Luscious is a gourmet health grocery store located just past the top of Parnell rise. A specialty…read morehealth food store which also stocks an extensive range of wines (they even have vegan wines) and an impressive array of hard to find health and specialty gourmet foods just to make your diet a little more interesting. You will find fresh vegetables, frozen yoghurts, specialty breads, pastas, grains, cereals amongst your more common ingredients (only organic) and some not so common like date paste and red quinoa. Down the back of the store is a fantastic selection of specialty juices, coconut waters and iced teas and much of the product here is sourced from New Zealand. This place is popular with those who work in the area who want a healthy lunch on the go with a decent amount of cabinet food to choose from and fresh juices and smoothies. The coffee is pretty amazing too, very strong. Chateau Kiwi use beans from Organica. Whether you have food allergies, a specialty diet or just like your food to be not so common then this is a place you should check out.

The chateau kiwi is very like 'The Barrow' in the central city. Aimed at providing a more gourmet…read moretake on regular grocery shopping, they both chase the same sort of niche. I like the Chateau kiwi as it stocks a really good range of organic and health foods. Nowhere else can I find my favourite range of little bird organics apart from their original shop in Kingsland . You haven't lived until you have tried the strawberry and White cacao macaroons. And then of course there's the frozen dumplings which I often buy from here and make my own dipping sauce and trick my friends into thinking I am a real life masterchef.

If you have been to the La Cigale French Market in the weekend and you have seen people wandering…read morearound with delicious looking white bait fritters or prawn kebabs, well this is the stall where they got them from. However the grilled seafood is not the only food worthy of your buck from this stall - the main attraction is in fact the delightful aiolis, tapenades and spreads they have on offer. Of particular note, the spicy mango feta spread is deliciously scrumptious, and would taste fabulous spread on a thick slice of bread or on crackers. All products are completely natural, gluten free and palm oil free and are stocked at a wide variety of local delis and specialty stores, such as Farro Fresh and Nosh.

The Listers Homemade Preservatives stall at the La Cigale Farmers Market have a huge selection of…read morejams, honeys, sauces, pickles and jellies, all for a reasonable $7 a jar. These are all home made, and 90% of the fruit used is all home grown by Terry and Kathy Lister themselves in Waiuku. Terry is a great talker with a typical cheeky Kiwi bloke charm, and will happily tell you all about their farm if you ask. Their 'Maharajahs Chutney' is very yummy with a real spicy bite, and tastes great on crackers with cheese. You can also find these guys hanging out at the Howick Market on Saturdays and the Clevedon Market on Sundays.

Massimo and Marina are from the southern Italian town, Puglia, and have brought the fine tastes of…read moreItalian cheeses all the way over to La Cigale Farmers Market for local Kiwis to enjoy. The cheeses, such as Mozzarella and Ricotta, are all handmade in New Zealand without preservatives from locally sourced cows milk, and are made in accordance with years old recipes that originated from their home town Puglia. They had a delicious Ricotta mixed with icing sugar and chocolate chips available for customers to try at La Cigale, which would taste great on the top of a cake. They also have stalls at other various weekend markets, such as the Matakana Farmers Market and also the Howick Village Market.

The 'Fruition' stall at the La Cigale French Market has a great range of gluten free pickles,…read morerelishes and chutneys, such as the lemon pickle which tastes fantastic with fish and also the Kasundi, which is a spicy tomato relish. There is also a ginger and lime syrup available which would taste great mixed into a sangria, mojito or gin on a nice summers day. The stall owner was telling me about how she grows fruit down by Waihi and makes chutneys, relishes etc from the left over fruit she does not sell. She was telling me her newest venture is that of orange juice, made from left over oranges and with no added sugar or water. The oranges themselves don't look too great on the outside but I can confirm on the inside they are completely divine. Definitely a great stall to stop at if you are at the La Cigale French Market.

We stopped by after lunch one day during our trip to try their Pavlova dessert and it did not…read moredisappoint! We were scouring the area specifically for pavlova as it's one of my faves and the adorable vibes drew us in. The dessert was lovely and so were the staff. Prices were good and their menu was massive with so many intriguing dessert options. You don't often see pavlova in the US so when I read that it's a popular dessert in New Zealand, I had it on my radar lol. They offer theirs with either passionfruit sauce or "berry" sauce. We went with the passionfruit which is quite unique for pavlova and it was a fantastic combination! The tart passionfruit sauce was a lovely compliment to the soft, sweet merengue. Chocolate Boutique is packed full of handmade chocolate bonbons, cakes, and all sorts of unique dessert gifts and options. They have hot or cold desserts and drinks and much more than just chocolate - like lemon tarts, apple crumble, carrot cake; and all sorts of other things like numerous hot chocolate drink flavors, teas and coffees too. If we weren't so stuffed from lunch I'm sure we would've tried more lol! They have options to order their chocolates online but you can also order desserts at the counter if you're dining in and they'll bring it out to your table. The seating areas quaint little nooks with wide open windows and street views of the cute Parnell area and a large red phone box - total European vibes - loved it! They're a locally owned business with numerous accolades and awards - and fun fact: even former US president Bill Clinton has stopped by!

