Four Seasons Cafe - Auckland

This is the best tasting Cantonese food in Auckland that I’ve been to. Quite pricey but worth visiting if you are really craving for that extra flavor of authenticity. We had the bitter melon and beef, no one else in Auckland cooks bitter melon as well as they did and the beef was done just right, tender enough but still has the texture, not like the usual Cantonese restaurants which marinated their beef with too much cornstarch and made the meat losing its flavor with a texture that is too soft. The difference is quite subtle, but the other restaurants just don’t deliver the same taste. Service and environment wise, it doesn’t match up with the price, hence the rating here is understandably low. I will go back again, only probably once a year for some special occasion though.

First of all it is essential to make a booking prior to coming to this restaurant. It might be so expensive for Chinese food but the food is pretty great. They also make efforts to provide good customer service. We ordered King Prawn salted egg which is good!!!; fried pork chop which is far better than of other chinese restaurants; and beef with oyster sauce which is said to be chef recommended although I didn't find anything special, I guess this dish will always taste the same wherever. Overall, it's 3.5 good food but expensive and portion is not very big.

Authentic Cantonese cuisine! The place is Clean and cozy. I had the best hand shredded chicken here and I could actually find the taste of home. Will come back definitely!

A friend who originated from Hong Kong suggested that we try this restaurant when we decided to meet up for dinner. I attempted to find more information about this restaurant from the internet and admitted that I was a little bit skeptical after reading about the negative comments (there are only two to start with) about this restaurant. It didn 't help when we even struggled on the phone with the staff trying to book a table due to the level of noise in the restaurant. Nevertheless, we still proceeded to book a table, preparing ourselves for a lacklustre dinner. However, I must say we were all pleasantly surprised coming out of the dinner.<br/ <br/ First of all, this is a relatively small restaurant but neatly and nicely done up. The menu has more interesting varieties compared to other Cantonese restaurants which is good to see. There are also quite a number of speciality dishes that you will need to pre order. Being first timers there (and our friends have not been there for ages), we are not aware of these dishes and have to give them a miss. This includes a Cantonese sweet and sour pork which I would really like to try some day.<br/ <br/ We ordered a two course blue cod dish one with vegetables and the other deep fried bones with salt and pepper. It may seem pricey at $75 but we could tell from the portion and the fillets served that the fish is fairly big portion. The dishes were beautifully cooked, not salty and not too oily. As there are only four of us, we could only order another dish which is the 'normal ' sweet and sour pork. Not sure what is the difference between this and the Cantonese sweet and sour pork. It could be the cut of meat and how they cook it I guess. Anyway, this dish turned out to be quite nice too though I would prefer the sauce to be less thick. We did not get any complimentry soup like in a typical Chinese restaurant but we did get a hot dessert after the mains. It was pumpkin soup with sago.<br/ <br/ As far as the food is concerned, it is great and worth another visit. Service wise is acceptable though the manager on duty and some staff can be a bit friendlier. It is not that they are rude but you just don 't feel welcomed. Two of the staff even argue loudly when we first arrived. Having said that, the young staff who serve us was at least friendly enough to give us some smiles. The restaurant was a bit noisier when it filled up but not as bad as others that I have been to, and you can still have a conversation without too much shouting.<br/ <br/ In conclusion, we went to the restaurant fearing the worst of a typical chinese dining experience but came out feeling rather satisfying. Certainly one which I wouldn 't mind recommending to other people.<br/ <br/ Note: the sweet and sour pork photo was taken way half through our meal, so the portion may look less than normal dish.

The food is great and it has a very interesting menu.  The atmosphere was OK, and staff is friendly enough.<br/ <br/ It is definitely worth going back again.