor seating right next to queen st. takeaway boxes seemed pretty extreme for one bao! they pop open dramatically when you undo the tabs. maybe i'll be back, or maybe i'll stop complaining about auckland guabaoand just head to taiwan again.

first off, impressive and innovative packaging! i ordered the original xl fried chicken and the taipei gua bao. fried chicken was xl-sized indeed, crispy and juicy meat inside. deliciously seasoned! taipei guabaowas amazing - the pork belly was so tender and it melted away in my mouth, perfectly complemented by the soft steamed bun, crunchy peanuts, and salted vegetables. it was around an 8-minute wait, but i was the only customer. service was amazing, the lady was upbeat and friendly and made sure i knew how to make the most out of the packaging. highly recommended!

got the chicken bites (spicy) and the hei hei gua bao. the bites were delicious, crunchy and flavoursome. thebaowas ok, it was nice and fluffy but the fillings wasn’t as impressive. the chicken, cucumber and slaw were still good but maybe the original more authentic flavour (pork belly) just goes better with a bao. overall not bad though, i would come back.

the restaurant has its signature orange board so it isn't hard to find. the taipeibaowas really good,baowas fresh and the pork belly was really tender. could have been a bigger piece though. takoyaki was good just was a bit too fishy.

i had heard alot about this place from friends and we were in the area for an event so i decided to pop over and try something out .

i ordered thebaowith pork and pickeld vegetables . it was tasty and the perfect little filler snack for on the go . although i wish the slice of pork had been alittle bigger as mine did not fill my bun properly and i ran out of meat for the second half of my bun .

other then that the service was polite and friendly and fast ☺️

will come back if ever in the area again.

what a fantastic place! the peri peri hash brown is the most delicious thing i've ever tasted. the chickenbaowas yummy too - and what cool packaging!

loved the hei hei chickenbaowith peri peri sauce. definitely recommend that. not a big fan of the chicken bites deluxe.

tried their heiheibaoand it really good. really filling and the fried chicken inside was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside which was amazing since it's way too common to find super dry fried chicken. will be back to try other stuff off the menu!

i ordered the heiheibaobut sadly i got the pork 😔 i still ate it but it was alright. it’s lacking with flavour but the pork belly is really nice. i wish they gave me the right order as i always come here and get the xl fried chicken 😊 i wanted to try something new but sadly got given the wrong order 😔

great place for a snack and drink. classic milk tea and heiheibaowas delish, bun was super soft and fried chicken hit the spot. matcha green milk tea was also not bad!

i love their guabaoand fried chicken. their food truck is right outside my former school and they never disappoint. many students always buy their popcorn chicken.

kai eatery is gonna be my new favourite snack spot in cbd. they served every thing an asian girl is addicted to: milk tea, popcorn chicken, chips and open buns. the buns/baoare very tasty. the price is also reasonable and the portion is quite good. they don't have many seats but you can always carry the food to the square about 5 steps across the street to enjoy them under the sun.

my first taiwanesebaoso i don't really have a point of reference. it was pretty tasty. meat was tender, the steamed bun was soft. the huge packaging was a bit ott and a bit of an environmental waste. massive price increase recently (over 20%), totally not worth it now.