Parnell is the oldest district in Auckland and in my opinion, the most beautiful. You really…read moreshouldn't miss spending an early afternoon here, shopping its many boutiques, browsing through the art galleries or simply just exploring. Of course, one of the first places I had us go to was the Chocolate Boutique. It might be tempting to eat your way through all those nearby markets (like at La Cigale), but you'll want to save some room for dessert. This shop sells what I consider the best hot chocolate you'll ever taste called the Italian Denso. It is thick, rich and decadent hot chocolate with whipped cream on top and chocolate flakes. Think of it as a cup of a molten lava cake. And the best part, nobody will judge you for drinking your dessert. Okay, maybe SOME skinny model from LA? But she isn't here!

Fantastic small French cafe and deli featuring a beautiful selection of cheese. Many customers were…read moredashing in for at home supplies. There is a large cheese room with glass viewing area in the main dining area which adds to the ambience. There is plenty of seating to enjoy the limited menu - everything we tasted was delicious. The place was almost full when we arrived and totally full by the time we were served. We had pretty decent coffees with palmiers which were super crispy and perfectly sweet. We actually went back for more. The cheese and ham croissant was flakey, warm with gooey Camembert and a generous amount of ham. I had the braised ox tail on custard which is served with a few slices of fresh baguette. The braised ox was gelatinous and salty, the custard smooth and creamy set into the serving bowl, on top were pickled mushrooms adding a much welcome tangy refreshing way to cut through all the other richness. I'm not usually a fan of micro greens, but these were pretty tasty fresh and added texture. DELICIOUS! I only wish the serve was larger. Will definitely return because I saw many tasty looking soups being served and want to try more.

This is my favourite place to have a good French style cafe meal, Everything we ordered was…read moreamazing. This cafe is also a cheese retailer, so if your looking for some of the worlds best cheese this is the place to find it.

They are a little bit posh here in Parnell and that goes for their fresh fruit and veggie store…read more It is 4 o'clock in the afternoon and no droopy wallflowers on show here! Their outdoor display of flowers and bouquets was absolutely stunning and there was a really nice selection of different priced bunches. This is where I recommend you should come to pick up flowers to impress. Inside the shop their fruit and vegetable selection was really well displayed and the range looked fresh and delicious. They are a bit of a corner dairy too as they have some staple grocery items, ice creams, drinks, magazines and things like this. The owner operator was in the middle of conversation with one of the locals when I popped in and she seemed super friendly. Lucky Parnell to have such a beaut fruit&veg place to shop.

I came here over christmas time as my family wanted to get a fair bit of Antipodes for christmas…read moreday both sparkling and still and I had seen that you can purchase by the case here. It's such a cool store, they have sooooo many brands of water, I didn't even know there were so many. They have brands from all over the world but I really love that the water made right here in little old NZ hold a strong place in terms of quality and taste. Something I really love about this store is that they provide a selection of low sodium waters, sodium is something I always try to cut down on because we get so much of it in our food. Sparkling water tends to have quite a bit of sodium in it which I hate because I love it so when I saw that Aquadeli provides low sodium options I was absolutely thrilled. I have been looking for a brand of water called Voss water and haven't been able to find it anywhere so I rang Aquadeli and they helpful guy there explained that they have tried to bring it in themselves but weren't able to so no where else in NZ would stock it either. While this was disappointing it was also really useful because now I don't have to waste my time searching for it. If you are after any type of water you have to come here, they are extremely knowledgable and are keen to help.

You think water is water? Think again. Aquadeli deals only in water, a water version of a…read moredelicatessen offering the best brands in water. How do you like your water? sparkling or still? Aquadeli have it all, waters from France, Fiji, Samoa, Italy, Spain and right here in New Zealand, like Waiwera, Antipodes and SOH2O. The number of brands is impressive and you can buy per bottle or by the case depending on your hydration needs. Want to impress dinner guests? Do it with limited edition glass bottled water from Evian featuring artwork from collaborations with the likes of Paul Smith and Diane Von Furstenberg. There are full nutritional profiles for each water, the mineral content and level of carbonation if that interests you too. If you are really into water then they sell books on it too, really an awesome store to check out just for the hell of it.

This is a fruit and vegetable and Asian grocery store. It is big and the prices are usually pretty…read morecompetitive too. They sell a lot of more tropical fruits that the supermarkets do not, due largely to the fact that a large proportion of the Asian population shop here and these more unusual fruits are what they know and love. This therefore makes getting your fruit and vegetables more exciting. They also seem to have extremely large kumara here, absolutely huge. That aside, great store. They also stock Asian grocery items like noodles, miso, cookies, drinks, dried fruits, crackers and so on. Other things like Swiss chocolate, honey, Danny's pita bread, coconut butter and fortune cookies can be found here too. The staff are really polite, the quality of the produce is good and so are the prices. There is lots of parking on site too which is great because parking in Newmarket can be a bit of a hassle so if you're passing through give it a go.

This is a great Asian grocery shop, stocking a good range of fresh produce, and a lot of grocery…read moreitems. They also have a small, very reasonably priced meat section! I've taken to shopping here over Countdown for all my fresh fruit and veg - the prices are much better, and everything tastes great. Yesterday I bought apples almost as big as my head! I also buy stuff like coconut cream, curry pastes, canned vegetables and other stuff from here at good prices, and they have some drink fridges in the back with a weird and wonderful range of different Asian drinks. The staff here are always friendly and efficient, and the store itself is clean and well stocked.