Pinyue Shanghai Restaurant — Restaurant in Maungakiekie-Tāmaki

So this quaint little place is not where you'd bring your first date, but if you're after a cheap lunch meal, you'll be hard to beat this joint. We had spicy beef noodle soup and eggplant/chicken on rice. Portions were very generous, food was very tasty but best of all, it was only $15 and $16 respectively. Hard to find cheap n good places nowadays in Auckland. Total bill for 4 is $60. The dishes did take some time to arrive and on an uneven basis though.

What's also good to note is that the clientele is really multi cultural with Erupoeans, Pasifica and Asians all mixed in a relatively even proportion. The lady server speaks good English and they cater to food intolerance by helpfully suggesting dishes that are suitable. So this is not your run of the mill Chinese restaurant from this aspect....

Ordered crispy Sichuan chicken 辣子鸡丁 for $18 dollars. The server came out with the food and said Kung pao chicken to me. I told him I ordered Sichuan chicken. He said this is Sichuan chicken. I questioned the server and the receptionist twice that this is not 辣子鸡丁. Receptionist told me that this is the shanghai way of cooking. They then had a discussion with the cook and decided this was 辣子鸡丁. Paid for it amounted to 22 dollars. I told them the menu said 18 dollars. They said it was old menu and forgot to take it down. Dubious and downright cheating.

I didn't want to make a scene but I'm warning you guys to not patronize them. See the Pic for yourself if that was 辣子鸡丁. It's neither crispy nor...

Time seemed to stand still at Pinyue. The restaurant decor and the food were just so nostalgic for me. The authentic taste of Chinese food is hard to come by in a cosmopolitan city. The chef must be determined to maintain the taste despite the diverse backgrounds of the customers. The staff is so friendly and thoughtful. One suggested to give me a knife to cut the big piece of pork chop. However, I didn’t need it as the meat was so tender and it melted into my mouth....