Canton Café, Kingsland

Apparently this is a bit of a legendary place - something that only became apparent to us (dining here as part of a friend's birthday celebrations) when we got there. Rammed to the gills, with a crowd of expectant chancers milling around outside with the smokers, its reputation was pretty clear. The Canton Café is a Cantonese restaurant of the unpretentious, bustling, noisy variety, probably not somewhere I'd take the missus for an intimate 'date', but when there's a few of you it's terrific.

It's BYO too, and with a friendly local Glengarry a few doors down you can't go far wrong. Food-wise, the portions are of the upturned dustbin lid variety, so don't do what we did and order one each to share. After the fifth huge plate piled high with food landed on the table it was starting to get a little ridiculous, but who cares? It's all fantastic, all very decently priced, so what the hell, bring it on. I'll roll home.

As for the food itself, what I can remember of the endless procession of dishes were the black chilli chicken (darkly spicy and dripping in a powerful sauce) and crispy pork belly (bite-sized chunks of long-cooked belly with crisp, crunchy crackling on each). The rest is a blur of beef, chicken, prawns, ginger, rice, plum sauce, chilli, squid, ribs, more rice, cashews, black beans... need I go on?

All in all, if you're into good food and fancy a bit of a riotous evening out whilst eating more than you ever thought possible, give this place a call - booking is essential pretty much every night of the week.

Canton Café
477 New North Road
Kingland
Auckland

(09) 846 7888